San Diego Surf
Code:
Seasons: 34
Record: 2617-2891(.475)
Average Record: 77-85
Championships: NONE
Pennants: NONE
Divisions: 8(1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000)
Wild Cards: NONE
Most Wins: 100(1994)
Most Losses: 116(2014)
Silver Sluggers: 2
1999 OF Bernardo Ibanez .296, 75 XBH, 104 RBI
2000 3B Ronnie Pickles .293, 77 XBH, 114 RBI
Bronze Arms 2
1997 Chad Fore 21-8, 2.34 ERA, 201 K
1999 Chad Fore 20-5, 2.34 ERA, 198
Platinum Rookies: 2
1993 OF Bernardo Ibanez .231, 57 XBH, 91 RS
2008 1B Augustine Delgado .317 BA, 60 XBH, 103 RBI
Hall of Famers: 1
P Chad Fore
The fans in sunny San Diego have waited a long time to see the Surf play for a USBA championship, 34 years to be exact. The San Diego franchise is one of only three to never have won a USBA League pennant. The Surf are also one of just three clubs to have never won a wildcard. While the Surf did tease it's fans with greatness during the early days of the USBA, it's been almost 20 seasons since their last playoff appearance.
From 1985 through 2002 the Surf won almost 52% of their games and claimed eight Pacific Division titles including five consecutive from 1993 to 1997. Even stacked with such players as Chad Fore, Brian Nuckols, Bernardo Ibanez, and Langford Becker the team could not get over the mountain to the promise land. Four different times the Surf played for the Freedom League pennant and each time they went home to watch the USBA Championship on television. San Diego's first shot at a pennant came in 1990 when the Surf surprised everyone in the Pacific by besting the Crazed Natives by two games and then swept LA in the division series only to lose to eventual champion Alaska 4-1 in the LCS. Five seasons and two first round sweeps later the Surf would find themselves in the LCS as the heavy favorites to defeat the 86 win Seattle Stingrays. The Rays would win the series in seven games winning game seven in San Diego, a 7-6 heart breaker for the Surf. The Surf would not make it out of the first round of the playoffs in 1996 or 1997 before missing the playoffs in 1998. 1999 and 2000 would produce back to back LCS appearances for San Diego and two more missed opportunities losing both times to New York.
Surf fans were spoiled with playoff appearances but a USBA Championship had managed to elude the team. Those playoff years would come to be known as “the glory years” in San Diego as the team would soon fall off the map. After two winning but non-playoff seasons in 2001 and 2002 the team would go on to post 12 losing seasons out of the next 16 losing 100+ games in six of those campaigns. In 2014 and 2015 the Surf would hit rock bottom losing 227 games combined while winning only 97.
The 30th overall pick in 1987, Chad Fore made his USBA debut 5 years later at the age of 23. After a rough rookie campaign, Fore posted 13 consecutive sub-4.00 ERA seasons for the Surf (including 7 sub-3.00 seasons). The righty won two Bronze Awards, each in his two 20-win seasons ('97 and '99), and he made four all-star appearances. He tops the Surf list in career ERA and Win%, and falls just short in wins and strikeouts. Fore and the Surf came up just short of post-season immortality by losing in the 1995 and 2000 FL Championship series, with Fore posting a 3.87 ERA and 5-4 record in 14 post-season starts. San Diego would let him walk after the 2003 season, and though the aging vet had lost a little, his 32-32 record in 3 seasons for the Scorpions is a solid mark considering the club was 33 games under .500 during his time there. At the time of his retirement after the 2007 season, Fore ranked 11th in W (209), 13th in ERA (3.09), 21st in K (2608), 27th in Win% (61.3), and 35th in WHIP (1.13).
P Chad Fore(2 BA, 4 AS, 209-132, 3.09 ERA, 3149 IP, 2608 K, 1.13 WHIP)
**HOF Bios from USBA HOF page if available