Bringing Baseball to Orlando in 1994 - The Orlando Orbit

tobin834 · 04-05-2018, 11:01 PM

For those who have followed my Charlotte Speed season, I am sorry. I am very new to this game and in my learning curve forgot a few things. Namely, that I needed to “Generate Fictional Schedule” for my Minor Leagues to work. I also realized that, while this is fun, I'm still very new to this game and I was spending more time generating images than actually worrying about the game and playing it. For me, typing out the information and re-hashing the information through writing, helps me make more careful decisions and ultimately enjoy the game more on a day-to-day basis. While graphics will still play apart, they will not be in every post.

A special thank you to Westheim and his Raccoons Report which really gave me a new way to present this. Know that a lot of the inspiration for this change came from how clean his came across. I suggest you go to his journal and read it. I can't recommend it enough.

So, without anything further.. here we go.

The year was 1993. Just months prior the MLB offices and the Players Association settled their differences. It would have been the end of the 1994 season – a season that Orlando had been looking forward to since the late 70's since the first application had been submitted by then Mayor Carl T. Langford. Back then Orlando was a community of just 128,000 residents and 471,000 in the county. Langford's bid came primarily because of the tourists that the area received. Still, Major League Baseball shut him down in 1979, 1983, 1987, and finally in 1988 until finally realizing that this crazy man wasn't going away anytime soon. Langford was sure that the major league franchise would help grow Orlando to be a major city in the country due to the national notoriety it would get by having a professional franchise. The NBA's Magic came in 1989 and Langford was a big part of that. He was able to bring baseball to Orlando in 1994.

After the Expansion Draft and the key Free Agent signing of Ron Gant, coming off a 36 Home Run year with the Reds, our Opening Day lineup looked like this:

1- Omar Vizquel (.255, HR, 31 RBI)
2- Javy Lopez (.305, 17 HR, 74 RBI AAA stats)
3- Mickey Tettleton (.245, 32 HR, 110 RBI)
4- Ron Gant (.274, 36 HR, 117 RBI)
5- Cecil Fielder (.267, 30 HR, 117 RBI)
6- Charlie Hayes (.305, 25 HR, 98 RBI)
7- Mike Lansing (.287, 3 HR, 45 RBI)
8- Bo Jackson (.232, 16 HR, 45 RBI)
9- Pitcher

SP
1- Alex Fernandez ( 8-11, 3.13 ERA)
2- John Smoltz ( 15-11, 3.62 ERA)
3- Jason Bere ( 8-5, 1.98 ERA AA stats)
4- Pedro Astacio ( 14-9, 3.57 ERA)
5- Todd Stottlemyre ( 11-12, 4.84 ERA)

CP
1- Pete Schourek ( 5-12, 5.96 ERA 0 Saves)[/FONT]

tobin834 · 04-06-2018, 10:38 AM

OPENING DAY – April 3, 1994
St. Louis Cardinals (0-1) – 0-4-0
Orlando Orbit (1-0) – 1-5-0

WP- John Smoltz (1-0) 8.0, 7K, 0 ER
LP- Bob Tewksbury (0-1) 8.0, 2K, 1 ER
SV – Pete Schourek (1) 1.0, 0 K, 0 ER

John Smoltz fired a fastball past Mark Whiten to open the ball game and the Orlando Orbit's franchise. Ron Gant delivered the first hit for either team in the bottom of the third off of Bob Tweksbury. Gant was the discussion of a lot of off-season talk due to the 3 year, 10 Million dollar deal that was offered to him. His critics say he has fallen way off, but Gant looks to prove them wrong. A few hits later and he would score off a Omar Vizquel RBI and we picked up our first victory at home 1-0 in front of 44,978 people.

– – – – – – –

April 4, 1994
St. Louis Cardinals (1-1) 5-11-2
Orlando Orbit (1-1) 4-4-2

WP- Scott Simmons (1-0) 7.0, 4 K, 3 ER
LP- Alex Fernandez (0-1) 5.0, 2 K, 5 ER
SV – John Habyan (1) 1.0, 0 K, 0 ER

Geronimo Pena opened up the scoring in the top of the 4th Inning giving the Cardinals a 1-0 league. Later in the inning Tom Pagnozzi added a sac fly to right field to give the Cardinals a 2-0 league. The very next batter Ozzie Smith singled to center scoring Todd Zeile and it was 3-0 Cardinals. It wasn't until Omar Vizquel singled to right in the top of the 6th that dominant Cardinals pitcher Scott Simmons even let up a hit. Charlie Hayes took full advantage of it later that inning, knocking in three runs on a triple to left to make the game 5-3 in the 6th. With the score the same, we were able to make it a 5-3 game with bases loaded in the 8th. Mike Lansing drew a bases loaded walk to cut the Cardinal lead to 1 run at 5-4. It would get no closer. We fall to the Cardinals 5-4 in front of our fans.

I liked that we were able to take advantage of the times we did get on base. Everyone who did for our team ended up scoring, however we need to get on base more throughout the game. 4 hits in a game isn't going to do it for us. We have to find a way to improve in that aspect.

In other news, the other expansion team the Portland Jacks are getting smacked around. 7-0 losers to the Braves on Saturday night with Fred McGriff hitting 3 Homeruns in the same game. Then the very next night, 15-2 losers to the Braves with David Justice doing the exact same thing, 3 Homeruns in the same game. Portland is looking to end that series as soon as possible, I bet.

– – – – – – –

April 5, 1994
St. Louis Cardinals (1-2) 1-9-1
Orlando Orbit (2-1) 4-5-0

WP- Jason Bere (1-0) 8.0, 5 K, 1 ER
LP- Alen Watson (0-1) 4.2, 4 K, 3 ER
SV –Pete Schourek (2) 1.0, 2 K, 0 ER

Jason Bere got himself into a jam in the very first inning, loading the bases up, but ended up getting out of it without one run crossing the plate. Javy Lopez belted a 2-run Homerun in the bottom of the first to put us up 2-0 early. We carried that lead (with only 1 hit) into the bottom of the 5th. Javy Lopez was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. He was replaced by Cliff Floyd who we are experimenting with at all positions. We also have catcher Charlie Hayes knocked a single to left scoring Bo Jackson from second and we made the score 3-0. Bo Jackson hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 7th to increase our lead to 4-0. Cardinals added 1 in the last frame but it wasn't enough and we won 4-1 behind Jason Bere's arm tonight. Bo Jackson went 2 for 4 with a Home Run and a run scored. Ron Gant drew 3 walks tonight.

Solid series. We're 2-1 now for the year.

tobin834 · 04-06-2018, 02:48 PM

April 6, 1994

Orlando Orbit (2-1) 6-12-1
Montreal Expos (2-1) 5-12-0

WP- Pete Schourek (1-0) 7.0 IP , 4 K, 3 ER
LP- Alen Watson (0-1) 5.0 IP , 2 K, 5 ER
SV – Kevin Peavler (1) 0.2 IP , 0 K, 0 ER

Larry Walker tore us up in our game today in Montreal. Walker hit 4 for 5, a Home Run, a double, and 2 singles, but it still wasn't enough as we prevailed over the Expos in extra innings. Scott Brosius homered in the 10th and Mike Lansing turned his double into another run in the 10th for the win. I'm very happy how we came out today. Happy for Mike Lansing who had a 3 hit game, and our club who won another won (and our first road game).

Mr 2000 – Kirby Puckett recoreded his 2000th hit with Minnesota's 9-6 victory yesterday over the Red Sox. The 34-year-old Puckett is hitting .313 with 1 HR on the early campaign.

– – – – – – –

April 7, 1994

Orlando Orbit (3-2) 1-6-2
Montreal Expos (3-2) 11-14-0

WP- Kirk Rueter (1-0) 6.2 IP , 6 K, 1 ER
LP- Todd Stottlemyre (0-1) 5.0 IP , 5 K, 7 ER
SV – None

– – – – – – –

April 7, 1994

Orlando Orbit (3-3) 2-8-0
Montreal Expos (4-2) 6-9-0

WP- Ken Hill (1-0) 8.0 IP , 4 K, 2 ER
LP- John Smoltz (1-1) 7.0 IP , 5 K, 6 ER
SV – None

Will Cordero did it again to us. Last night he went 4 for 5, 1 HR, a double and 2 singles. Tonight he hits a 2-run Home Run on Smoltz to give the Expos a lead they wouldn't let go of. Smoltz picks up his first loss of the season and the potential hot start we were off to is no more.

tobin834 · 04-06-2018, 04:21 PM

A little in-between series update on where we are as an organization, what's going on around Major League Baseball, and all things in-between..

Here are a look at the standings and league leaders right now as they stand today:

And an update on where our team sits statistically after two series:

04-05-2018, 11:01 PM	#1
tobin834 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 37	Bringing Baseball to Orlando in 1994 - The Orlando Orbit For those who have followed my Charlotte Speed season, I am sorry. I am very new to this game and in my learning curve forgot a few things. Namely, that I needed to “Generate Fictional Schedule” for my Minor Leagues to work. I also realized that, while this is fun, I'm still very new to this game and I was spending more time generating images than actually worrying about the game and playing it. For me, typing out the information and re-hashing the information through writing, helps me make more careful decisions and ultimately enjoy the game more on a day-to-day basis. While graphics will still play apart, they will not be in every post. A special thank you to Westheim and his Raccoons Report which really gave me a new way to present this. Know that a lot of the inspiration for this change came from how clean his came across. I suggest you go to his journal and read it. I can't recommend it enough. So, without anything further.. here we go. The year was 1993. Just months prior the MLB offices and the Players Association settled their differences. It would have been the end of the 1994 season – a season that Orlando had been looking forward to since the late 70's since the first application had been submitted by then Mayor Carl T. Langford. Back then Orlando was a community of just 128,000 residents and 471,000 in the county. Langford's bid came primarily because of the tourists that the area received. Still, Major League Baseball shut him down in 1979, 1983, 1987, and finally in 1988 until finally realizing that this crazy man wasn't going away anytime soon. Langford was sure that the major league franchise would help grow Orlando to be a major city in the country due to the national notoriety it would get by having a professional franchise. The NBA's Magic came in 1989 and Langford was a big part of that. He was able to bring baseball to Orlando in 1994. After the Expansion Draft and the key Free Agent signing of Ron Gant, coming off a 36 Home Run year with the Reds, our Opening Day lineup looked like this: 1- Omar Vizquel (.255, HR, 31 RBI) 2- Javy Lopez (.305, 17 HR, 74 RBI AAA stats) 3- Mickey Tettleton (.245, 32 HR, 110 RBI) 4- Ron Gant (.274, 36 HR, 117 RBI) 5- Cecil Fielder (.267, 30 HR, 117 RBI) 6- Charlie Hayes (.305, 25 HR, 98 RBI) 7- Mike Lansing (.287, 3 HR, 45 RBI) 8- Bo Jackson (.232, 16 HR, 45 RBI) 9- Pitcher SP 1- Alex Fernandez ( 8-11, 3.13 ERA) 2- John Smoltz ( 15-11, 3.62 ERA) 3- Jason Bere ( 8-5, 1.98 ERA AA stats) 4- Pedro Astacio ( 14-9, 3.57 ERA) 5- Todd Stottlemyre ( 11-12, 4.84 ERA) CP 1- Pete Schourek ( 5-12, 5.96 ERA 0 Saves)[/FONT]

04-06-2018, 10:38 AM	#2
tobin834 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 37	OPENING DAY – April 3, 1994 St. Louis Cardinals (0-1) – 0-4-0 Orlando Orbit (1-0) – 1-5-0 WP- John Smoltz (1-0) 8.0, 7K, 0 ER LP- Bob Tewksbury (0-1) 8.0, 2K, 1 ER SV – Pete Schourek (1) 1.0, 0 K, 0 ER John Smoltz fired a fastball past Mark Whiten to open the ball game and the Orlando Orbit's franchise. Ron Gant delivered the first hit for either team in the bottom of the third off of Bob Tweksbury. Gant was the discussion of a lot of off-season talk due to the 3 year, 10 Million dollar deal that was offered to him. His critics say he has fallen way off, but Gant looks to prove them wrong. A few hits later and he would score off a Omar Vizquel RBI and we picked up our first victory at home 1-0 in front of 44,978 people. – – – – – – – April 4, 1994 St. Louis Cardinals (1-1) 5-11-2 Orlando Orbit (1-1) 4-4-2 WP- Scott Simmons (1-0) 7.0, 4 K, 3 ER LP- Alex Fernandez (0-1) 5.0, 2 K, 5 ER SV – John Habyan (1) 1.0, 0 K, 0 ER Geronimo Pena opened up the scoring in the top of the 4th Inning giving the Cardinals a 1-0 league. Later in the inning Tom Pagnozzi added a sac fly to right field to give the Cardinals a 2-0 league. The very next batter Ozzie Smith singled to center scoring Todd Zeile and it was 3-0 Cardinals. It wasn't until Omar Vizquel singled to right in the top of the 6th that dominant Cardinals pitcher Scott Simmons even let up a hit. Charlie Hayes took full advantage of it later that inning, knocking in three runs on a triple to left to make the game 5-3 in the 6th. With the score the same, we were able to make it a 5-3 game with bases loaded in the 8th. Mike Lansing drew a bases loaded walk to cut the Cardinal lead to 1 run at 5-4. It would get no closer. We fall to the Cardinals 5-4 in front of our fans. I liked that we were able to take advantage of the times we did get on base. Everyone who did for our team ended up scoring, however we need to get on base more throughout the game. 4 hits in a game isn't going to do it for us. We have to find a way to improve in that aspect. In other news, the other expansion team the Portland Jacks are getting smacked around. 7-0 losers to the Braves on Saturday night with Fred McGriff hitting 3 Homeruns in the same game. Then the very next night, 15-2 losers to the Braves with David Justice doing the exact same thing, 3 Homeruns in the same game. Portland is looking to end that series as soon as possible, I bet. – – – – – – – April 5, 1994 St. Louis Cardinals (1-2) 1-9-1 Orlando Orbit (2-1) 4-5-0 WP- Jason Bere (1-0) 8.0, 5 K, 1 ER LP- Alen Watson (0-1) 4.2, 4 K, 3 ER SV –Pete Schourek (2) 1.0, 2 K, 0 ER Jason Bere got himself into a jam in the very first inning, loading the bases up, but ended up getting out of it without one run crossing the plate. Javy Lopez belted a 2-run Homerun in the bottom of the first to put us up 2-0 early. We carried that lead (with only 1 hit) into the bottom of the 5th. Javy Lopez was ejected for arguing balls and strikes. He was replaced by Cliff Floyd who we are experimenting with at all positions. We also have catcher Charlie Hayes knocked a single to left scoring Bo Jackson from second and we made the score 3-0. Bo Jackson hit a solo homer in the bottom of the 7th to increase our lead to 4-0. Cardinals added 1 in the last frame but it wasn't enough and we won 4-1 behind Jason Bere's arm tonight. Bo Jackson went 2 for 4 with a Home Run and a run scored. Ron Gant drew 3 walks tonight. Solid series. We're 2-1 now for the year. Last edited by tobin834; 04-06-2018 at 10:43 AM.

04-06-2018, 02:48 PM	#3
tobin834 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 37	April 6, 1994 Orlando Orbit (2-1) 6-12-1 Montreal Expos (2-1) 5-12-0 WP- Pete Schourek (1-0) 7.0 IP , 4 K, 3 ER LP- Alen Watson (0-1) 5.0 IP , 2 K, 5 ER SV – Kevin Peavler (1) 0.2 IP , 0 K, 0 ER Larry Walker tore us up in our game today in Montreal. Walker hit 4 for 5, a Home Run, a double, and 2 singles, but it still wasn't enough as we prevailed over the Expos in extra innings. Scott Brosius homered in the 10th and Mike Lansing turned his double into another run in the 10th for the win. I'm very happy how we came out today. Happy for Mike Lansing who had a 3 hit game, and our club who won another won (and our first road game). Mr 2000 – Kirby Puckett recoreded his 2000th hit with Minnesota's 9-6 victory yesterday over the Red Sox. The 34-year-old Puckett is hitting .313 with 1 HR on the early campaign. – – – – – – – April 7, 1994 Orlando Orbit (3-2) 1-6-2 Montreal Expos (3-2) 11-14-0 WP- Kirk Rueter (1-0) 6.2 IP , 6 K, 1 ER LP- Todd Stottlemyre (0-1) 5.0 IP , 5 K, 7 ER SV – None – – – – – – – April 7, 1994 Orlando Orbit (3-3) 2-8-0 Montreal Expos (4-2) 6-9-0 WP- Ken Hill (1-0) 8.0 IP , 4 K, 2 ER LP- John Smoltz (1-1) 7.0 IP , 5 K, 6 ER SV – None Will Cordero did it again to us. Last night he went 4 for 5, 1 HR, a double and 2 singles. Tonight he hits a 2-run Home Run on Smoltz to give the Expos a lead they wouldn't let go of. Smoltz picks up his first loss of the season and the potential hot start we were off to is no more.

04-06-2018, 04:21 PM	#4
tobin834 Minors (Rookie Ball) Join Date: Mar 2018 Posts: 37	A little in-between series update on where we are as an organization, what's going on around Major League Baseball, and all things in-between.. Here are a look at the standings and league leaders right now as they stand today: And an update on where our team sits statistically after two series: