The 2021 Santa Fe Fuego
The 2022 Santa Fe Fuego, maybe the best team picture in team history!
The 2022 Pecos League season didn't go exactly as planned. We got off to the best record in team history at 8-2 but we failed to make the playoffs anyway. We had a lot of pitching and injury issues and faded down the stretch. It didn't help that two selfish players quit the team, Josh Mosley and Luis Hidalgo. I don't like quitters and I always look to help my players in their careers and beyond. But if you quit on the team and me, I have no use for you.
Still it was an interesting and challenging season. For the second year in a row, Jared Gay led the league in home runs, this season with 21. Our centerfielder Parker DePasquale moved up, taken by the MLB Draft League. When players move up, it is obviously tough on the team to replace that player. But that's what I want, players to move up.
We signed one pitcher, Gage Smart, a lefty from Iowa. He had been released by the Pioneer League. He got to Santa Fe, threw a bullpen, looked good and then went out to shag balls during batting practice. Ten minutes after BP, he got a call. He came to me in the press box where I was writing out the lineup. "I got an offer from New Jersey (Jackals, Frontier League). I just got here. What should I do?" I asked him if it was a solid contractual offer or just a tryout. It was a firm offer to play. "You gotta go Gage." So after we took a couple of pictures, he and his dad, after driving all the way to Santa Fe, New Mexico were now on their way to Montclair, New Jersey. Such is the life of an Independent baseball player and manager.
The Fuego play their home games at intimate and tradition-laden Fort Marcy Ballpark. The first game played at Fort Marcy Ballpark was May 2, 1947. But it has not been maintained very well. Because of Fort Marcy and it's terrible playing surface, incredibly small dimensions at 7,200 feet altitude (with the wind always blowing out!), it's an impossible park for pitchers. I admire my pitchers for being willing to tackle Fort Marcy Park. But I can no longer ask pitchers to come to Santa Fe in that crappy environment. I almost feel guilty when a guy gives up a routine pop up to rightfield and the ball floats out for a home run. It is just 283 down the rightfield line and it cuts across to dead center at 355. It's a joke. I've asked for a screen (The Screen Monster!) which would help keep balls in the ballpark. But my pleas always fell on deaf ears. So with the poor condition of the field, the small dimensions at high altitude, I decided that 2022 would be my last year managing in Santa Fe.
We had several players miss games due to injuries, either stepping in a hole on the field or getting a bad hop in the face. I would say to people who don't care about the condition of the field, "why don't you play third base tonight? See how you like it."
The sad thing is the place could be really nice, a true gem. Fix up up the field, put a screen up in right field, put new outfield fencing in and you'll have a much, much nicer ballpark. If they have nice fields in Alpine, Texas; Garden City, Kansas; Tucson, Arizona or Trinidad, Colorado, why can't we have a nice place to play in Santa Fe, New Mexico? Also, fixing the bathrooms would help. Nobody could use the toilets because they wouldn't flush. It's been like that for several years now.
I was also blamed, as Commissioner Andrew Dunn told me on numerous occasions, "for running off the umpires." This season, the league was going to go with "local" umpires in Santa Fe. There were four local umpires and they rotated throughout the early part of the season. I had no issue with that until I saw how terrible they were. I'm a pretty calm manager but when the umpires don't know the rules I tend to flip out. I also don't like umpires who show up with awful attitudes and that's what we got with these guys, mainly a guy named Oliver. Cedric also had an attitude problem. Ron and the other guy who's name I can't recall, were alright attitude wise. They all ended up quitting mid-season and we had to scramble for umpires. Why did they quit? My fault according to the commissioner.
Here is what happened. I wasn't happy with their inconsistent strike zones. One night, the home plate ump Ron, didn't call a single pitch a strike above the belt. There were a combined 20-plus walks and both team's pitchers were apoplectic on the strike zone.
The next day, at the home plate meeting, I asked Chris Jordan, Trinidad's starting pitcher the night before who brought out the lineup card, "did you get any strikes called above the belt?" He said, "no." Then I asked the home plate umpire, "what is your strike zone?"
He replied, "from the elbows to the knees." There is nothing in the rule book that discusses the elbows in regard to the strike zone. When I told him that, Cedric, the base umpire that evening, got irritated. He said, "we have our own zones, we can call anything we want." When I said, "no, you can't. You have to follow the book rule strike zone. If 'your zone' is from the nose to the ankles, you're good with that?" "Yes, if it's our zone," Cedric said. When I then said that he needs to read about the strike zone in the rule book, he answered with, "there is nothing in the rule book about the strike zone, it's up to the umpires." I responded, "that's asinine." Clearly I wasn't getting anywhere with this. Then we quickly went over the ground rules, shook hands and stood for the National Anthem as I was fuming at these umpires.
As soon as the anthem was over, I raced back to our dugout and called JD Droddy the league adjudicator. I told him exactly what transpired at the home plate meeting and he got angry at the umpires. "It's not their strike zone, they have to follow the rules."
So JD (no periods) sent over a description and sketch of the strike zone that is to be used by the umpires. He sent it to Oliver, who runs the local umps, but wasn't working the game that night. Oliver was ticked off and called JD screaming. Oliver said they could call anything they wanted because they weren't Pecos League umpires. JD said, "If you are cashing Pecos League checks, then you are Pecos League umpires." Oliver, who had threatened to quit every time he showed up at the ballpark, this time finally did it. He, and his three other umpires quit after our game. To which my feelings were, "good. Get lost." But now we had to scramble for umps and I was the bad guy for, as Andrew Dunn reminds me constantly, "you ran off the umps Bill." I think I should have been commended for 'running them off.' We ended up getting better umpires.
Here are just two examples of the local Santa Fe umpires not knowing the rules. In the second game of the season, my third baseman Manny Cachora hit a leadoff double. The next batter hit one to centerfield which was caught in front of the 355 sign. I yelled to Manny to tag up. He was about two feet off the bag when the catch was made. He then just stuck his foot out, touched the base and ran to third, making it easily without a throw. Roswell appealed that he left too early. Manny and me were standing at third base knowing he would be called safe. WRONG! The umpire called him out for not tagging up. I went out to argue and was told, "he didn't have his foot on the bag when the catch was made." When I told him he doesn't have to, all he has to do is touch the base at any time, that's why it's called tagging up, I was told to, "shut up and another word out of you and you are gone."
Another play where the umpires didn't know the rule was in a game against Wasco. There were two outs, a man on first and he took off on the pitch. The batter hit a sharp one hopper to pitcher Matt Sanchez who deflected it. The ball hit the runner about 15 feet before the base. The umpire called him out for getting hit by a batted ball. When Wasco didn't come out to argue, I said to my pitching coach Paul Risso, "we got away with one there!" We both laughed and knew that the runner shouldn't have been called out and it's a live ball because one of our players had an opportunity to field the ball. Those kinds of things drive me nuts. An umpire needs to know the rules inside and out but our local umps didn't know basic rules or the strike zone. But again, I was the bad guy for 'running off the umps.' At least we won that game.
We were screwed by an ump in Garden City, a guy named Dave, because he didn't know the rules and he lied to me. One of my players, the quitter Hidalgo, hit a ground ball to short. Close play at first and the low throw got past the first baseman. Hidalgo made a quick turn to second, an attempt, and then realized he wasn't going to make it so he hustled back to first base. The first baseman dove and tagged the bag with his glove. A split second later Hidalgo's foot hit the other side of the bag. Safe should have been the call. He was called out. I went out to argue with Dave. "Did my player's foot hit the bag when he crossed first base?" "Yes," was Dave's response. "Why did you call him out?" "Because the first baseman tagged the bag before the runner's foot." That's when I had him. "He has to tag his foot, not the base because it's not a force play anymore because he had touched the base when he ran past the bag." Here is the lying part. "He tagged his foot before it hit the bag." "That's not what you said. You lied to me Dave." Meanwhile, the home plate umpire told the next batter, during this argument, that I was right and the runner should be safe. The batter told me to ask the home plate umpire for help, which I did. The home plate umpire went out to talk to Davey boy. The result. The runner was still out. I was not happy at all.
Later in the game, with a lefthanded batter at the plate, we had runners on first and second so Dave was in the 'C' position, near second base, shaded to third. My batter checked his swing. He didn't go from my vantage point in the third base coach's box. But the home plate ump said he did swing. Ugh. I walked down to bark at the ump and said, "hey, why don't you ask for help on that....granted that guy out there isn't much help but ask anyway." That ticked off Dave, and he was right to get mad at me. He yelled, "another word out of you and you're gone." I stared at him, he stared back and this went on for 20-seconds or so until the Garden City pitcher made a pitch and useless Dave had to watch the game. So I won a staring contest that night and not much else. We lost the game.
The last umpire story I'll share is from a steamy night in Roswell, a dusty sandpit in the middle of New Mexico, where we got screwed over. We were up 4-3 in the bottom of the 7th. Important game. With one out and nobody on, their batter hit a little dribbler up the third base line. From my vantage point in the third base dugout, it looked clearly as if the ball was hit straight down into the ground. The batter didn't run. The home plate umpire didn't signal foul ball. The first base umpire didn't signal foul ball. My third baseman Cachora fielded the slow roller, threw to first and the umpire, a guy name Larry, made the out call. Roswell's player/manager Lance Myers stormed out of the dugout to claim the ball hit the batter and should be a foul ball. The Roswell bench and their fans were also screaming at the umps. So the umpires huddled together for about a minute. Then they signaled, "foul ball." What? I ran out there and said to the home plate umpire, "you didn't see it so you didn't signal foul ball." He agreed. Then I said to Larry, "you didn't see it either or you would have called foul ball. Because you didn't see it you called the batter out. So why did you guess and call it a foul ball? You're both speculating." I was basically told, "it's a foul ball, shut up and go back to the dugout." I screamed, "why don't you leave and let Roswell call the game...or let those fans call the game," as I pointed at the crowd. "That's terrible." I went back to the dugout irate. Of course you know what happened on the very next pitch. Home run, tie ball game and I snapped. I broke my beloved fungo bat on the dugout railing. I picked up the garbage can and flung it the length of the dugout. I threw the metal folding chair I had been sitting on against the back of the cinderblock dugout wall and it made a huge noise and broke in half. I proceeded to scream at the umpires from the dugout for the next 30-seconds. I wanted to get thrown out but for as much as I spewed venom at the umpires, they didn't throw me out. I think I know why. When a manager get ejected, the umpires have to file a report with the league office. The league office then contacts the manager to get his side of the story. I believe the umpires knew they messed up big time and didn't want to let the league know how inept they were in changing their call. The game completely changed from that moment on and we went on to lose.
So as you might surmise, I wasn't a big fan of the umpires this season. But being the Pecos League, you never know what to expect. We did swing a trade and it was rather unconventional. We needed pitching help, badly. Tucson had a pitcher named Matt Fountain, who wasn't pitching much at all. He had just five innings of work two-thirds of the way into the season. I know Matt from when he played for Salina in Houston during the 2020 covid season. He pitched for the Saguaros last season but didn't get many innings from Manager Sean McNeill. Matt wanted to come to pitch in Santa Fe. He knew we needed him and he knew he would get a chance to pitch. So I called McNeill. "Sean, you aren't using him. Just release him." That would be the prudent thing to do. Let him go so he has a chance to pitch. But Sean is a Philly guy and I figured he would want something. He did. "I can't just let him go, I need something." I reasoned with him, "Sean, I don't have players you want. You don't want any of my pitchers. Just release him." "I can't do that. How about, feed us?" Feed us? "What do you mean?" "Buy my team pizza so we can eat after a game." I thought it over. OK. I can swing that. "I'll give you $50 bucks for pizza." "Pizza is more than that Bill. How about 100-bucks." I figured I'd negotiate. "How about we split the difference and I give you 75-dollars." Sean pondered my offer briefly and said, "OK, we have a deal. Wait, what about tax? Make it 80-bucks." I've actually grown to like Sean. He's a pain in the ass at times in a Philadelphia kind of way. I agreed and we made the deal. So I got a relief pitcher in Matt Fountain for $80 worth of pizza. Now, I didn't want to crush Fountain's feelings. Who wants to be traded for pizza? So I told McNeill, "why don't we just announce that we traded Fountain for 'future considerations?'" Sean said he was fine with that. So a day later, when Fountain joined us in Santa Fe, the first thing he said to me was, "hey Rogan, so I got traded for pizza?"
One individual highlight occured early in the season when we were beating up Weimar pretty handily at home. In the bottom of the 7th, I was coaching third base and realized I had to use the restroom. No problem, I'll just wait until the inning is over. Well, we scored a bunch of runs. Weimar was walking batters, giving up hits and things were getting ugly in our favor. The issue was, I had to go. It was a long inning and I couldn't hold it anymore. A little bit of urine flowed out. I realized I was in trouble. I didn't want to piss myself in front of everybody so I called time out. Running towards home plate, I called for first base coach Paul Risso to go coach third. As I was making my way past the umpire, who had a confused look, I said loud enough for just him to hear, "I gotta take a piss." I ran up the stairs to the bathroom where the urinals work but the toilets don't. After finishing my whiz, I exited the restroom to...an ovation! And, we were still hitting. I ran down the steps, returned to the field and coached first base for the rest of the inning. I had never been applauded before after urinating. Well, maybe as an infant while getting potty trained. Later that night at my hotel room, I took another whiz. Unfortunately, no applause.
My favorite moment of 2022 though happened in the last game of the season. Its roots took place two winters prior. One night in the winter of 2020, I awoke from a dream. In that dream we pulled off a trick play. I wrote a couple of notes and went back to sleep. I didn't incorporate the play in 2021 but in 2022 we worked on it in spring training. Most players were amused by it, just about all were skeptical and one, Jared Gay, was opposed to it saying, "it will never work." After spring training we worked on it from time to time in early work before batting practice. It was a play of deception and would only work if there was an agressive baserunner for the other team and everyone on the infield played their part. I was hoping to use it late in a game when we had a one run lead and needed an out. We also were only going to use it if we had trouble throwing that particular runner out. At this point, we never had a chance to use the play and I was desperate to know if it would work. If it backfired and didn't work, we would look like idiots. If it worked it would be great and quite funny actually. So here is what happened...
Garden City had a Japanese centerfielder named Koki Matsuda. Great player. We couldn't get him out and he stole bases like crazy. I told the guys, if Matsuda gets on be ready to put on the 'You da man' play. Sure enough, Matsuda led off with a single. I yelled out to our pitcher, Evan Nakagawa, the play. "You da man Evan Nakagawa, you da man!" Saying 'you da man' and the pitcher's first and last name was the verbal cue that the play was on. Jared Gay, playing first looked at me as if to say, "this isn't going to work."
For the first time this season, I wanted Matsuda to try and steal second base. He didn't go the first two pitches. Dang. On the third pitch he went. Nakagawa's pitch was in the dirt but catcher Tyler Carpenter scooped it cleanly and threw...to first base? Yes he did. Then everybody did what they were supposed to do. Tyler, after throwing the ball, ran to the backstop, disgarding his mask and angling towards the third base side of the fence, trying to get in the line of vision of the runner. Nakagawa came off the mound pointing to the backstop. Second baseman Declan Peterson went to go cover the bag but then moved 10-feet or so in front of the bag while pointing and yelling, "to your left, to your left." By vacating the bag, that prompted Matsuda to move off the bag towards third. Shortstop Phil Buckingham moved forward and, like Declan, pointed and hollered, "to your left, to your left." Third baseman Manny Cachora tried to get in the line of vision of the third base coach and the runner while pointing to the backstop. All the while Tyler was frantically looking for the baseball with his hands stretched out as if to say, "help, where's the ball?" Jared at first base, actually didn't do what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to walk slowly towards the pitchers mound with his bare right hand outstretched, basically saying, "why are we screwing up again?" By moving towards the mound it would make a shorter throw to third if Matsuda decided to take an extra base. It would also make a shorter throw if he rounded second and sniffed the play out and tried to get back to the bag. Declan was to return to second if Matsuda made a huge turn. Anyway, Jared caught the throw from Tyler and actually turned his back on the play for a moment. Matsuda bit hook line and sinker. He ran to second standing as he saw Peterson move in front of the bag. He immediately looked home and saw Carpenter deperately looking for the ball. With everybody pointing and yelling, Matsuda, after a brief hesitation, took off for third. Once Jared saw Matsuda was past the point of no return, he fired a seed across the diamond to Cachora who simply applied the tag to a stunned Matsuda, about 15 feet from the base.
The entire team was pumped up. I was excited as can be. The play worked! It actually worked! Our team laughed like crazy and so did Garden City and the fans, once they realized what happened. It was a crazy play that worked to perfection. Jared was fired up on the field but when he came back to the dugout he said with a smile, "I hate you Bill. I bleeping hate you!" We had a good laugh and it was fun to see a play we worked on in spring training pan out on the last day of the season. I don't know if I invented the play. In all the years that baseball has been played, I'm sure someone must have tried it, right? Maybe I just haven't seen it. I actually think the play would also work in the Major Leagues under the right circumstances.
So while 2022 didn't end as I had hoped or anticipated, it was a great experience and I'm indebted to the players who night in and night out gave me everything they had. Sometimes it was good enough, sometimes it wasn't but that's baseball. Things don't always go your way. I don't know where, or if, I'll manage next season. I loved my time in Santa Fe and I just wish there was more of a commitment from the city to fix up Fort Marcy Park. It just seems it was an uphill battle everyday. It is so well below professional standards, it's a shame for the players who play there and the great fans who show up and have to watch games in a park that's falling apart and to see games altered by the easy home runs and the vicious bad hops. Hopefully at some point they will realize what they have and what could be. Nonetheless, I'll always be a fan of the Santa Fe Fuego.
Above: The dump known as Fort Marcy Park.
Below: The 2022 Santa Fe Fuego All Stars.
L-R: C Tyler Carpenter, OF Jesus Chavez, 1B Jared Gay, 3B Manny Cachora, SS Phil Buckingham, OF Parker DePasquale, P Matt Sanchez.
The Fuego 2021 All-Stars: (Left to Right) Bullpen Catcher Magic Mike Hernandez, RHP Aaron McIntyre, RHP Augie Voight, OF-1B Ryan Bernardy, SS-2B Parker DePasquale, 1B-3B Jared Gay, IF-OF Phil Buckingham, CF Big Bad Ben Tingen, and BR with my trusty fungo bat (that I broke in Roswell in 2022 in a fit of anger directed at the umpires).
I spent the summer of 2020 in Houston. Click the link to read more.
http://www.pecosleague.com/pecosleague.asp?page=28&article_id=10920
Some HR calls off the bat of one of my favorite players, Gary Mason Junior.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJMpraHrCOA
Will Webber from the Santa Fe New Mexican
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/sports/new-fuego-skipper-will-call-all-pecos-league-games/article_1940b6b4-a829-11ea-8cad-2bb6cd8816d2.html
My old baseball broadcasting partner Rick Shultz did an interview with me.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/810608/3124666
Was on the popular podcast "Hooks and Runs" with Craig and Eric.
https://www.audible.com/pd/Ep-34-If-You-Take-Batting-Practice-There-Youre-Gonna-Have-to-Fight-Rattlesnakes-w-Bill-Rogan-Podcast/B08KWWSV5Y
Proof, undeniable proof, that Sasquatch exists. He's a lot smaller than I thought...and he can't throw a lick. Bounced the ceremonial first pitch, then turned and ran towards left-centerfield, ran through the fence and into the woods. Jared Gay, #25, could kick Sasquatch's ass! By the way, this might be the only non-blurry photo of Sasquatch.
Do aliens exist? They do and here is, like the above photo of Sasquatch, UNDENIABLE PROOF, that aliens exist. At first I was somewhat stunned and a bit fearful. It was my first encounter with an alien, at least one from outer space. However, in short order I realized this particular alien was friendly and simply wanted to watch a ballgame.
