So long, Skeldon: 10 special games

9/3/2001

Skeldon Stadium has hosted more than 2,600 Mud Hen games since it opened in 1965. The top 10:

  • 1. - SEPT. 8, 1967: The Hens had lost the first two games of their best-of-five playoff series against Richmond before returning home to play Game 3 at the Rec Center. The Hens quickly fell behind by four runs, but rallied to win 6-5, turning the series around and sweeping the next two games from the Braves. Toledo then beat Columbus four games to one to win the Mud Hens' only Governors' Cup title in the modern era.

  • 2. - AUG. 17, 1994: With national attention on the minor leagues because of the major league baseball strike, Jose Lima grabbed the spotlight by throwing a no-hitter against Pawtucket. The game highlights were broadcast nationally as Lima became the only Hens pitcher to throw a nine-inning no-hitter at Skeldon Stadium.

  • 3. - AUG. 9, 1997: Bubba Trammell pounded Richmond pitching for four home runs, including the game-winning solo shot as the Hens beat the Braves 11-10 in 13 innings. Trammell became just the eighth player in International League history to hit four homers in one game.

  • 4. - JUNE 10, 1992: Talk about being in a hole - the Hens trailed Rochester 13-3 after just three innings. No problem, though, as the Hens posted two five-run innings and a four-run rally to come back and beat the Red Wings 17-15.

  • 5.- SEPT. 15, 1967: The Hens claim the team's one and only Governors' Cup title by beating the Columbus Jets 1-0. Jim Rooker threw a one-hitter, and the winning run scored in the bottom of the ninth on a single by Ron Woods.

  • 6. - AUGUST 16, 1983: The Hens trailed Richmond 7-0 in the bottom of the seventh, but scored one run in the seventh and six in the ninth - including four on a two-out, pinch-hit grand slam by Greg Johnston - to tie the game. The Braves scored once in the top of the 10th, but the Hens scored twice in the bottom of the inning to win.

  • 7. - JULY 16, 1972: Joe Niekro shut down Tidewater as the Hens claimed a 2-0 victory. Actually, "shut down" doesn't do justice to Niekro's effort; he tossed a seven-inning perfect game that day, one of just 10 in IL history.

  • 8. - JUNE 7-9, 2000: Yes, you're right, this isn't one game. But one game wasn't enough to contain the media horde that descended on Toledo after John Rocker was demoted to the minors by Atlanta. More than 100 media credentials were issued for the series, Rocker's first games after the demotion.

  • 9. - JULY 14, 1966: It was "Pony Day" at the Lucas County Rec Center, and every kid in attendance wanted to win the pony that was being given away. And there were a lot of kids there; the attendance was 13,695, a stadium record.

  • 10. - APRIL 23, 1986: Before the 1985 World Series Bob Costas told television viewers that he once was a utility infielder for the Hens. It wasn't true, but on this night Costas really was a Hen, coaching first base and spending time in the radio booth as the Hens lost both ends of a doubleheader against Maine.

    - JOHN WAGNER