Who is the man: Preston Gomez managed the second-year Padres to another last-place finish in 1970. It'd be more of the same in 1971.
Can ya dig it: Gomez sure looks like he knows what he's doing for someone leading a team that lost 99 games.
Right on: Another spotless and sharp 1971 high number. Love it.
You see that cat Gomez is a bad mother: Gomez was the Dodgers' third base coach when they reached the World Series in 1965 and 1966 and 1977 and 1978.
Shut your mouth: Gomez's first name is actually "Pedro". He was nicknamed "Preston" after his hometown of Central Preston, Cuba.
No one understands him but his woman: Gomez is known for lifting pitcher Clay Kirby in the eighth inning for a pinch-hitter while Kirby was pitching a no-hitter against the Mets. The Padres were trailing 1-0 but after Kirby was out of the game, the Mets added two more runs to win 3-0. The Padres still haven't pitched a no-hitter.
(A word about the back): A testimonial from Smokey!
Finished last as a manager every year but one, when he took the Astros to a .500 record in 1974. The next year was over thirty games worse when he was fired.
ReplyDeleteGomez was the manager of the 1959 Havana Sugar Kings who won the AAA minor league Championship. It's an entertaining story with the backdrop being the political chaos that was the Castro led revolution. It wasn't so much the Minneapolis Millers lost they were just happy to have survived the ordeal.
ReplyDeleteWell the Padres did improve by 11 games from '69 to '70 so maybe he thought he did know what he was doing.
ReplyDeleteAfter 1969 there was no where to go but up. One thing the 1970 Padres did over first year squad was up their run production by over 200 runs over the course of the season. Most of it was due to 1721 home runs a club mark until the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
ReplyDeleteOver 1700 HRs in one season?! Talk about underachieving?!? How’d they ever lose???
DeleteNot as well remembered is that when Gomez was manager of the Astros, he pulled Don Wilson while he was pitching a no-hitter under circumstances identical to the Clay Kirby game. It would have been Wilson's third no-hitter. Gómez was an ass. In both circumstances his team was so far out of any pennant contention that it seemed to me a case of "phony hustle" his pulling his pitchers that way.
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