6th Annual Baseball Challenge
Saturday September 26th, 2009 at 10:00AM
Wilburton Park in Bellevue

For the benefit of:

Team Coaches

In 2004, the first year of the Baseball Challenge, we did not have any former Mariners as coaches. We were lucky to just have a game.

In 2005 the Baseball Challenge was fortunate enough to have 2 former Mariners as managers of each team. Bill Krueger managed the Ronald McDonald House team and Brian Holman managed the Cocoon House Team. All of the players enjoyed getting the opportunity to interact with major league veterans who reached the highest level of competition.

In 2006 our good friend Bill Krueger returned again and teamed up with Roy Thomas to manage the Ronald McDonald House team. While Brian Holman was unable to return after moving out of the area, former Mariner player and coach John Moses agreed to come on board and manage the Cocoon House team.

For 2007 we were lucky (again) to have Bill Krueger return for his 3rd year and team up with newcomer Norm Charlton to manage Team Ronald McDonald House. While Roy Thomas and John Moses could not return due to schedule conflicts, original Mariner great Julio Cruz took over the reigns of Team Cocoon House. Due to the rainout and schedule conflicts both Bill and Norm were not able to attend the reschedule but Dave "Hendu" Henderson lived up to his heroic reputation and filled in at the last minute managing the Ronald McDonald House team, leading them to their 1st win!

In 2008, Julio Cruz and Roy Thomas returned to as coaches but they are swapping teams! Dave "Hendu" Henderson has also agreed to help out if we need him. We are indebted to these gentlemen for their generosity and for sharing their knowledge and love of the game.
Julio has been heavily involved with Ronald McDonald House as a key volunteer so he will take over their coaching reigns. Roy will move over to take over the gray and purple Team Cocoon House team. We are awaiting word from several other of our past coaches to see if our game will fit their calendars this year. We'd love to have them all back, they are great, but it is always hard to make schedules work. For example, Norm Charlton is now the Mariner's bullpen coach and John Moses is the hitting coach of the AAA/PCL Las Vegas 51's.

In 2009 Roy Thomas returned for his record 4th year! Brian Holman was also scheduled to fly in from Kansas to coach! Unfortunately, all our other regular former pros had prior commitments and couln't return. Also, sadly, Brian had a last minute family emergency and had to cancel his trip. It didn't matter however as Roy Thomas was up to the task of representing all former professional ballplayers and former Mariners Barry Bonnell and Bob Stoddard made special guest appearances. Barry and Bob would be welcome additions to the coaching staff in 2010 if their schedules permit them to attend.

Norm Charlton

Norm was drafted in the 1st round out of Rice University by the Montreal Expos in 1984. He was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 1986 and made his major league debut 2 years later on August 19th, 1988. While initially a starting pitcher, Norm blossomed into one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. Norm had 6 strong seasons for the Reds which included a World Series win in 1990. Norm was traded to the Mariners in 1993 and was having what might have been his finest season (with a career low ERA that was a full 2 runs lower than the league average). Sadly, his great 1993 season was cut short with an elbow injury that required "Tommy John" surgery. After spending some time with the Phillies Norm again returned to the Mariners halfway through 1995 and was back to his dominant ways as the closer during that magical season with an era of 1.51 (over 3 runs better than league average ERA!). Norm continued with the Mariners through the 1997 season. He then pitched for Orioles, Braves, Devil Rays and Red before returning once again to the Mariners for yet another magical season in 2001. His fine 2001 season turned out to be his last in the majors. Several promising comebacks were sadly cut short by injuries as there is no doubt Norm could have continued to be effective into his 40s. An interesting biographical note on Norm is that he completed 3 degrees while at Rice University: Political Science, Physical Education and Religion. For the 2008 season, Norm has been named the Mariner's bullpen coach! We're happy for him but that means he will be too busy to attend our event.

Julio Cruz

Julio began his career with the California Angels, signing as an amateur free agent at the age of 19 in 1974. Taken by the Mariners in the 1976 expansion draft, he made is major league debut for the Mariners on July 4th, 1977. He never looked back, spending the next 10 years in the majors. Julio spent almost 7 years with the Mariners becoming a fan favorite known for his slick glove work at 2nd base and speed on the bases. He was in the top 4 in the AL in stolen bases for 5 consecutive years. Midway through the 1983 season Julio was traded by the Mariners to the White Sox to help them in their successful pennant drive. He spent the next 3 years with the White Sox finishing his major league career in 1986. Despite playing less than 7 full seasons with the Mariners, Julio is still the all-time Mariner career leader with 290 stolen bases and is 10th on the M's all-time runs chart with 402. His SB total of 59 in 1978 ranks 2nd all-time to Harold Reynolds' 60 in 1987. An interesting bit of trivia about Julio comes from John Moses. John says that Julio had the best leaping ability of any 2nd baseman he ever saw and was subsequently very hard to take out at 2nd when attempting to break up double plays. Julio is currently working as a Spanish language broadcaster for the Mariners!

Dave "Hendu" Henderson

While Dave Henderson was the first ever Mariner's #1 draft choice and a great player for the Mariners, he will always be remembered for his playoff homers and heroics for the Boston Red Sox and Oakland A's. Who can forget his dramatic 1986 playoff homerun for Boston that staved off defeat in the 9th inning of game 5 and allowed Boston to survive and defeat the Angels in 7 games? He played in the World Series in 1986 with Boston and in 1988, 1989 and 1990 with Oakland, winning the World Series in 1989 with Oakland. Hendu was drafted in 1977 out of high school and debuted in the majors on April 9th, 1981 at the age of 22. He played for 14 seasons with Seattle, Boston, San Francisco, Oakland and Kansas City amassing over 200 homeruns in regular and post-season play all while playing stellar defense in centerfield. More recently, Hendu was the color commentator on numerous Mariner broadcasts, partnering with Rick Rizz.

Brian Holman

Brian played only 4 years in the majors before arm injuries cut his promising career short at the young age of 26. Brian debuted for the Montreal Expos on June 25th, 1988 after being a 1st round draft pick in 1983 out of high school. He came to the Mariners less than 1 year later in possibly the greatest trade in Mariner history. That trade brought both Brian and Randy Johnson to the Mariners in exchange for Mark Langston (also netting Gene Harris with the Mariners giving up player-to-be-named-later Mike Campbell). Brian will always be remembered by the Mariner faithful for his near perfect game against the World Series Champion Oakland A's on April 20th, 1990 in the Kingdome. It was broken up with 2 outs in the top of the 9th on a flyball homerun down the RF line by Ken Phelps. An interesting bit of trivia about Brian is that his brother Brad also pitched for the Mariners.

Bill Krueger

After starting college at the University of Portland as a basketball player, Bill didn’t start pitching until his junior year. He signed as an amateur free agent in 1980 with the Oakland A’s and debuted 3 years later on April 10th, 1983. Bill played for 8 teams over the course of his 13 season career including 2 stints with the Mariners (in 1991 and 1995). Primarily a starting pitcher, Bill started in 164 of the 301 games in which he pitched and accumulated 1,200 innings pitched with an ERA of 4.35. Possibly Bill’s finest season came in 1991 while with the Mariners when he led all starting pitchers on the staff (including Randy Johnson) with a 3.60 ERA and played a key role in the Mariner’s first ever winning season. After his retirement from playing, Bill joined the broadcast ranks. Many of you will recognize him as the Baseball Analyst with Fox Sports Northwest for the past 7 years.

John Moses

John spent 11 seasons in the big leagues between 1982 and 1992 for 3 major league teams. John was drafted by the Mariners in the 16th round of the 1980 draft and debuted with them just over 2 years later on August 23rd, 1982. A speedy, switch-hitting centerfielder, John played in 769 games getting 438 hits in 1,723 at bats with 101 stolen bases. After his playing career, John joined the Mariner coaching staff. He served as first base coach and outfield coach from 1998-2003 on the staff of both Lou Piniella and Bob Melvin. More recently, John was the first base coach/bench coach of the Cincinnati Reds with Jerry Narron until February 2006. For 2007 John rejoined the Mariner coaching staff, traveling with the team, serving in a variety of roles (including throwing a lot of batting practice). An interesting bit of trivia about John is that he can in fact pitch quite well and did make 3 relief appearances in the major leagues. For 2008 John is the hitting instructor for the AAA/PCL Las Vegas 51's.

Roy Thomas

Roy played for 3 MLB teams over 8 seasons between 1977 and 1987. Originally drafted out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1st round (6th overall) of the 1971 draft, he ultimately debuted on September 21, 1977 with the Houston Astros. This was only after being traded to the Chicago White Sox in 1975, taken by the Mariners in the 1976 expansion draft and then being traded to the Astros right before the start of the 1977 season. Eventually Roy did wind up with the Mariners, playing for them between 1983 and 1987. During his career Roy pitched in 182 games, mostly as a reliever, finishing 47 of those games. His career 3.82 ERA was 5% better than league average during that time. Currently Roy teaches match at the junior high school level in the Federal Way area.

Barry Bonnell

Barry debuted with the Atlanta Braves on May 4th, 1977 and played for 3 major league teams over 10 seasons. He spent the final 3 years of his career with the Mariners from 1984 to 1986. Barry was drafted 3 times: once out of high school in 1971, again after his junior year at Ohio State in 1974 and finally in 1975 (when he eventually signed) after being the #1 overall pick in the January phase of the amateur draft. Barry played all 3 outfield positions as well as third base and occasionally first base. During his career Barry saw action in 976 games and amassed 3,068 at bats and 833 hits, including 1983 when he batted .318 with 10 HR, 54 RBI and 10 SB.

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More Information:

Donate to Ronald McDonald House
Donate to Cocoon House
Donate to ILoveBaseball.org
Biographies of former Mariners
History of the Baseball Challenge

6th Annual Baseball Challenge Saturday September 26th, 2009 at 10:00AM Wilburton Park in Bellevue