First Las Vegas Stars specialized in comebacks

Oscar Goodman is well known as the mayor of Las Vegas, but to members of the 1983 Las Vegas Stars, Bruce Bochy will always be regarded as "The Mayor."

Bochy, now the San Francisco Giants manager, earned the moniker after hitting the first home run in the history of Las Vegas' Triple-A franchise, a two-run shot that helped lead the Stars to an 11-8 comeback victory over Salt Lake City on April 10, 1983, in front of a sellout crowd of 10,622 at Cashman Field.

"Bochy hit a home run, and I think I gave him that nickname right then," said former Stars manager Harry Dunlop. "After that, I said, 'You're always going to be the mayor of Las Vegas.' I still call him the mayor of Las Vegas."

Dunlop, 73, recently retired to Elk Grove, Calif., after 51 years in professional baseball, and he said his single season in Southern Nevada stands out above the rest.

"I still have the greatest memories of the 1983 season in Las Vegas. That was a special year. It was the first year that baseball was back there, they had a new ballpark and the fans were great," said Dunlop, who coached 21 years in the big leagues. "I don't know how many times that year fans came up and said it's nice to have something of their own, because everyone thinks they just gamble.

"It was a lot of fun. It was probably the most enjoyable year I ever had managing."

The inaugural Stars team turned out to be one of the best in franchise history. Led by Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Kevin McReynolds, the Stars, who had a penchant for comebacks that season, went 83-60, a mark that stood for 19 years until the 2002 Las Vegas 51s went 85-59.

"It was quite a team. We had a real good mixture of young players and enough veterans to help the young guys, which made the job easier for me," Dunlop said. "There was no way they thought we were ever going to lose. We had that winning atmosphere."

Former Stars infielder Jerry DeSimone, who still lives in Las Vegas, is amazed at how many comebacks the team had.

"If we were down seven runs going into the seventh inning, we had just as good a chance of winning as if we were up by one. I'm not kidding. It was incredible," he said. "The crowds were always crazy. There were like 8,500 people there and it was like 185 degrees. We'd be down seven runs in the seventh inning and we won those games around 75 percent of the time, and we were always down seven in the seventh.

"It was absolutely nuts. McReynolds was an unbelievably big part of the comebacks. We'd get guys on and he would just pound."

McReynolds hit .377 with 32 homers and 116 RBIs. He also set franchise records with 46 doubles and 328 total bases despite playing in only 113 games.

"McReynolds was one of the best clutch hitters I've ever seen," said former Stars pitcher Larry Brown, who roomed with McReynolds that year. "Whenever there was a critical situation, he'd go deep. He was always there for the clutch hit, and, along with all the stats he put up, for a big guy he moved pretty well in center field."

McReynolds remembers the people he met in Las Vegas more than anything else.

"I enjoyed my time there a whole lot. It was a very good season and I got to meet some guys I ended up playing in the big leagues with later," said McReynolds, who played 11 years in the majors with the Padres, New York Mets and Kansas City Royals. "I always remember them calling Bruce Bochy 'The Mayor' there and playing the theme song from 'Batman' when I came up, silly little stuff like that."

After injuries forced him to retire from the game in 1993, McReynolds returned home to Little Rock, Ark., where he's part owner of a commercial duck hunting business and spends time hunting and fishing.

"I would've liked to have continued a little further (in pro baseball), but, 11 years, I'd say that's a respectable career. I thought I did all right," McReynolds said. "(Arkansas) is where I am, where I have been and where I plan to be."

McReynolds led a team offense that batted .290 with 172 homers. The Stars also had three players produce at least 100 RBIs. Joe Lansford hit 27 homers and had 116 RBIs and Gerry Davis hit .298 with 23 homers and 100 RBIs.

"It was the best comeback team I've ever been with," said Bochy, who played catcher for the Stars that season, starting a run of 23 straight years with the Padres' organization. "We could be down six or seven runs and we still felt we'd win that game, and we did it a lot.

"It was a close-knit group. We had great chemistry on that team. When we run into each other, we talk about that year as much as anything else."

The pitching staff featured Steve Fireovid (14-10, 184 2/3 innings), Floyd Chiffer (10-4, 14 saves), Andy Hawkins (6-4) and Larry Rothschiild (9-2). Rothschiild is currently the pitching coach for the Chicago Cubs.

"It was really special the way the community embraced the team, and we had tremendous chemistry and great camaraderie, with everyone pulling for each other," Brown said of the first Stars squad, which lost to Albuquerque, 3 games to 2, in the best-of-5 first round of the PCL playoffs. "The game has changed. But back then, we didn't play for money. It was a special group of guys that loved to play the game of baseball."