Hawkins can’t forget 1983 stint with Stars

He fired the first pitch in the 25-year history of Las Vegas' Triple-A franchise. He also suffered the largest no-hit loss of the 20th century.

He is Andy Hawkins, who was at Cashman Field on Thursday as pitching coach for the Oklahoma RedHawks. His staff didn't pitch well in a wild 17-16 loss to the 51s in 10 innings in front of an announced crowd of 7,775 on $1 beer night.

Hawkins, who went 84-91 with a 4.22 ERA in a 10-year major league career, started for Las Vegas when the team was named the Stars in its inaugural game. Las Vegas beat Salt Lake City 11-8 on April 10, 1983, at Cashman Field.

But Las Vegas was the last place Hawkins wanted to be that night.

"I was bitter at that time," said Hawkins, 47. "I had just got sent out of the big league camp. I was one of the last guys cut that year, and I didn't want to be here. That's not what you want to hear, but that's the truth in a lot of cases in Triple A.

"I was crushed when I didn't make the team, and I had a good spring, too."

Coincidentally, Salt Lake's starting pitcher in the Stars' debut game was Rick Adair, now the minor league pitching coordinator for the Texas Rangers, parent club of the RedHawks.

Hawkins, the fifth overall pick by the San Diego Padres in 1978, split time between Vegas and San Diego in 1983 before moving up to the majors for good in 1984, when he became the only Padres pitcher to win a World Series game.

Hawkins, who came out of the bullpen in the second inning of Game 2, teamed with Craig Lefferts to limit the Detroit Tigers to two hits over eight scoreless innings as San Diego overcame a 3-0 first-inning deficit to win, 5-3.

"Getting a win like I did was a fortunate thing. I was in long relief, and our starter (Ed Whitson) got knocked out of the game early. I was too scared to know any better," Hawkins said. "It was a great year, going through a championship season like that and seeing all the things go right that had to go right to get that far. It was really special.

"I enjoyed my career. I wish I could've played longer."

In addition to the Padres, Hawkins played for the New York Yankees and briefly for the Oakland Athletics.

He strung together an incredible three-game stretch for the Yankees starting on July 1, 1990, but ended up losing all three games.

Hawkins hurled a no-hitter against the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in a 4-0 loss, then took a shutout into the 12th inning in his next start before losing 2-0 to the Minnesota Twins at Yankee Stadium.

He followed that up with six innings of no-hit ball before losing to the White Sox.

"Those were probably the three best starts of my life, and I went 0-3," Hawkins said. "We couldn't score any runs. That's just the way it turned out."

Hawkins retired after the 1991 season and spent time with his wife of 28 years, Jackie, and their four children before returning to the game as a coach in 2001.

"I'm like everybody else here -- I'd love to coach at the next level," he said. "When you're a competitor you want to compete at the highest level, and I'm still a competitor.

"I enjoy teaching these guys. They realize they're so close. I thought they'd be a little bit more hardened and tougher to get to, but they're not. They're good kids and they're fun to be with."