THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: OK to triple the fun at a Spokane Indians game

Years before I would have any reason to be interested in the Spokane Indians, I was introduced to the Spokane Indians.

The year was 1970, and our family was at Derks Field in Salt Lake City, watching a Salt Lake Padres game in the Pacific Coast League. As you might have guessed, Salt Lake was the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.

Salt Lake’s opponent that night — the Spokane Indians, the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

As longtime Indians fans know, that was no ordinary Triple-A squad — the manager was Tommy Lasorda, and the players included Bobby Valentine, Tom Paciorek, Bill Buckner, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell, Charlie Hough and Doyle Alexander.

That team went 94-52 in the regular season, then swept the Hawaii Islanders in four games for the PCL title.

(Ron Cey would come to Spokane the following season.)

I thought about those days this past week, when it was announced there would be no minor league baseball this summer — meaning no trips to Indians games at Avista Stadium.

With the major leagues looking to scale down the number of minor league teams, you wonder what’s going to happen to teams like the Spokane Indians.

Will they remain a wildly successful (fan-wise) short-season Single-A farm team, as they have in recent years with the Texas Rangers?

Or will they wind up back in Triple-A, where they’ve had mixed success.

Either way, you’d like to think there’d continue to be a place for Spokane somewhere in the minor league food chain.

But as we’ve already learned in the first half of 2020, nothing’s for certain anymore.

AS LIFE would have it, four years after that muggy summer night at Derks Field, our family moved to Spokane.

By then, Spokane was the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers. So, mostly via the radio, I followed the exploits of the 1974 Indians — Pete Mackanin. Tom Robson, who swatted 41 homers. Roy Howell. Don Castle. Mike Cubbage.

Household names, but mostly in our house.

Roy Smalley came along the following season, followed in future seasons (and a switch in affiliation to the Milwaukee Brewers in 1976) by Lenn Sakata, Moose Haas, Kurt Bevacqua, Tommie Reynolds, Jim Gantner, Jamie Quirk and Ned Yost.

Spokane was the Seattle Mariners’ Triple-A farm club from 1979-81, giving us the likes of Bill Plummer, Bud Bulling and Dave Henderson.

The California Angels became Spokane’s parent club in 1982, sending us Gary Pettis and Daryl Sconiers.

But more importantly, the Angels brought their varsity to Spokane for an exhibition game — back when parent clubs did that with their Triple-A affiliates.

Reggie Jackson was among those who took part, if I recall.

I do remember the lefty swinging Rod Carew stepping up to the plate, patiently waiting for an outside pitch — and expertly guiding it down the left-field line for one of his textbook doubles.

That was it for Triple-A baseball in Spokane.

Spokane has been home to a short-season Single-A squad since 1983, when the Indians became affiliated with the San Diego Padres — though that first season we were treated to Mitch “Wild Thing” Williams.

Sandy Alomar was here in 1984, Ricky Bones a couple years later. Pedro Martinez (no, not THAT one) was here in 1988, Bobby Bonds (ditto) in 1992. Trajan Langdon, the former Duke basketball star, was here for 17 games in 1994.

The Kansas City Royals became Spokane’s parent club in 1995, and Carlos Beltran and Jeremy Giambi played for the Indians the following year. Henry Calderon and Mark Ellis also passed through Spokane, as did Zack Greinke for all of two games in 2002.

The Rangers have been Spokane’s parent club since 2003, providing us with Ian Kinsler, Derek Holland, Mitch Moreland, Chris Davis, Jurickson Profar, Mike Olt, Kyle Hendricks, Rougned Odor and Carl Edwards Jr.

THE SPOKANE Indians are popular these days because of their organization. Sure, fans come to watch a baseball game on a warm summer night, but they also come because the Indians create a very fan-friendly environment, the stadium is well-kept, the parking is free, the tickets are relatively inexpensive, the field itself is one of the best in all of minor league baseball, and the hot dogs are only a dollar a few nights of the season.

So what would happen if the Indians were bumped up to a Triple-A team? For financial reasons, they would likely be aligned with a West Coast major league team — perhaps the Dodgers again.

In theory, the Indians staff would provide the same type of game-day experience — and the baseball would be at a higher level.

In any event, how cool would that be to go to an Indians’ game one week, then watch a major league game on TV the following week and be able to say, “Hey, I saw that guy play in person last week at Avista”?

Cool, indeed.

If, in fact, we have minor league baseball at all next year.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.