Baseball Returns to Buffalo with Real Power

Note: This is a guest post from Greg Lucas

After nearly an eight year hiatus, professional baseball returned to Buffalo in 1979.  The previous franchise in the AAA International League ran into heavy financial problems and even had to play some home games at nearby Niagara Falls towards the end.  But the Buffalo Bisons had some big fans in the city, led by Mayor James Griffin, and when a chance to get back into the game arose, the city was ready.

Oh, War Memorial Stadium where they would have to play needed work.  Since the earlier Bisons and NFL Buffalo Bills had moved out it had been mostly empty except for some high school football games.  The place was in disrepair.

Prior to Opening Day in 1979 some paint was applied.  Some rotting seats were pulled out.  The media/press box overhanging home plate was cleaned up and groundskeepers put in new turf for a new field.

But the real story turned out to be team the Pirates put in place.  Twelve of the players who would wear a Buffalo uniform that season had or would have major league experience before their careers were over.  Catcher Tony Pena would accumulate 18 major league years,  Luis Salazar would play 13 seasons in the bigs while pitchers Fred Breining, Stew Cliburn and Dave Dravecky would have have multiple big league seasons.  Dravecky would win as many as 14 games one season.

However, the superstar of the 1979 Bisons was an outfielder named Rick Lancellotti.  He would hit 41 home runs—just one off the all time Eastern League record.  The right-fielder took full advantage of War Memorial Stadium’s cozy right field.  It was only about 310 feet down the line and actually got closer as the wall curved toward center field.  It was as close as 290 feet at one point and the wall was less than ten feet high.

The Bisons hit 198 home runs in the 140 game schedule.  While the lefty hitting Lancellotti let the way, he was far from alone.  Switch-hitting first baseman Chick Valley added 25 homers, but the big story was what two right-handed hitters did by going the other way.

Tony Pena hit 34 home runs, drove in 97 and batted .313 that magical season.  Later after Tony had been in the major leagues for years and I had a chance to chat with him he admitted he learned how to hit in Buffalo.  Before, he had been a typical pull hitter.  He had done well enough the season before at Salem with 19 home runs and a .276 average, but he felt by consciously looking to go the other way at Buffalo in 1979 he made himself into a good hitter.

That was demonstrated in a major league career that saw his average among the leaders for catchers until age, injury and part time duty cut into it later in his career.  Tony never came close to hitting 34 home runs in a major league season, but he topped out at 15 twice and was in double figures six times.

The other player that may have “made” himself in Buffalo was Salazar.  He hit the first home run I ever called on radio in a professional game when he won the home opener with a walk off shot to right center field.  Salazar wasn’t even supposed to be in the game.  He had been slotted as an “extra” outfielder by Pittsburgh brass that season, but when the “prospect” ahead of him pulled up lame Luis got the start and never looked back.  The “prospect” never made the major leagues, but Salazar hung around for 13 seasons mostly with San Diego, the White Sox and the Cubs.  In eight of his seasons he played in more than 100 games.

As mentioned above Lancellotti who would later appear in just 36 games over three major league seasons, but star in Japan, hitting 58 homers over two seasons and 198 games, was amazing. For his career he hit 276 minor league homers, 58 in Japan and two in the major leagues. In addition to his 41 home runs in ’79 he also drove in 107 runs and batted .287.  He led the Eastern League with 13 sacrifice flies.

Before remembering some of the pitchers one multi-use player has to be remembered.  His name was Charles “Chick” Valley.  He never played a minute in a major league game, but in 1979 in Buffalo he was not only a crowd favorite, but a real and versatile star.

As a player he was a switch-hitting first baseman.  He knew how to pull the ball batting left handed over the right field wall.  His 25 home runs that season were the most he would ever hit in a single season.  Add 98 RBIs, a .269 average to a superb .380 on base percentage and it was easy to see Chick’s value.

But he could also pitch.

Manager Steve Demeter needed him to help out midway through the season.  Valley had pitched in college at San Diego State so the mound wasn’t new to him.  He showed he had multiple pitches and good control even if his fastball was lucky to touch 85 mph.  In ten appearances he recorded a 2-0 record with a 2.16 earned run average in 25 innings.  He allowed only 17 hits while striking out 19 and walking only nine.  Valley looked as though he might have something to fall back on should he not be able to hit his way to the majors.

The Pirates were not convinced, and by the next season he was out of the organization.  He spent his last three years in professional baseball as a pitcher.  His biggest season was in the Milwaukee system at AA El Paso in 1981 when he was 10-5 with a 2.79 ERA as a reliever.  After 1983 he was out of baseball.  But Chick Valley had two seasons to remember:  1979 as a 25 homer hitting first baseman in Buffalo and 1981 as a ten game winning pitcher at El Paso.

As far as the regular pitchers on the 1979 Bisons were concerned the “Golden Boy” at the outset of the season was Fred Breining.  He proved worthy of that status, but when he became the object of the Giants eye he would be part of a deal with San Francisco that netted the Pirates Bill Madlock.   In twelve starts for the Bisons, Fred was 5-4 with a 2.63 ERA and 73 strikeouts in just 82 innings pitched.  Stew Cliburn was almost as highly regarded.  He made 15 starts and was 6-6 with a 3.23 ERA in 103 innings.  Both would later put in a few years in major league uniforms.

The Pirates were pushing for Ben Wiltback to start as much as possible.  He had the livest arm of anyone on the team, but rarely knew where his fastball was going.  He did start eleven games with poor results.  He was 1-6 with an earned run average of more than 10! (10.05)  He had his chances but manager Demeter had to take him out usually well before he had pitched as many as five innings.  All told he threw 43 innings, giving up 70 hits and 48 walks.    Needless to say Ben Wiltbank never made it.

But Dave Dravecky did.  And no one thought he was anything more than another staff short inning reliever when 1979 began. Dravecky would appear in 35 games that season, but only 13 as a starter.  His numbers were not eye opening, but his look on the mound was.  His numbers showed a 6-7 record and 4.26 ERA.  The latter wasn’t outstanding, but was still nearly a full half run a game lower than the team’s overall 4.72 ERA.

The Pirates saw something in Dravecky, but so did other clubs.  Dave had his greatest success in San Diego and San Francisco before cancer and ultimately weakened bone structure cost him his pitching arm.

Others from the 1979 Bisons that saw big league time included outfielders Jose de la Rosa and Alberto Lois along with pitchers Santo Alcala and Bob Long. Matt Alexander was also part of the ’79 Bisons for a while.  He and infielder Tom McMillan had actually seen major league time before Buffalo, and Alexander would see more.  Manny was a speedy utility outfielder who played 32 games for the Bisons, hit .313 and was a perfect 13-13 as a base thief.

As a full team the Bisons weren’t the best.  They finished the season at only 72-67.  But they were a thrill a minute at War Memorial Stadium.  No opposing lead was safe from that power-laden lineup.  Of more importance; baseball was back in a real baseball city and that would lead to a new state-of-the-art ballpark downtown only a few years later.

War Memorial Stadium is no more.  It will live forever as the home field for the fictitious New York Knights in the classic baseball movie, “The Natural”.  It was a great place to bring baseball back to Buffalo with a memorable team.

About Greg Lucas:

Greg Lucas has been behind a mic since 1965. In addition to calling Bisons games, he’s done games for the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros, where he called a no-hitter, a perfect game and a ball bouncing of an outfielder’s head. He also spent more than 20 years working in the NBA for four different teams. So far, he’s called more than 3,000 games in 25 + sports and counting.

His book, “Baseball-Its More than Just a Game”, is available on Amazon and he has two other books in the works. He can also be found on Twitter.