1989: AN INNING TO REMEMBER

Brewers - 18 , Giants - 0

May 9th 1989

The Giants are one of those teams that are probably lost to most of you when recalling our opponents over the years. That team was originally known as GSB (Germantown Savings Bank) and began play in 1988.

They became the GSB Giants in the 1989 season, their second and final year in the WFBL. Some of you may remember them as having their home field at Shipley, a private school out past City Line Avenue, where we played them during the '88 season.

The Giants were just 1-5 in the early going of the 1989 season but had played a couple of their losses tough. The Brewers were 5-0 heading into this cold, wet Wednesday night game at Devereaux, which was a home game for us on the schedule and our only game that week.

Normally a mid-week game on a bad weather night against a team that we were definitely better than might not be well remembered. But this one turned out to be one for the record books. And it only lasted one inning.

The Giants could not come up with a full lineup on this night, fielding only nine players. This was never a good idea against the Brew Crew's assortment of line drive hitters. It would prove to really hurt them, though the game's outcome would likely have never been in doubt in any event.

It all started innocently enough, with the Giants batting in the top of the 1st inning. They used two hits and an error to load the bases with two outs, but pitcher Ray Emery snared a liner right back at him to end the threat. The Giants would not come to bat again in this game.

Pat Guido led off the Brewers home first by drawing a walk, and George Sweeney and Tom Nejman singled to load the bases. Ray Emery and Frank Gleason each followed with 2-run singles, and it was 4-0 right away.

Tom O'Connell singled, and an error on the play allowed Frank to score for a 5-0 lead. A single by Ronnie Stein and a walk to Vince Menello, and once again the Brewers had the bases loaded. There were still no outs.

Kevin Curran reached on an error by the Giants 2nd baseman that allowed two more runs to score. Chris Novak then drilled an RBI single, and Joe Gessner reached on an error by the 3rd baseman that scored another run. It was now 9-0 in favor of the Brewers with two runners on and still nobody out, and we had batted around the order.

Pat Guido now stepped to the plate for the 2nd time in the inning. Patio drilled a monstrous three-run home run to put the Brewers up by a 12-0 margin. We had sent a dozen batters to the plate to that point, and all of them had scored. And it was not over yet, not by a long shot.

George Sweeney singled for the 2nd time in the inning. He moved up to 2nd base when finally, mercifully, Tommy Nejman flew out to right field for the 1st out of the inning.

The mercy didn't last long, however. Ray Emery and Frank Gleason drilled back-to-back RBI singles to stretch the inning out to 14 runs plated. Tom O'Connell followed by popping out to shortstop, and it appeared that the Giants might finally by out of the inning. No chance.

Ronnie Stein and Vince Menello drilled RBI singles and raised the score to 16-0. Following a Kevin Curran walk, Chris Novak reached base on an error by the center fielder. That miscue allowed the final two runs to score, making the count 18-0 Brewers.

With two outs and a runner on 2nd base, Joe Gessner drew a walk, which set the stage for a truly memorable moment.

Pat Guido stepped into the batter's box for the third time in the inning. Patio started this feast, and so he perhaps fittingly ended it by flying out to right field for the final out. This would mark the only time in Brewers history that any player would appear three times in a single inning.

It would prove to be the final out of the game. The Giants were utterly demoralized. Down 18-0 after just one inning. Playing shorthanded against one of the top teams in the league. A cold, wet night. After a brief team meeting on the sidelines, they announced "No Mas" to the umpire, and the game was declared over.

The final tallies for the incredible inning were 18 runs scored by the Brewers on 13 hits, four walks and four errors, with two men left on base.

Amazingly, there were just two extra-base hits, Sweeney's first at-bat double and Patio's second at-bat homer.

Seven different players scored twice each. Six players knocked in runs. Four players had two hits in the inning. Only Joe Gessner, who reached on an error and a walk, failed to get a hit in the frame. The first 13 players who came to bat all eventually scored in succession.

In contrast, four members of the Giants never even came to bat in the game. It was truly a remarkable outburst. Who knows what would have happened had the game been allowed to continue for even one more frame?

As the games during that 1989 DVFL season went on, we began to see scores in which the Giants were competitive, sometimes against good teams. We wondered if we just happened to run into them on a bad night. The Brewers would find out almost exactly one month later. On June 1 at B & Olney, it took a 19-11 shootout to gain a win over those same Giants.

One more good thing that came from the Giants games that year was our being introduced to a new player. Their #3 hitter and best offensive player would turn out to be a key to a later Brewers championship team.

In the second game at B & Olney, Mark Bianchi went 3-4 with two triples, three runs and four RBI against us. Bianchi would stay in the league after the Giants folded. He would eventually join the Brewers, and contribute greatly to the 1992 title team.

The Giants actually improved that season, and gave us a scare in a slugfest at B & Olney. But on one cold, wet night in May 1989 the Brewers truly over-matched an undermanned and outgunned opponent, sent a guy to the plate three times in one inning, and in that one inning at Devereaux left a memory for all time.