History of the Salem Cowtippers
2001: Cruel Fate Visits Salem Once Again

Another year, another heart-breaking, bitter disappointment. In 2001, the Salem Cowtippers broke the BDBL single season team record for wins with 107 - a record that lasted about a week before being shattered by the Stamford Zoots. It was just one of many joys the Zoots robbed from the Cowtippers franchise that season.

Salem dominated both at the plate and on the mound in 2001. Their pitching staff led the BDBL in ERA, and their offense led the Ozzie League in runs scored. The starting rotation included four pitchers who finished the BDBL season with ERA's under 4.00 - an unprecedented accomplishment in this era of inflated offense. The bullpen was as good and as deep as the Salem franchise has ever had. And the offense...well, the offense was just plain ridiculous. Seven players finished with an on-base percentage of at least .400. Six players slugged better than .500. Three players finished the BDBL season with at least 45 homers. Four Cowtippers drove home more than 100 runs on the year. And five drew at least 80 walks.

Yet in the end, it wasn't enough.

Moments after Salem had been soundly defeated in the 2000 OLDS by the Los Altos Undertakers, the Salem GM's office went back to work. The Cowtippers went into the off-season with a pitching staff of Javier Vazquez, Eric Milton and Darren Dreifort. It would have been, at best, an average rotation. The bullpen featured mainstay Derek Lowe and Danny Graves. The offense included team captain John Olerud at first, Luis Alicea at short, Jeff Cirillo at third, and Shannon Stewart, Tim Salmon and Dmitri Young in the outfield. Had Salem elected to stay with the status quo, it's likely they would have won their division with that core of players. But instead, Salem elected to set their sights a little higher.

Their first move was to dump some salary. Steve Woodard, who had been carelessly awarded a three-year, $12 million contract in the winter of 2000, was sent packing to Allentown. In exchange for that favor, Salem had to part with outfield prospect Bobby Kielty and a farm pick.

Next, Salem bolstered their bullpen by trading Dan Reichert to Kansas for Paul Shuey. Though Shuey was an attractive addition to the roster, his stay would be short. He was later dealt to the Bowling Green Spoilers in exchange for utilityman Chris Stynes. And Stynes was later dealt to the Kansas Law Dogs as part of the deal that landed Travis Fryman. When all was said and done, Salem had effectively traded Reichert and Carlos Febles for Fryman, who led the team in hitting (.341), got on base at a .420 clip, slugged .541, racked up 211 hits, 39 doubles and 27 homers, scored 99 runs and drove home 103 runs without missing a game.

But as helpful as those trades were to the Salem cause, it was the next trade that oddly sparked a minor controversy. After several e-mails and hours upon hours of waffling by the Marlboro Hammerheads GM, Salem GM Mike Glander finally put in a call to Marlboro GM Ken Kaminski. The proposed deal: Vazquez in exchange for Mike Mussina and Mike Myers.

"Ken was the one who offered that deal to me," explained Glander. "But in the end, it was I who had to convince him to make the deal."

In the end, though several in the BDBL media complained about the inequity of the deal, it's hard to argue that either side got the better bargain. Marlboro received three years of quality pitching from Vazquez, who is now one of the top pitchers in the game. And Salem got the ace they needed. Mussina finished the season 19-12 with a 3.51 ERA. He finished second in wins, sixth in ERA, third in strikeouts (223) and first in both batting average and on-base percentage against. Myers was erratic (39 walks in 48 innings), but effective (3.00 ERA.)

In their next trade, Salem sent Cirillo and Alicea to the Atlanta Fire Ants in exchange for Bruce Chen and Atlanta's #2 pick. This was a pure offense-for-pitching deal, designed to give Salem a much-needed left-handed arm in the rotation. Cirillo (.313/.383/.444) and Alicea (.293/.353/.399) both had good years for Atlanta, while Chen (10-4) led the Cowtippers staff in ERA at 2.71 while allowing just 117 hits through 146 innings. That #2 pick would also prove valuable later in the trading season.

Matt LeCroy was one of the top catching prospects in baseball, and the only catching prospect on Salem's roster. But there were several intriguing prospects available in that year's farm draft, including Japanese legend Ichiro Suzuki. So with an eye on Ichiro, Salem traded LeCroy for South Carolina's #1 farm pick - the second pick in the farm draft.

"New Milford had the #1 pick," said Glander, "and I was pretty certain that Billy (New Milford GM Romaniello) had no idea who Ichiro was. But I wanted to make sure of that, so about a week later, I turned around and traded Graves and Dee Brown for New Milford's 6th round pick and their #1 farm pick. In the end, that trade worked out very well for us."

With that #6 pick, Salem chose Frank Castillo, who went 16-2 on the year, with a 3.41 ERA and 112 hits allowed in 150 innings. But after all that planning to acquire the #1 farm pick, Salem shocked the BDBL establishment by selecting Adam Johnson over Ichiro.

"In retrospect, I made the wrong decision," Glander confessed. "But my mistake wasn't passing on Ichiro. It was passing on Mark Prior, Albert Pujols and Roy Oswalt."

With Mussina, Chen and Milton in the new Salem rotation, Dreifort became less important to the Salem cause. That's when Glander turned to his longtime friend Phil Geisel.

"Geisel stole Lance Berkman from me in the Inaugural farm draft," Glander explained, "and ever since then, I've been calling Berkman a 'Future Cowtipper.' Geisel and I were sitting in the stands in Florida during spring training in 2000 when Dreifort was starting against the Astros. I told Geisel I'd trade him Dreifort for Berkman right then and there, and as he was thinking this over, Berkman crushed a Dreifort pitch over the wall in left. That ended that discussion for the next twelve months."

But with the Lightning desperate for pitching help, Geisel finally accepted Glander's offer and shipped Berkman, along with Adam Piatt, to Salem in exchange for Dreifort. And though no one paid any attention to it at the time, it may have been the best trade ever made by Glander, and the worst trade ever made by Geisel. In 266 at-bats for Salem in 2001, Berkman hit .323/.462/.617. Dreifort was awful for the Lightning, compiling a 5.71 ERA to go with an 8-13 record. In 186 innings, he walked 102 batters and served up 39 homers.

"It's the type of trade where I took a gamble and it paid off," said Glander. "I honestly feel bad about that deal now, though that doesn't mean I'll take it back."

In a rare deal with the Los Altos Undertakers, Salem traded lefty specialist Doug Creek in exchange for hot prospect Austin Kearns. Kearns was then traded for New Milford's 16th pick - the first pick in that round. With that pick, Salem acquired shortstop Damian Jackson, who had the only disappointing year of all the players on the Cowtippers roster. In 389 at-bats, Jackson managed to hit just .234/.324/.347, though he did provide above-average defense up the middle.

With Berkman supplying switch-hitting power in left field, Young became expendable. So Salem shipped him off to Phoenix in exchange for Pedro Astacio. Astacio won 18 games and finished second in the EL Cy Young voting the previous season, with MLB stats that were almost identical to his MLB stats in 2000. Salem expected big things from Astacio, who later became the whipping boy of the BDBL. In 131 innings for the 'Tippers, Astacio allowed 136 hits and 59 walks, while striking out 119. He also yielded 22 homers, accounting for an 8-7 record and a whopping 6.17 ERA.

Next, Salem set their sights on Bobby Abreu, who had been the object of Glander's affection since the dawn of the BDBL.

"Abreu was originally drafted by Tim Zigmund of the Plattsburgh Champs," said Glander. "Tim and I couldn't see eye-to-eye on just about any subject, so a trade between our two teams was nearly impossible. When he left, I tried to pry Abreu from the new owners, but they couldn't get themselves coordinated long enough to swing a deal. They left a few months later, and Dean Ashley took over. I contacted Dean and asked if he'd consider swapping Abreu for Shannon Stewart straight-up. He told me he was looking for pitching. So during one of our 'Trade Talk Tuesday' sessions, I dealt Stewart for Bartolo Colon straight-up. I then contacted Dean the following day and asked if he'd take Colon for Abreu. We finally got our man."

Abreu wrapped up his first (and, as it turned out, only) season with the Cowtippers by hitting .309/.421/.524 with 42 doubles, 10 triples, 21 homers, 127 runs scored and 111 walks. All while playing excellent defense in right field. On any other team, he would have easily been an MVP candidate.

Though it seemed as though an entire decade's worth of trading had just occurred in only a few weeks, the blockbuster deal that would define the 2001 Salem Cowtippers had yet to occur. Glander spent weeks sending e-mails back and forth with Marlboro GM Kaminski. As he always does, Kaminski was doing his best to frustrate his trading partner, waffling back and forth on an hourly basis. One minute, he was ready to pull the trigger. The next, the deal was off the table. After two or three frustrating weeks, the two teams finally agreed to a deal. In exchange for team captain John Olerud, Tim Salmon, Atlanta's #2 pick and South Carolina's #1 farm pick, Salem acquired Jeff Bagwell, Sammy Sosa and Marlboro's #1 farm pick.

"Those were the most frustrating trade talks ever," said Glander. "I have never worked so hard in my life to make a trade. I was taking on an enormous amount of salary, which Marlboro seemed very eager to move. And I was giving up a combination of players and picks that I thought was more than reasonable. As a matter of fact, I know I could have made the same deal without including that farm pick (which turned out to be Ichiro Suzuki.) But The Shark wore me out with all his waffling, and I just wanted to get the deal done."

Bagwell was the team MVP, hitting .308/.412/.572 with 45 homers and 144 RBI's. Sosa led the team in homers (46) and RBI's (148). With Bagwell and Sosa sandwiched around Abreu, the Salem lineup was now a force to be reckoned with.

With all the pieces in place, the 2001 season began with Salem's traditional sweep of the New Milford Blazers on the first day of the new season. Salem finished the chapter with the best record in the league at 22-6. Those 22 wins included a four game sweep of the two-time defending champion Zoots. At the time, it seemed as though the Baseball Gods were finally shining in Salem's direction. But it was merely a big tease.

Salem went into the season with a catching platoon of Scott Hatteberg and Keith Osik. While they were both fine hitters, they were both well short of having enough at-bats to last the entire season. With no true leadoff hitter to set the table for the big bats in the lineup, Salem tried to kill two birds with one stone by contacting the New Milford Blazers about the availability of all-star catcher Jason Kendall.

"We knew going into the season that Sean Burroughs would have to be sacrificed," said Glander. "We had Mark Teixeira on the way, and although we love Burroughs, and believe that he has Hall-of-Fame ability, we like Mark just a little bit better.

"I wasn't about to trade a player of Burroughs' caliber for a short-term fix, so I looked at Kendall as someone who would fill a vital position for us for three or four years. Trading Burroughs for three or four years worth of production was a fair swap in my mind."

Unfortunately, Blazers GM Billy Romaniello wasn't biting on the offer. He felt that it was too early to throw in the towel on the 2001 season, and Kendall was his best hitter. So Glander began scouring the rosters of other teams in an effort to organize the BDBL's first ever three-team trade. He found an adequate replacement, Charles Johnson, in the walk year of his contract on a team that was going nowhere. Within a week, Glander was able to get both Romaniello and Manchester Irish Rebels GM Jim Doyle to agree to the deal.

Kendall hit .335/.426/.473 in 129 games for Salem, finishing second on the team in batting average and scoring 105 runs from the leadoff position. Unfortunately, he then suffered the worst year of his career at the big league level, and Salem was forced to trade him during the off-season for Paul Wilson. In the end, the Blazers received a Hall-of-Fame caliber rookie in exchange for five chapters worth of Kendall.

Salem made another big acquisition prior to Chapter Two, trading top pitching prospect Chin-Hui Tsao and former closer Jeff Zimmerman to the Phoenix Predators in exchange for Keith Foulke. Foulke would be the only reliable reliever in the Salem bullpen, compiling a 9-3 record and 1.90 ERA, saving 16 games, and allowing just 56 hits in 80 innings.

Salem finished Chapter Two with a record of 16-10, but dropped three of four to the Zoots and four of four to the Los Altos Undertakers. Stamford limited the powerful new Salem offense to just three runs total in the first two games. It was a harbinger of things to come.

Salem maintained their .700 winning percentage right through the all-star break, finishing Chapter Three with a record of 19-7. Their 57-23 record at the break was tops in the BDBL, and the Cowtippers out-scored their competition by 147 runs - the second-highest total in the BDBL.

But just when the Salem train got rolling, the wheels inexplicably came off the tracks as the team put together a miserable 14-14 record in Chapter Four.

"After that nightmarish chapter, I realized that our team needed a little extra insurance against further collapse," said Glander. "The Zoots loaded up right before Chapter Four, replacing Chad Curtis with Tim Salmon and Mike Lowell with Phil Nevin. They also were getting some very unexpected quality pitching from Brian Bohanon, giving them two very tough lefties in their rotation. Despite having Sammy, Travis, Bags and others in our lineup, our team was mysteriously susceptible to lefties all year. So I made a few phone calls to the Madison Fighting Mimes, and just stuck my toe in the water to see how receptive they were to folding the tent on the season and acquiring some future help."

The object of Salem's desires, second baseman Jeff Kent, was a lefty killer who would be a huge upgrade offensively over Randy Velarde. Madison GM Brian Hicks was initially apprehensive about giving up on the season, but after a week or so of thinking it over, he contacted Glander and said he was ready to talk. Moments later, Salem had traded seven players (Astacio, Velarde, Benji Gil, Hee Seop Choi, Dewon Brazelton, Adam Johnson and Randy Keisler) to the Mimes in exchange for Kent, Gary Sheffield and Mike Sirotka. That deal set off the alarms in Stamford.

"They had every right to be upset about that deal," said Glander. "We upgraded significantly at two positions - or so we thought - and pretty much erased whatever gains they made by upgrading at two positions themselves. I wasn't about to stand by and watch them win their third straight trophy without at least putting up a fight. As it turned out, though, we put up even less of a fight than I ever could have imagined."

Sheffield was a tremendous asset, hitting .327/.447/.702 through 49 games, but he wasn't that much of an improvement over the man he replaced, Berkman (.323/.462/.617). Kent was a huge disappointment, hitting .248/.333/.428, numbers that paled in comparison to Velarde (.260/.340/.399). And Sirotka posted a 5.15 ERA over 87 innings, allowing 103 hits, 37 walks and 13 homers.

"In the end, we would have been much better off not making that trade," said Glander. "In fact, if we hadn't made any trades during the season, our franchise would have benefited greatly for years. But it all would have been worth it if we had gotten a championship out of it."

By the time the season ended, Salem was the undeniable powerhouse of the Ozzie League. The Zoots won five more games than Salem, but out-scored their opponents by 57 fewer runs.

Salem's OLDS opponent was the Gillette Swamp Rats, who had given the Cowtippers trouble all season. But the Salem offense ran over Gillette ace Andy Ashby in Game One, winning 13-4, Castillo pitched a gem in Game Two, and the relentless Cowtippers offense scored double digit runs again in Game Three.

Though Salem held a commanding three games-to-none lead, Game Four was crucial because the Cowtippers preferred not to use Mussina the rest of the way in order to use him twice - or even three times if necessary - in the Championship Series.

Salem held a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh, but Gillette strung together a pair of runs off Salem starter Eric Milton to tie the game. Armando Rios then delivered a go-ahead triple in the ninth off Jeff Nelson, and Foulke nailed down the bottom of the ninth, putting the Salem Cowtippers into the OLCS for the first time in franchise history.

But the elation of rare post-season success was short-lived. The Cowtippers traveled to Stamford, where Mussina faced Kevin Brown in what was sure to be a classic pitcher's duel. After a one-two-three inning from the Salem offense in the first, Mussina recorded two quick outs. Tim Salmon, Marlboro's gift to the Stamford franchise, then singled up the middle, and the bad vibes began to reverberate up and down the Salem bench. The bench then shook off its foundation when the control artist Mussina then walked Stamford's cleanup hitter, Joe Oliver. Rafael Palmeiro, who ended Salem's season in 1999, then doubled home two runs when Lance Berkman's throw home was dropped by Kendall for an error.

Salem tried to get something going the next inning. Bagwell walked to lead off the inning, but he was snuffed out on a 5-4-3 double play by Berkman. Kent and Fryman then hit back-to-back singles, but the runner in scoring position would be stranded when Jackson struck out to end the inning. And the team that led the league in scoring that season, the mighty Salem Cowtippers, would manage to push only one more runner into scoring position the rest of the game.

To put an exclamation on it all, Oliver stepped to the plate to lead off the third and crushed a Mussina offering over the wall in left.

"I knew right at that very moment our season had ended," said Glander.

The Salem offense was shut out in Game One, managing just six hits the entire game. In Game Two, Salem managed just five hits off eventual OL Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson. Their first run of the series came in the seventh inning on a ground out by Sosa following a triple by Adam Piatt. Chen matched Johnson pitch-for-pitch until the fell apart in the sixth inning, allowing four runs on an error, a double, three singles and a walk.

In Game Three, Salem finally managed to put some runs on the board, courtesy of Sosa's two-run bomb off Lou Pote and Kendall's RBI single. But it was Castillo's turn to fall apart. In just five innings, Castillo allowed five hits, five walks and five runs.

Coming into the series, a four game sweep would have been unimaginable. Yet that's exactly what happened when Stamford took Game Four by a score of 6-5. Salem jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first, but Stamford came right back against Mussina. Mussina lasted just 1 2/3 innings this time, surrendering five hits, three walks and three runs. A three-run homer by Magglio Ordonez off Geraldo Guzman (who had allowed an OPS of 360 against righties during the season) put Stamford ahead 6-4, and the Salem bats weren't able to scratch together more than one run against the Stamford bullpen of Jose Paniagua, Lou Pote, Bung-Hole Kim and Mike Fetters. The game ended when, with one out and the tying run on third, Salem's "Vg" bunter, Piatt, missed a suicide squeeze attempt, making Abreu a dead duck at the plate.

"There's not much more that I can say about that series that I haven't already said," said Glander. "It's one of those things that you can either drive yourself crazy with, trying to rationalize it, or you can just throw your hands in the air and say, 'oh well, what are you gonna do?' It was a very bitter ending to what had been a nearly perfect season. As a GM, I know I'll never assemble a better team than the 2001 Cowtippers. I'm not even sure it's possible. Maybe one of these years our players will show up to play during the post-season. But I've given up worrying about it. I realize that I can't control certain aspects of this game, so there's no sense in beating my head against the wall. At least, that's what my counselor Brian tells me."