laughs going during all-star events last week

By GARY HERRON/OBSERVER SPORTS EDITOR

There's little argument when talking about the best teams to ever play minor-league baseball that the 1972 Albuquerque Dukes would be on that elite list. With Hall of Fame manager Tom Lasorda at the helm, the Dukes - playing their first season of triple-A ball in Albuquerque after a franchise move from Spokane - were the forerunner of many good teams to play at the old Albuquerque Sports Stadium. The 1981 team, managed by Del Crandall and featuring triple-crown winner Mike Marshall, was another elite squad.

Albuquerque's baseball fans had been watching the Albuquerque Dodgers compete in the Texas League, Class AA ball, for the past few seasons, and a contest sponsored by the Albuquerque Tribune is actually what led to a name change. Dick Moots of Rio Rancho, in fact, designed the popular conquistador-type logo that adorned Dukes gear for years.

Nobody knew what to expect as the season was about to begin 35 years ago. Lasorda said in spring training, "I think we're going to be a good and exciting team to watch."

The only question at the time was how good would his pitching be.

In world news at the time, the Vietnam War was raging, with the Viet Cong pushing into South Vietnam. In the U.S., presidential hopeful George McGovern was making a push to get his party's nod and Apollo 16 was launched, beginning its journey to the moon.

As for the national pastime, slugger Richie Allen ended his 31-day holdout by getting a contract worth an estimated $135,000 from the White Sox, former Brooklyn Dodgers slugger and then-Mets manager Gil Hodges had suffered a fatal heart attack and died at the age of 48 after playing 27 holes of golf in West Palm Beach, Fla., and the major leaguers were on a soon-to-be-settled strike.

After a 7-2 exhibition victory over the University of New Mexico, the Dukes were ready to make their PCL debut on April 17.

High winds - wind in New Mexico? - limited the opening day crowd to 457 fans, who saw Joe Ferguson break up a scoreless duel with Salt Lake when he smacked a two-run, sixth-inning double, and former Texas A&M All-American Doug Rau earned the victory in the 5-1 win.

The player who scored the first triple-A run in Albuquerque history, Tom Paciorek, was in Albuquerque last week for the Triple-A All-Star Game festivities. Paciorek, 60, kept the crowds laughing at the PNM Power Derby last Monday and again at the Wednesday luncheon at Sandia Casino.

And he had some great stories about his days with the Albuquerque Dukes. Heck, he should have: The first baseman played in 147 games, had 59 multiple-hit games, hit 10 homers and drove in 32 runs in June, and led the PCL in homers (27), runs scored (125), hits (186), doubles (33) and putouts (1,239). Teammate Von Jushua won the league batting crown with a .337 mark.

Paciorek was named the PCL's MVP and The Sporting News' Minor League Player of the Year, too.

The key to the team's success 35 years ago, Paciorek said, wasn't just due to the plethora of talent -- many of the guys later helped the parent club in Los Angeles win pennants and World Series -- but also due to its skipper. Paciorek had played for Lasorda at Ogden and Spokane before being reunited again in 1972.

"He was the greatest motivator in the world," Paciorek began. "I had thought he had run out of motivational skills because we had lost five games in a row. When he called a team meeting - he had a knack for yelling at you, patting you on the back and encouraging you. But we were at a loss; we had lost five in a row, which is very unusual for the talent we had.

"(At the meeting he said) Listen you guys, you're walking around with the weight of the world on your shoulders. I want to tell you one thing: You guys have lost five games in a row.

"You're the Albuquerque Dukes. Did you know the '27 Yankees, voted as the greatest team in the history of baseball, with Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Tony Lazzeri -- lost seven games in a row? Just go out there and play like you did before, have fun, and think of the '27 Yankees.

"Holy mackerel? If the '27 Yankees can lose, we can do it. So we went out and won that (next) game, won about 15 games in a row and easily won the PCL championship that year," Paciorek continued. "I was called up to the Dodgers in September, and I ran into Tommy at Dodger Stadium and I said, 'Tommy, something's been bothering me for the last month.' He said, 'What's that?' I said, 'Did the '27 Yankees really lose seven games in a row?'

"He said, 'How the hell would I know? I wasn't even born yet, but it worked on you guys that day.'"

It's a good story, but not quite right. The record book shows the Dukes of 1972 lost as many as eight in a row, while their longest winning streak was 11.

Lasorda almost seemed miffed that Paciorek upstaged him last week at the luncheon, and he dealt his former first baseman a back-handed compliment: "Every year he wants to donate $25,000 to the family of the Unknown Soldier," Lasorda said. "He still has the check."

Paciorek did play in 11 games with the Dodgers in 1972 and played in only 16 minor-league games in the rest of his career. That brief stint was spent with San Jose, then in the PCL, and it got him back to the Sports Stadium for a series against the Dukes in 1978.

"This is a great ballpark," Paciorek said last week, referring to Isotopes Park. "When we came here in '72, that (Sports Stadium) was state-of-the-art. It was unbelievable; it was by far the best minor-league stadium at that time.

"You can see how the game has evolved. I said yesterday, you add 20,000 seats to it, you've got a major-league ballpark ... It's a great place to play baseball," he said. "I'm really glad I got to come back here after 35 years -- can you believe it?"

That big-league career, by the way, is pretty impressive, especially in light of the fact that the Detroit-born Paciorek best sport growing up was football. He was an All-American as a defensive back at the University of Houston and a ninth-round draft pick by the Miami Dolphins -- maybe he could have been a part of that 1972 Dolphins team that went 17-0.

Although NFL players rarely last more than a decade, Paciorek - a two-time All-American baseball player - probably made the right choice after being drafted by the Dodgers in 1968.

He played 18 seasons in the majors with Los Angeles (1972-75), who got Paciorek into three games of the 1974 World Series in their loss to Oakland; Paciorek said one of his regrets was not being able to play for Lasorda in the big leagues, as Walk Alston was the team's manager when he was in L.A.

Paciorek also played for the Braves (1976-78), Mariners (1978-81), White Sox (1982-85), Mets ('85) and Rangers (1986-87). He was the Mariners' representative at the 1981 All-Star Game, in which he got a single in his lone at-bat. He batted .326 for the Ms that season, who apparently appreciated his efforts so much that they dealt him to the White Sox in late December for Rod Allen, Jim Essian and Todd Cruz. Paciorek and the ChiSox went on to win the American League East Division in 1983.

After his playing days, he moved into the broadcast booth, and is widely remembered for his days adding color to the White Sox games.

"Things weren't working out; it got to the point where the White Sox really weren't wanting me to come back, to be honest with you. They gave me a list of 12 things I had to improve on if I wanted to come back for my 13th season. They were pretty much opening the door to let me go graciously, so I said 'fine,'" he said. "I got fired by the Washington Nationals last year ... I'm done; I'm retired."

Paciorek, in light of his playing days spent in the Seventies and Eighties, was asked who he though belongs in the Hall of Fame but hadn't been elected.

"The Hawk, Andre Dawson, for sure. I think Ron Santo belongs in. Bert Blyleven, no question. Rich Gossage. I think Tommy John belongs in the Hall of Fame," he said, noting the famous "Tommy John surgery" had kept him off the mound for a season. "I had Elton John surgery, that's why I didn't make it to the Hall of Fame." (And maybe how he earned the nickname "Wimpy.")

What about Pete Rose?

"He's got to prove it to me. You don't think he was gambling as a player? Do you think he started (gambling) when he was 40 years old? I don't believe it. Are you telling me that Pete never bet on a baseball game when he was playing? I think if you're a gambler, you're always a gambler."

Here are two more Paciorek tidbits: Two of his brothers, Jim and John, also played in the majors, although nobody confuses the trio of Pacioreks with the trio of DiMaggios or Alous; and, according to "The Ballplayers," he was once picked by a Chicago newspaper as the second-best looking ballplayer in the big leagues. (No. 1? Jim Palmer, who is in the Hall of Fame and better-remembered by female fans for his days as an underwear spokesman.)

More about the 1972 Albuquerque Dukes:

Here's the Dukes' opening day lineup: Rau (pitcher), Joe Ferguson (catcher), Paciorek (first), Davey Lopes (second), Ron Cey (third), Steve Huntz (shortstop), Von Joshua (left), Paul Ray Powell (center), Larry Hisle (right).

The Dukes finished with a 92-56 record to win the PCL's East crown, then beat Eugene, where a guy named Mike Schmidt was the third baseman, three games to one for the PCL title. The Emeralds had beaten the Dukes 10 times in their 16 regular-season meetings that season.

The Dukes also played in the Kodak World Classic at Honolulu after the '72 season and beat Hawaii, Tidewater and Evansville before a 6-2, 12-inning loss to the Caribbean All-Stars in the finale.

Box seats cost $2.50; there were five 10-cent beer nights that year.

The '72 Dukes were 45-29 at home and even better on the road (47-27). They attracted 182,044 fans to the Sports Stadium that season.

The city of Albuquerque has changed, Lasorda noted.

"When I was here, I'd tell people if they dropped a bomb in the middle of downtown it wouldn't have done $40 worth of damage."