DAN HICKLING
Minor League News

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The keepsakes are safe in the possession of Long Island Ducks' skipper Don McCormack.

McCormack personally yanked the lineup card from Game 3 of the championship series, the game that cinched the Ducks' first-ever Atlantic League crown, off of the dugout wall on his way off of the field.

The ball squeezed by Ducks' rightfielder Jason Johnson for the final out against the Camden Riversharks? Yep, he's got that, too.

Why would the skipper of an indy Atlantic League club get all misty-eyed over a championship that might be forgotten as quickly as it was played?

Odd Ducks

The Atlantic League is viewed by some as a used car lot, dotted with players who have a year or two more mileage, awaiting a chance to cruise down another avenue to a shot at the big leagues. The league makes headlines when the lot has your 1,000,000 mile Ricky Henderson, or your over-octaned Jose Canseco.

McCormack’s 2004 Long Island team are odd ducks: Veterans who came back, even from major league gigs, to be part of that rarest amongst rare in modern professional baseball: A true team.

"Without a doubt," said Ducks' veteran first baseman Patrick Lennon, who said that this team would stand apart from the many he has played on over the years.

"You don't see a group of guys like this that often. Not even in the big leagues. Everybody gels. Everybody gets along. It's like a family."

Ducks' lefthander Bill Pulsipher, who hurled the first seven innings in the clincher, had a different analogy, one drawn from the classic "Blues Brothers Movie".

"We got the band back together," he said, "and we accomplished our mission."

Pulsipher was one of several vets who returned to the flock for the playoff run after being sold to major league clubs during the season.

The Flock Returns Home To Long Island

Their return was like found money to McCormack. The Ducks captured the AL North Division mid-season title, then finished below .500 during the second half.

"Guys started disappearing on us," McCormack said. "But most of them said they would all come back. And when they started coming back, that made (me) feel good, because they obviously liked where they were at. Everybody in here has played so much, in so many organizations. But this is a place they can play for fun, and get down to what baseball's all about."

The Remarkable Run

Long Island put together a remarkable playoff run. In six games, including three against Nashua in the semifinals, the Ducks captured the last five, all of them by one run.

That included a three game sweep against the Riversharks that saw Long Island overcome Camden's leads in each game. The furious fowl scratched out wins in their final at-bats twice.

"My goodness gracious," said McCormack. "I wish I could sum it up in one word."

For now, we'll stick with "unforgettable".

Doug Jennings' Season in the Sun

If any one Duck is associated most closely with the five-year old franchise, it would be 40-year-old first-baseman Doug Jennings, who goes back to the club's first year.

With a resume scrawled on papyrus in hieroglyphics, Jennings last saw a big league field back in 1993, the last of his five seasons with the A's and Cubs.

Jennings put up perhaps his most memorable professional season ever (.359, 17 HRS, 84 RBIs). Helping lead the Ducks to the title was a perfect capper, and perhaps, the final act of his playing career.

"This is something special," Jennings said. "I'm just happy to have been a part of it. This league is not designed for a player like me to continue to play year after year. You come in, you do well, and you get out of here. I've had a great year and I didn't get picked up, so for me to help this team win a championship is icing on the cake."

Built to Succeed

You could say, if experience counts, that this year's Ducks were built to succeed. Six of the flock in the lineup for the deciding game had major league experience.

Long Island's veteran presence propelled them to wins in each of those squeakers, including Game 2 against Camden at Long Island's CitiBank Park.

Game 2: Fired-Up Fowl

Jennings was the lead bird in game two. He socked a two-run homer in the first, smack dab in the middle of it all, to start things off for Long Island.

The game was close, with Camden holding a 4-3 lead heading into the ninth, when Sharks' leadoff man Quincy Foster knocked a slow roller up the first base line.

Jennings gloved it, then set himself up for a collision with Foster, who was sent flying.

Both bullpens emptied. No punches were thrown, but the melee sent a jolt of energy through the Ducks’ dugout.

"They did us a favor," said Ducks center fielder Justin Davies, who delivered game winning hits in both of the first two games against the Sharks.

"I had yelled at him (Foster)," said Jennings, "and whatever I said must have gotten him riled up, because he tried to bunt the ball past me. He ran at me like he was going to run me over, so I just tried to protect myself. He bounced off. It wasn't something that was necessary, and for all practical purposes, it woke us up."

Game 3: Ducks Have Sharks on the Ropes

In Game 3, with the Sharks hanging on for dear life to a 3-2 lead in the seventh, it was Jennings again who got the Ducks going, by taking a fastball in the back from Camden starter Lincoln Mikkelsen.

That set off a two-run rally putting the Ducks ahead once, and, thanks to two overpowering innings of relief by Bill Simas, another ex-big leaguer, for all.

A Victory Saved, and Savored

"I got the last ball from JJ (Johnson)," McCormack said, "I've got the lineup card. I've got it all saved, and it's going in my office."

It’s well and good for the skipper of any successful club to want to tuck away a few memories of a great season. Yet these trinkets are symbols of something more than that. Something that true baseball fans from major to minor can recognize.

While the Long Island Ducks of 2004 may only be remembered as a notation in the annals of the Atlantic League, and in this publication, they join a rarified club that stretches from cornfields and little leagues around the corner to the great palaces of baseball.

The Ducks are one of those few groups that don a uniform that really come together as a team, and achieve the highest level of perfection that they can within their level, or league, together: The true definition of "team" in the ultimate team sport.

Most of these men spend their years chasing a few moments in a major league uniform. Yet they have accomplished something of which all players, even those wearing a Cubs "C" or Yankee pinstripes, should be envious.