Take Me Out To A Ballgame...

[This piece, in an earlier form, was published on theloveofsports.com, in their "Old School Love" column]

Immortality: in sports sometimes all it takes is a fraction of a second to turn obscurity into history. Once second you’re Vinko Bogataj, competing at the Ski-flying World Championships, dreaming of ending up on the medal platform, next you’re forever the guy hurtling end over end as Jim McKay intones the classic phrase: “The agony of defeat.”

Sometimes the journey to immortality takes a little longer.

That’s the way it was for Rick Lancellotti. Rick’s claim to fame is that he is the real-life “Crash” Davis; he is the minor league’s all-time home run king. He hit 276 home runs over a twelve year span between 1978 and 1991. He had three brief stints in the Majors, hitting .169 with 2 homers in 65 at-bats. His tenure so tenuous he wound up wearing four different uniform numbers in three years.

Through it all, Rick Lancellotti played in 15 different leagues over the years, and on teams spanning the globe: Canada, Colombia, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Venezuela. He wound up his career with the Parma Angels in Italy, where he won a best hitter award in the European Cup.

You know it’s not too shabby when your road trip reads like a two-week European vacation. Home games in Parma? Dove firmo?

Never one known for his glove, Rick was a DH trapped in a first base/outfielder’s body. The lanky lefty was drafted by the Pirates in 1977, eventually going to San Diego’s AAA team in Las Vegas. A late addition to the Las Vegas Stars’ inaugural season in ’83, Rick hit .302, with 9 dingers and 32 ribbies in 30 games.

Looking up Rick’s stats I came across the roster of the inaugural team and next thing you know I’m riding a wave of nostalgia like I’m Kelly Slater in Waikiki. There were some famous names: future Padres manager Bruce Bochy was a back-up catcher, and Tony Gwynn had a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it rehab assignment there. Kevin McReynolds was the league’s runaway MVP, hitting .377, 46 2B, 32 HR, and 116 RBI in just 113 games. Jerry Davis hit .298, with 23 HR and 100 RBI; Rogers Brown added .331/15/70 in a mere 97 games.

The team took advantage of the local climate—hot and dry as a pizza oven during the summer—and boasted eight players with double digit home run totals. If Rick had hit just one more, they’da had nine.

The Stars also had balance: 7 players had enough larceny in their hearts to swipe at least ten bases. They were an exciting team to watch, most of their home games wound up with football scores. There were lots of 14-10, 17-13 games; some wins, some loses. Playing in a hitter’s park-- in a hitter’s league-- schooled a young pitching staff that included Andy Hawkins (6-4, 6.43 ERA), and future Cub’s pitching coach Larry Rothschild (9-2, 5.09).

One of the most memorable wins was a Sunday game in which they fell behind early and looked bad doing it. By the late innings the crowd had thinned out and my friends all wanted to join the exodus. But I, having years earlier left a USC-Notre Dame football game five minutes before Joe Montana decided to kick start his legacy, firmly said “I ain’t leavin’ till the last out is made.”

Miraculously the Stars started to make me look good, stringing together a rally of bloop hits, walks, and forced errors, getting within two runs in the ninth. Then, with two on and two out, Joe Lansford—former All-star Carney’s big little brother-- lumbered to the plate. Listed at 6’5 and an only-if-he-lifts-one-leg-off-the-scale 225 pounds, Joe Lansford was an imposing presence at the plate. In 140 games that year, he hit 27 dingers and tied McReynolds for the team lead with 116 RBI’s. He could rake. In this specific at bat, however, he was doing a very good impression of a guy waving a fly swatter blindfolded. The first pitch was high and Lansford’s bat low.

Strike one!

My friends all stood up-- half cheering, half eyeing the exits. The next pitch bounced in the dirt just in front of home plate, but not before Joe had a chance to swing wildly over it.

Strike two!

Let me stop right now to add that it was a truly horrible swing. He looked like a well hit tetherball wrapping around a schoolyard pole. My friends were headed up the concourse, fishing out their car keys, when pitch three was delivered- and, KARACK!, promptly launched over the scoreboard in Left. It was the longest walk-off home run my friends never saw.

Ultimately the Stars, aided by the late-season pick up of Lancellotti, finished the season 83-60, two games out of first place. They made it to the semi-finals of the PCL playoffs before being eliminated. In the process, they captured the attention of jaded Las Vegans and made minor league baseball a part of the “Entertainment Capitol of the World.”

In 1984, his first full season with the Stars, Lancellotti drove in 131 runs and finished second in the voting for League MVP. The Stars had a lot of talent on that team, as well as a lot of personalities. Their catcher, Doug Gwosdz, had one of the best nicknames ever: “Eye Chart.” Doug could have used one, his numbers (.228/6/27), were myopic. Even with his personal success, it was the end of the line for Rick in the Padres’ organization. He would return to the PCL a couple years later, though, having a monster offensive season for the Giant’s affiliate in Phoenix. He hit 31 homers for the Firebirds, but it wasn’t enough to catch on with the parent club.

Rick put up some awesome numbers. I don’t care what the level of competition it is--even if you’re talking stickball-- 276 homers is a lot of homers to hit. But the numbers that really popped out were these: Rick Lancellotti played for twenty teams, in fifteen leagues, in seven countries, spanning four continents. You gotta give some Old School Love to a guy who can produce anywhere.

If you’re wondering what Rick Lancellotti is doing these days, he’s running the Buffalo School of Baseball, as well as working as a hitting instructor for the Kalamazoo Kings. Every day, he’s bringing a world of experience with him-- literally-- as he teaches a new generation of players to do what he did so well. So, I guess you could credit him with a lot more than 276 home runs being hit. A tip of the cap, then, to Rick Lancellotti-- the Minor League's all-time home run king.