Pete Golenbock chronicled the inaugural season of the Senior League from the clubhouse of the St. Petersburg Pelicans. The players needed some time to warm to the idea of a reporter in a clubhouse, but the Pelicans eventually saw advantages to allowing Golenbock the necessary access. Few readers would be interested in a biography of Milt Wilcox or Bobby Tolan, but you can write a petty interesting chapter on each player and link them together through the Pelican's 1989 season.

The pennant pace and playoffs of the 1989 Senior League season were a mildly interesting backdrop to the book. Golenbock couldn't picked a better team to follow - the Pelicans won the Senior League championship. The problem is that the league folded in 1990, so nobody cares who won the 1989 Senior League Championship.

That's the big problem with this book. Too many people are tempted to put the book down once they discover it was about a team in the Senior Leagues. Many will miss the individual stories of the thirty former major league ballplayers who played for the St. Petersburg Pelicans, which is the real value of The Forever Boys .

Many Pelicans had previous post-season experience in their major league careers. Dock Ellis pitched for the Pirates in the early 1970s, and the Yankees in 1976. Dave Rajsich played with the Yankees in 1978. Both discussed their years with the Yankees of Thurman and Reggie and Billy and George.

The Phillies of the Seventies were represented by utility infielder Alan Bannister, outfielder Jerry Martin, and pitcher Randy Lerch. These players recalled their times with the Yes We Can gang (in the mid-70s) and playoff teams of the late-70s, who starred such characters as Larry Bowa, Greg Luzinski, and Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton.

The Phillies of 1980 played a memorable LCS against the Houston Astros. Joe Sambito, who pitched for the Pelicans in 1989, was a star reliever for that Astro club with Nolan Ryan and J.R. Richard.

Alan Bannister played for the Phillies and the South Side Hitmen. The 1977 White Sox led the AL West for most of the summer, until KC won 25 games in the month of September to win the division.

Bob Tolan, the Pelicans manager, was a starting CF for the Big Red Machine of the 1970s. Tolan the ballplayer was a strong individual and a rebel. Tolan the manager wore a different hat, and its quite interesting to see the transformation that Tolan undergoes throughout the season.

Some of the Pelicans had already played for legendary managers. Lenny Randle and Roy Howell both discussed their love of playing for Billy Martin. Both Randle and Howell felt shafted when Frank Lucchessi undermined Martin, got Billy fired, and got himself hired as the new manager of the Texas Rangers. Both players disliked Lucchessi, though Randle was the only one who socked his new manager in a olden day version of the Lattrell Spewell incident. Though Randle was wrong to attack his manager, he gives a very persuasive argument on his behalf.

Milt Wilcox also played under the legendary Sparky Anderson in Cincinnati. Sparky was tough on young ballplayers and Wilcox resented Anderson when he first came up with the Reds. Wilcox was sentenced (traded) to Cleveland, then he moved to the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers soon hired his old buddy Sparky Anderson as a manager. Sparky remembered Wilcox as a "five inning pitcher" from his days in Cincinnati and forced Milt to the bullpen. Wilcox temporarily accepted the slight, then took his story to the newspapers when Sparky reneged on his deal with Wilcox to reconsider after a few weeks. Sparky inserted Wilcox into the Tiger starting rotation where he pitched every five days for the next seven years.

The book discusses one of the most tragic days in Mets history: June 15, 1977. That was the day the Mets traded Dave Kingman. Oh, they also sent a right handed pitcher named Seaver to Cincinnati. TWO of the players who were traded to the Mets - Pat Zachry and Steve Henderson - were members of the 1989 Pelicans. Both discuss the difficulties of being traded for a legend.

Zachry and Henderson weren't the only former Mets who found their way to St. Petersburg. Some may fans may recall a former Met number one draft pick from the Florida panhandle named Butch Benton. Benton was one of a series of Met dissapointments who never lived up to their billing. Of course, the Mets of the seventies were famous for drafting those types of players.

There weren't any Hall of Famers playing in the Senior League, but the Pelicans did have a right handed pitcher named Hoot Gibson. Unfortunately, this was James Gibson from Bryan, TX - not Bob Gibson from Omaha.

The Pelicans also had a slugger from Bessimer, Alabama. Bo knows Bessimer, but Bo wasn't a Pelican - this slugger was Lamar Johnson.

Some baseball fans might find Roy Howell's stories of the 1978 Blue Jays interesting. One of the Jays, Tim Johnson, used to maintain a "Wall of Shame" depicting various Blue Jay gaffes from the newspapers throughout the year. Unfortunately, Golenbock didn't ask Howell if Johnson talked about his days in Vietnam.

It's a shame that nobody will read such an interesting book, because nobody will care about the story of the senior leagues. Golenbock had the right idea. The ballplayers did have interesting stories to tell. Unfortunately, the backdrop is too much of a distraction for the stories to be appreciated.

The Forever Boys may be available for purchase on the net at one of these sites.

--Royal Rooter, March 1, 1999

© 1999 Rob Homa