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Thunderchickens Win Big
In a story of Worst to First, Dennis Jennings
took his 1984 Twin City Thunderchickens of 1984 and turned them around to
first place finishers in 1985. He did it in style breaking the
all-time record for the best won-loss record for a season winning
115. No other manager has won more than 105 games in a season. He did that with the help of MVP Harold Baines who led
the IAL in .slugging with 629 and was second in rbis with 139.
He also had help from Ryne Sandberg (.322, 18 triples) and Dwight
Evans (132 rbis). Ironically, there were no 20 game winners on
Jennings' staff. In fact, no pitcher won 18 or 19 either.
The wins were about as evenly distributed as possible. Three
won 17 and two won 16.
Highest Win Total
by a Manager
|
Year |
Place |
ILLOWA LEAGUE |
W |
L |
PCT |
GB |
Manager |
|
1985 |
1 |
Twin Cities Thunderchickens |
115 |
47 |
.710 |
0 |
Dennis Jennings |
|
1993 |
1 |
Northside Hitmen |
105 |
56 |
.652 |
0 |
Chuck Lucas |
|
1999 |
1 |
Aurora Gamblers |
104 |
58 |
.642 |
0 |
Todd Ventresca |
|
1980 |
1 |
Quad Cities Thunderchickens |
103 |
58 |
.640 |
0 |
Dennis Jennings |
|
1998 |
1 |
Aurora Gamblers |
103 |
59 |
.636 |
0 |
Todd Ventresca |
|
2001 |
1 |
Northside Hitmen |
103 |
59 |
.636 |
0 |
Chuck Lucas |
|
2004 |
1 |
Northside Hitmen |
103 |
59 |
.636 |
0 |
Chuck Lucas |
|
1987 |
1 |
Twin Cities Thunderchickens |
102 |
59 |
.634 |
0 |
Dennis Jennings |
|
1990 |
1 |
Northside Hitmen |
102 |
59 |
.634 |
0 |
Chuck Lucas |
|
1999 |
2 |
Twin Cities Thunderchickens |
102 |
60 |
.630 |
2 |
Tom Nelshoppen |
|
1985 W-L Totals for 115-47
Twin City
Thunderchickens Pitchers
|
Pitcher |
W |
L |
|
Bob Knepper |
17 |
8 |
|
Eric Show |
17 |
6 |
|
Ron Romanick |
17 |
7 |
|
John Candelaria |
16 |
5 |
|
Bill Gullickson |
16 |
9 |
|
Bill Dawley |
13 |
5 |
|
Frank DiPino |
7 |
3 |
|
Lee Smith |
6 |
3 |
|
Burt Hooton |
3 |
0 |
|
Dave LaPoint |
2 |
0 |
|
Edwin Nunez |
1 |
1 |
|
Once again though, it not the first place team
that won the World Championship. Third place Chicago Champions
with Orel Hershiser (2.28 ERA),
Mike Schmidt (41 HR), and
Cal Ripken
(.544 slg) who prevailed in the postseason.
Hell's Kitchen Twelvetree outfielder Tony Armas
made a run for the homerun crown but came up 10 short and ended up
with 56. He remains 14th on the all-time list today.
Green Rock Bomber pitcher Mike Witt won the Cy
Young by virtue of his league-leading 21 wins and 2.63 ERA (second
in the league).
A Season of Futility for the Mercenaries
But one aspect of 1985 that remains one of the
most interesting is the Rob Taylor's Chicago Mercenaries record
36-126. This loss total eclipses the next highest loss total,
the Gehlen J's in 1979 who went 47-135, by nine games.
Lowest Win Total by a Manager
|
Year |
Place |
ILLOWA LEAGUE |
W |
L |
PCT |
GB |
Manager |
|
1985 |
10 |
Chicago Mercenaries |
36 |
126 |
.222 |
79 |
Rob Taylor |
|
1979 |
8 |
Gehlen J's |
47 |
114 |
.292 |
52 |
Nick Tegeler |
|
1990 |
8 |
Twin Cities Thunderchickens |
51 |
110 |
.317 |
51 |
Tom Nelshoppen |
|
2001 |
10 |
Twin Cities Thunderchickens |
55 |
107 |
.340 |
48 |
Tom Nelshoppen |
|
1993 |
8 |
Maquoketa Cardinals |
55 |
106 |
.342 |
50 |
Tom Reisdorph |
|
2000 |
10 |
State Street Sluggers |
58 |
104 |
.358 |
44 |
Nick Ventresca |
|
1983 |
10 |
Dubuque Athletics |
59 |
103 |
.364 |
35 |
Tom Nelson |
|
1988 |
8 |
Evanston Phoenix |
58 |
103 |
.360 |
35 |
Dave Mensch |
|
1982 |
8 |
Northside Hitmen |
59 |
102 |
.366 |
34 |
Chuck Lucas |
|
2002 |
10 |
Green Rock Bombers |
61 |
101 |
.377 |
37 |
Mike Bunch |
|
To put it in perspective, my lowly Twin Lakes Fuzzy
Monsters lost 100 games that year and were still 26 games ahead
of the Mercs.
What was the story behind that? Honestly, I
don't know all the details. I can post the Mercs' roster for
your perusal.
|
Player |
G |
AB |
R |
H |
2B |
3B |
HR |
RBI |
BB |
SO |
SB |
AVG |
SLG |
|
|
Tim Raines |
155 |
611 |
101 |
191 |
42 |
9 |
5 |
46 |
71 |
54 |
80 |
.313 |
.435 |
|
|
Garry Maddox |
|