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Remember who you are and where you come from; otherwise, you don't know where you are going.
Karolina Kurkova
1994
At the end of the 1993
recap, we told you about a phone call that Manager Mark Walters received on the eve of outdoor workouts, in April of 1994.
The voice on the other end of the line was asking about Senior baseball...how was the caliber?, how many games do we play?,
how much travel is involved?...pretty much all the normal stuff a new player might want to know. Except that he spoke
with a broad southern American accent. When Walters asked a few questions of his own, he found out from the voice that
he had played professionally in the St. Louis Cardinals chain (actually it was the AA Southern League afiliate in Savannah,
Georgia), that he had just been given his unconditional release by the Cardinals, and that he was living in St. Catharines...looking
for a place to play. It was the phone call that Walters had been waiting 10 years to receive...and it was the beginning
of the very special COBA career of Ronnie French.
As one might expect, Ronnie
was an incredible 5-tool athlete. A rightfielder with a strong arm, great speed, great power...and one of the nicest
people on the planet. He put on a clinic his first year in the league, winning the Metros Rookie-of-the-Year award,
with numbers like this: 47 for 125 (.376), 8 doubles, 4 triples, 7 HR, 23 BB / 10 K's, 13 SB, 39 Runs, 52 RBI's,
and 6 Assists from the outfield. That was the first piece to the puzzle, for improving the Metros in 1994...but
it wasn't the only one.
Two other very impressive
youngsters joined the club in '94, while a couple of oldsters came back...further bolstering a Metros team that seemed to
be treading water, just one year earlier. The two rookies, 2B Jason Candy (who would go on to give the Metros 9
very good seasons), and hard-throwing P Ken McGregor (a highly touted junior graduate of the Inch Park program, who moved
into town), joined with French to give the Metros one of their best rookie crops ever. And returnees, OF Kerry Hedden
(back after 4 years out of town for work), and OF / P Tim Rowdon (who left halfway through 1991) would help
to stabalize the team's balance of youth and experience. Manager Walters was especially optimistic abouth the addition
of French, Candy, Rowdon, and Hedden to a lineup that already included Frank Keltos, Ken Sentance, Steve Earle, Mike Coull,
and Dave Lafleur. If MacGregor could give the pitching staff (which included Lou Gazzola, Jim Grebenc, and Sentance)
a reliable 4th starter, the team figured to be very good. The only downside to the '94 off-season was
the loss of pitching stalwart, Greg Flajnik, who moved away, and P / SS Tim Krawczyk, who took one summer
off to attend school.
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| Rookie-of-the-Year Ronnie French began a remarkable COBA career, with a 7 HR, .376 season in 1994. |
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| Rookie P Ken MacGregor was the Metros "hard-luck guy" in '94, with a solid 4.15 ERA, but going 1-4. |
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| Newcomer Jason Candy would hit .284 with 3 HR & 22 RBI's, and stabalize the Metros middle infield. |
The league and divisional format remained unchanged from
1993, meaning that the Metros were in the very tough Johnson Division, with Hamilton, Burlington, Glanbrook, Dundas,
and their opening game opponent, the Milton Red Sox. For the 7th year in a row, St. Catharines won their opener, getting
a grand slam HR from Sentance, and a double and 2 singles from French...to back the complete game 5-hitter by Lou Gazzola.
The locals had a very good month of May, winning their first 3 games, before the first blemish on their record...an ugly 15-15
tie with Hamilton. St. Catharines held a 13-1 lead after 3 innings, before the skies opened up, forcing the teams to
play in a steady drizzle. The Metros didn't handle the situation too well, as the pitchers issued 9 walks, and committed
4 errors, allowing the Cougars to come all the way back for the tie. Still, overall the Metros were playing good ball,
and entered the month of June with a 6-1-1 record, and 1st place in the COBA Senior Baseball League.
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| Former Indian great Len Barker brought his good stuff to Community Park on June 3, 1994. |
But first up in June, came a night that most
of the people involved with it, would not soon forget. A travelling tour of former Major League players, known
as the Legends of Baseball, came to St. Catharines for a charity exhibition game, and the Metros were solicited to provide
the opposition. The Legends featured former big-league pitchers Fergie Jenkins, Vida Blue, Elias Sosa, Bill Lee, Blue
Moon Odom, and the man they would face on this night...former Cleveland great (and "perfect game pitcher") Len Barker.
At the plate, the Legends featured recently retired Ernie Whitt, as well as ex-pros Al Oliver, George Foster, Paul Blair,
Bert Campaneris, Ron LeFlore, Johnny LeMaster, Rennie Stennett, Doug Flynn, Glenn Gulliver, and (current Toronto Blue Jays
broadcaster) Pat Tabler.
Walters was not sure going in, if they wanted the Metros
to "lay down", so that the oldtimers could "strutt their stuff", or if they wanted a real game. But the tour manager
of the Legends insisted that they wanted St. Catharines to field their best team and give them their best effort.
So, Walters started Gazzola on the mound, and put his 1994 team on the field. And while Barker was "bringing the gas",
the good guys managed to put up a couple of runs early, and Gazzola did the rest. The ex-pros, naturally, had a
hard time adjusting to Lou's assortment of off-speed offerings (he threw just 2 fastballs all night...one of which, Ernie
Whitt hit to the warning track). The highlights were a 2-run Ronnie French HR (off Sosa), and a Gazzola strikeout of
George Foster (after he pleaded for Lou to throw him a fastball...to which he replied, "Are you crazy?") When it was
all said and done, St. Catharines emerged with a 7-3 victory, handing the Legends their only loss during the 14
city tour.
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| An article featuring Walters and the Metros 10th Anniversary appeared in the St C. Standard in June. |
The win over the Legends, seemed to boost the club's confidence
as they returned to COBA League play. The Metros played a home-and-home series with Sheridan and won 12-4, and 17-4
(Kerry Hedden had 5 hits and 4 RBI's in Sheridan) to improve to 8-1-1. Then Gazzola tossed his 2nd CG shutout of the
season as the locals topped Burlington 5-0. However, the Erindale Cardinals seemed to have their number, and won
two straight games, to bring the Metros back to earth. After another loss to Hamilton, St. Catharines ended
the month in 1st place at 9-4-1, but the 3 consectutive losses saw their lead in the Johnson Division dwindle to just 1 game.
The Metros went away to the London Tourney at the beginning
of July, and played just terrible, blowing a 9-5 6th inning lead, in a 10-9 extra-inning loss to Gatineau, Quebec. Then,
after scoring 9 runs on 18 hits Friday night, they managed just 3 hits (including Rick Agar's solo HR) against London on Saturday,
and lost 4-1...ending their weekend. Things didn't improve when they returned to league play the next week. After
a 12-1 win over last place Streetsville, the Metros got into a mystifying "funk" that they could not seem to shake.
They lost 5 in a row (many of which could be classified as ugly) to Milton, Dundas, Burlington, Oakville, and Hamilton...bringing
their season record to 11-9-1, and dropping them into 4th place in the Johnson standings.
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| Ken Sentance hits another ball into the gap. He put up "career numbers" during his 1994 MVP run. |
One thing that wasn't ugly, was the season Ken Sentance
was enjoying with the bat. Ken, who joined the team as a pitcher the previous season, proved he could handle dual duties
as a hitter. He played 1st base and outfield (when he wasn't on the mound), and was a hitting machine through the
first 2 1/2 months of '94 (sporting a phenomenol .514 mark by the middle of July). He ended up with a final
average of .407 (44 for 108), with 4 HR, 10 SB, 36 Runs, and 37 RBI to win the Metros M.V.P. award. It would be his
best of 7 very good seasons with the team.
St. Catharines finally put a stop to their 5-game skid
on July 23, with an 18-11 win over Oakville. This win seemed to turn the club's fortunes around, just in the nick of
time. This steaky team won 5 of their last 6 games to finish the season with a 16-10-1 record, finishing in a 3rd
place tie with the Hamilton Cougars (behind Burlington and Dundas). The better news was the fact that, with Burlington,
Brampton, and Erindale going "A", and Dundas, Oakville, and Hamilton going "B", there was an opening in the "C" division for
O.B.A. honours, representing COBA. Finishing 2 1/2 games ahead of Milton, the Metros qualified for the OBA "C" tournament
in Courtright, on Labour Day weekend. It would be the only time in the Metros 25-year history that they would go "C".
St. Catharines headed to Courtright playing their best
ball of the season. Although the Metros' pitching and defense had been up and down for most of the season, the big bats of
Sentance, Keltos, French, Earle, Hedden, Agar, Lafleur, and Coull were producing solid numbers almost every night. They
would win their opening game of the tourney 8-0 (behind Jim Grebenc's 6-hit shutout) over London Lakeside, setting up a pivitol
match against the host team (and top seeded) Coutright Cardinals. With Gazzola coasting to a 4-0 lead in the 4th, the
wheels fell off, and the Cards combined 4 hits and 2 Metros errors to score 4, to tie the game. They would go on to
defeat the good guys 5-4 in extra-innings. But St. Catharines would come up with back-to-back clutch wins on Sunday,
3-1 (behind Ken MacGregor) over Timmins, and 6-5 (behind Tim Rowdon) over Essex, to advance to the finals. In that 6-5
game against Essex, Steve Earle hit two 2-run homers to erase an early 4-0 deficit. There would be no championship,
however, as Courtright, once again, defeated St. Catharines in the final, by the score of 4-2. Sentance took the loss
on the mound. The ever-present Frank Keltos batted .438 over the course of the 5 games to lead the way at the plate.
It was an O.B.A. silver medal for the club in 1994.
The Metros had one more item on their agenda, before they
could put the season to rest...the C.O.B.A. Playoffs. The league decided to institute a combination Tournament / Series
format in '94, with the top 4 teams in each division playing a round-robin tourney. The top 2 teams in the round-robin
would play each other in a 2 out of 3 semi-final, with the two semi-final winners facing off for the Championship.
The Metros did well in the tournament-style setting, going 2-1 (with wins over Hamilton and Dundas, while losing to Burlington),
and advanced to the semi-final against their arch-rivals, the Brants. But it was too much Dan Cottam, Shaun Kivell,
and Jay Lack as Burlington defeated St. Catharines in 2 games. They would also go on to defeat Erindale in
the finals, for their 3rd title in 5 years. As for the Metros, the 1994 season was over.
The 1994 O.B.A. Senior "C" Finalists -
The St. Catharines Metros
Front Row from left: Mike Coull, Carey Neal, Carey
Spiece, Ronnie French, Ken Sentance, Rick Agar, and Todd Lupa.
Back Row: Jason Candy, Dave Lafleur, Mark Walters,
Tim Rowdon, Frank Keltos, Steve Earle, Kerry Hedden, Ken MacGregor, Chris Wright, Lou Gazzola, Jim Grebenc.
In the 1993 post-season, the Metros looked
at some of the ways that the team could be improved. Offense was certainly not a concern. In one of the most potent
lineups the club ever fielded, Walters could put 5 players in the lineup that hit over .370 (Sentance, Hedden, Earle, Keltos,
and French). They also hit, as a team, 30 HR's, stole 85 bases, and scored over 340 runs. So, if the Metros were
to improve, they had to look elsewhere for the areas that needed upgrading. Here are the final numbers for the Metros
hitters (minimum 30 AB's) after the 1994 season:
Rick Agar: 65 AB, 20 H, 3 HR, 4 SB, 18 R, 12 RBI, .308
Jason
Candy: 116 AB, 33 H, 3 HR, 7 SB, 26 R, 22 RBI, .284
Mike Coull: 87 AB, 29 H, 0 HR, 5
SB, 25 R, 19 RBI, .333 Steve Earle: 115 AB, 46 H, 2 HR, 20 SB, 41 R, 24 RBI, .400
Ronnie
French: 125 AB, 47 H, 7 HR, 13 SB, 39 R, 52 RBI, .376 Jim Grebenc: 43
AB, 11 H, 0 HR, 1 SB, 5 R, 6 RBI, .256 Kerry Hedden: 74 AB, 30 H, 0 HR, 1 SB, 21 R, 19 RBI, .405 Frank Keltos: 140 AB, 53
H, 7 HR, 2 SB, 39 R, 42 RBI, .379 Dave Lafleur: 130 AB, 38 H, 2 HR, 4 SB, 26
R, 34 RBI, .292 Todd Lupa: 43 AB, 15 H, 0
HR, 0 SB, 10 R, 8 RBI, .349 Carey Neal: 93 AB, 28 H, 2
HR, 3 SB, 23 R, 12 RBI, .301 Tim Rowdon: 55 AB, 17 H, 0 HR, 2 SB,
16 R, 11 RBI, .309 Ken Sentance: 108 AB, 44 H, 4 HR, 10
SB, 36 R, 37 RBI, .407 (Metros M.V.P.) Carey
Spiece: 85 AB, 22 H, 0 HR, 10 SB, 19 R, 9 RBI, .259
While perusing the numbers after the
year had ended, Walters discovered that their defense (mostly infield, and catching) had come up with their worst year
in club history. And the pitching had taken a step back, even from their sub-par year of 1993. Rookie MacGregor
had pitched pretty well but had nothing to show for it, while even the veteran Gazzola (despite winning his 4th straight team
"Top Pitcher award") saw his ERA balloon by more than a run and a half per game. Here are the final
numbers for the '94 Metros' regular pitchers:
Lou Gazzola: 84 Inn., 95 H, 20
BB, 58 K, 2 Sv., 7 - 5, 3.86 ERA (Metros' Top Pitcher) Jim Grebenc: 66
Inn., 73 H, 42 BB, 38 K, 0 Sv., 5 - 6, 4.91 ERA Ken MacGregor: 65 Inn., 63 H, 54
BB, 55 K, 0 Sv., 1 - 4, 4.15 ERA Tim Rowdon: 18 Inn., 19 H, 5 BB, 6 K, 0 Sv., 2 - 0, 5.50
ERA Ken Sentance: 30 Inn., 33 H, 18 BB, 18 K, 0 Sv., 2 - 2, 4.20 ERA Chris Wright:
15 Inn., 15 H, 16 BB, 17 K, 2 Sv., 0 - 0, 7.20 ERA
The old adage says
that, "It's always darkest before the dawn". Those words could not be more true when talking about the next
couple of seasons for the St. Catharines Metros. The team would have their day in the sun...but first up was the season
that would make all other seasons look good, by comparison. Click on "1995" to read that story,
when we revisit the "Metros History in Words and Pictures".
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