Approaching the 2005 holiday season, I had a conversation with Mike Cummings, Public Relations Director for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. He said I'd need to act quickly and pay up front what I considered at that time to be a sizable amount in order to hold a jersey worn the previous season by a relief pitcher who pitched there the previous summer. While visiting family that December, I was able to pick up the jersey. What's the story here? Settle in.
In the early spring of 1999, Mark Bechtel of Sports Illustrated wrote a
short season preview piece in Sports Illustrated entitled,
Phillies: A Fesh Face in the Bullpen. Within, Bechtel told the story of a 26-year-old lefthander named Sean Fesh who just wouldn't quit. Having missed most of the 1996 season due to elbow ligament surgery, Fesh was released by the Mets at the end of a modest 1997 season spent in AA. Sean developed a new sidearm throwing motion that increased his velocity and movement and attempted to earn tryouts throughout the summer of 1998. A fateful drive from his Connecticut home to Scranton would unknowingly alter the course of both of our lives. There to see former teammates, Sean brought along his father who was able to request a tryout from Dallas Green on Sean's behalf. Days later the Phillies offered him a minor league contract. He responded by striking out 41 in 33 innings and was promoted to Scranton.
Fast forward to May 21, 1999. Friends and I attended a Red Barons game versus the Durham Bulls. Fesh was brought in from the bullpen. In the words of my friend Don, "This guy Fesh came in, he was hammering away, he looked good and we thought it would be fun." "It" would involve us becoming Red Baron super fans for the better part of two summers, with Sean Fesh as the player at the center of our baseball bond. Witty posters were hand drawn in marker, a very crude website (we called them homepages back then, lol) was created for our irreverent takes, and we were written about in the Sunday Times. While we pissed some people off, we had our backers amongst the ushers and the front office. In those days, the ushers left at the 7th-inning stretch or 9:30PM, whichever came first. This was our cue to move into the front row behind the home on-deck circle and unleash verbal hell on opposing batters and pitchers. And the team won.
For only the second time in their eleven season history, the Red Barons
posted a winning record. While it was only the 5th best record in the league, it placed them squarely in a three-way dog fight with the Syracuse Skychiefs and Pawtucket Red Sox for most of the summer. It was an interesting team, scoring only 13 more runs that it allowed, but a team that fought back on countless nights after being put in a hole by subpar starting pitching. After noted major league pitcher Randy Wolf was promoted early in the year, the Red Barons featured only one other start with an ERA under 4.5. This meant bullpen arms like Fesh, Billy Brewer, Joe Grahe, and Steve Schrenk had to hang in there while batters like
Wendell Magee,
Torey Lovullo,
Billy McMillon, and
Jon Zuber bashed away to the tune of 800+ OPS in what was quite a pitchers park. Time and time again the Red Barons pulled off the improbable, culminating in Game 3 of the first round of the 1999 Governor's Cup Playoffs. Fan club members made their way back to Scranton from college campuses across the northeast to witness one for the ages. The first home playoff game in Scranton since 1992 had it all. Charlotte took an 8-2 lead in the fifth, aided by a pair of errors by rehabbing shortstop Desi Relaford, but the Red Barons scored two in the sixth, three in the seventh, and two in the 8th on a two-out triple off the right field wall by Bobby Estalella. The top of the 9th was white knuckle time. Quoting Times reporter Randy Yanoshak, "
Pay for the whole seat, but use only the edge, and all 6,636 at the stadium did." Charlotte loaded the bases with no outs against reliever Darryl Scott. Top prospect Pat Burrell, called up expressly for playoffs to reinforce holes left by September recalls like Lovullo, found himself playing first base in that 9th inning. With the infield in, former Red Baron Dave Hollins smoked a line drive in Burrell's direction, which he successfully stabbed for the first out. Finding some fight, Scott beared down to strike out Jeff Abbott before
Darren Burton ranged a long way into the spacious foul territory at Lackawanna County Stadium to run down a foul ball off the bat of the dangerous
Luis Raven. In the bottom half, a fired up Burton would lead off with a double. The next batter would sacrifice bunt him to third. Relaford, the potential goat, stepped to the dish and laced a low liner to right field. Chad Mottola slid, but couldn't snag it. Unsure whether the ball would be caught, Burton got a late break to the plate. Mottola's throw was strong to catcher David Toth who was unable to apply the sweep tag to the diving Burton, putting the exclamation point on the greatest baseball game I ever saw.
Alas, this would be the last win the 1999 Red Barons would experience. They dropped the next two of the best-of-five game series to the eventual league champions. The fan club went its separate ways until it was reunited the following spring. The team was more talented, but as is always the case, the vibe wasn't the same. Sean Fesh put together perhaps the finest AAA season of his long career, but he and the club suffered a stomach punch in mid-July when he was traded to the Colorado Rockies. The wild-card Red Barons would go on to upset a strong Buffalo team in the first round of the playoffs before falling in the finals to Indianapolis. Sean Fesh would go on win a Southern League championship in 2003 with the Carolina Mudcats and post what may have been a better AAA season in 2004 with Richmond, but was not rewarded with a call to the big leagues.
This jersey? Oh yeah. The jersey represents a unique look in Red Barons history. In 2003, the Red Barons switched their primary color from what had been a brick red to a primary red in order to harmonize their look with the parent Phillies. In 2005, the home whites would add red sleeves. Long before that season got underway, one more chapter was written in this story that encapsulates my bonds with baseball. In November of 2004, the Red Barons official website reported the news that Sean had re-signed with the Phillies organization. Later in March, Van Rose of the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader wrote a story entitled Home Sweet Home, explaining Sean's desire to return to the Phillies organization. On the field, Sean struggled and was sent to AA Reading in June. I was fortunate to be able to catch up with him that summer in Syracuse, Rochester, and Erie. He finished his professional career over the following two seasons closer to his Connecticut home with the independent Bridgeport Bluefish.
Details:
- Manufacturer - Russell Athletic
- Size - 48 (2" Extra Length)
- Date Acquired - 12/2005
- Authentic Game Worn - 100% Polyester
- Two-color Twill Script/Numbers
- American Flag on Sleeve
- Worn in 2005
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