Phoenix, AZ

What I Remember

The Phoenix metro area today has major league franchises in all four major American sports but in 1991 there were just the Suns and the city was still a Triple-A town. Even so, while there was a good crowd on hand for a Friday night game, Phoenix Municipal Stadium seemed pretty low key in comparison to Las Vegas ans Tucson, which had been our other two stops in the Pacific Coast League at that point.

It might have just been me, though. The beautiful weather and gorgeous scenery in the Valley of the Sun made me feel like we were on summer vacation and we camped at a fantastic county park, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, a few miles northeast of Scottsdale.

The Game(s)

Phoenix Firebirds 2 Portland Beavers 1

The Box (Click on arrows to see more images)

Before we left home in New Hampshire that spring I had convinced the local paper to take a column I would write each week from the road and also, occasionally, write a feature about players with a local connection that were playing in the minors. One of those came in Phoenix where I interviewed Mike Remlinger who had been a star pitcher at Dartmouth College and would soon begin a 53-win major league career.

The Trip