Huntsville-Chattanooga Play Thursday Night At BellSouth Park
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posted September 6, 2006
) Photo by Southern League Don Money Click to enlarge photo. |
In their most recent issue,Southern Bases had an extensive article on Money. It is reprinted here.
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Don Money had waited fourteen years to reach the pinnacle of his profession. His son, Don, Jr., had waited just thirteen. It was October of 1982 and the Milwaukee Brewers were playing in their first World Series. The team had enjoyed an outstanding run after hitting coach Harvey Kuenn replaced manager Buck Rogers 47 games into the season.
Under Kuenn, the club finished the season 72-43, ending up with a Major League best 95-67 overall record. Robin Yount was named the American League's Most Valuable Player and Pete Vuckovich was honored with the American League Cy Young Award. That season, Money's tenth with Milwaukee, he hit .286 with 16 home runs and 55 RBI. "Harvey's Wallbangers," as the club became known, won the American League Championship Series by taking three straight games from the California Angels after dropping the first two. They went on to face the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1982 Fall Classic, turning in a thrilling seven-game series. The see-saw "Suds Series" saw both the Brewers and the Cardinals hold the lead twice while the teams deadlocked three times. St. Louis won their ninth World Championship by taking Game 7 with a 6-3 final score.
While the experience of playing in the World Series is a thrill for any player, it was especially important to Money, who was playing his fourteenth full Major League season. What made the World Series especially memorable to him was seeing his son, Don, Jr., serve as a batboy in St. Louis during the first two games of the series. Don, Jr. had grown up around the ballclub, spending his summers with his father at County Stadium.
"You always watch the World Series on TV in the fall, so to actually have the opportunity to play in it was really something. Our team had been good for several years, but we played in the American League East, which was a tough division. When we got our chance in 1982, the people in Milwaukee loved it. One of the biggest things about the World Series for me was seeing my son out there. That is probably my favorite moment from my entire career. He was always around the game because I had been in the Major Leagues ever since he was born. I'll bust on him a little bit that it took me fourteen years to get there and it only took him thirteen but it was really special to have him there."
In 1965, the Pittsburgh Pirates signed an 18-year-old Money as an amateur free agent. After being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies following the 1967 season, Money made his Major League debut on April 10, 1968 at the age of 21, recording his first Major League hit in a 1-for-3 performance. Money played in four games with the Phillies in 1968 and became Philadelphia's regular shortstop the following season. In 1970, he converted to third base, where he spent the majority of his time before an offseason deal in 1972 sent him to the Milwaukee Brewers.
In Milwaukee, Money found a home. He joined the Brewers in 1973, which was the club's fourth season in the city after moving from Seattle following the 1969 season. Money uncovered a young organization in Milwaukee that was in the process of building a nucleus, which would stay together for almost a decade and feature most of the franchise's legendary players. George Scott had joined the Brewers in 1972 in a trade while Gorman Thomas and Charlie Moore came up the same year Money joined the club. Robin Yount came to Milwaukee in 1974 while Cecil Cooper joined the club in 1977 and Paul Molitor arrived in 1978.
"Everyone that made up the nucleus of the ballclub played together for at least eight or nine years. We had a great team, especially as everyone got a little bit older and started maturing in the late seventies. The chemistry on and off the field was there. We would play a great game of flip every day. Around eighteen to twenty guys would be out in right field playing flip every day usually before the other team would show up to the ballpark, even on the road."
As the Brewers grew, Money enjoyed a brilliant career. In 1974, he was named to his first of four All-Star squads. That year, he was also named the Brewers' team MVP after hitting .283 with 15 home runs and 65 RBI. Money would prove to be a perennial All-Star, being named to the squad for three consecutive seasons from 1976 through 1978. In 1977, Money was named the Brewers' team MVP for the second time after enjoying a banner season, hitting .279 with 25 home runs and 83 RBI while, in 1978, he became the first Brewer to ever start an All-Star game.
"Going to four All-Star games was great. It was an honor to be the first Brewer ever to start an All-Star game because the fans elected me. It's a good feeling when fans all over the country recognize you and bestow you with that kind of honor. Being the team MVP for those two years was also a great honor. I always considered myself a very consistent player. I wasn't the flashy type of player that could hit a ton of home runs but I could do all the little things like bunt and get guys over and I played defense pretty solidly.
So, that was my game and I was honored that my teammates, the writers and the fans recognized and appreciated me for it."
Stating that he played defense "pretty solidly" is perhaps an understatement. A third baseman for the majority of his career, Money was noted for his defense as much as his work at the plate. In 1974, he set a Major League record with 261 consecutive errorless chances by a third baseman. He still holds the all-time Major League record with 88 consecutive errorless games as a third baseman. His defense was more than solid, it was spectacular.
"I prided myself on defense. Everyone wants to do well offensively, but I feel that defense is just as important. I might not have gotten any hits in a game, but I could still help the team by just turning a double play or by making a good play on a ball. I might not have done anything offensively that day but I still helped my club win with my defense."
The chemistry of the Brewers and the nucleus of good players that Milwaukee had built would give the fans in Milwaukee several good years, but it wasn't until 1981 that the team reached it's heyday. That year, the Brewers picked up Rollie Fingers, Pete Vuckovich and Ted Simmons in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. The deal would turn out to give the Brewers the pieces of the puzzle that they needed to reach the next level. In 1981, Rollie Fingers was named the American League Most Valuable Player and the Cy Young Award winner. After a shortened split-season, the Brewers earned their first ever playoff birth, a divisional series with the New York Yankees. Though they fell to New York 3-2 in the five-game set, the Brewers
had officially announced their arrival as one of the premier teams in the league, reaching the World Series the following season.
After playing in the World Series, Money would enjoy one final Major League season with the Brewers. In 1984, he played a portion of the season in Japan before his retirement as a player. Money stepped away from the game for several years,
returning for a brief period to manage the New York-Penn League Oneonta from 1987 through 1988.
"I was tired of the travel required in baseball and I just wanted to be home. My kids were still in junior high and getting ready to go into high school. I hadn't seen my son play little league that much. So, I got out of the game. I just wanted to spend time with my wife and kids."
As the years went by and his children grew up and began families of their own, Money got the itch to return to baseball. He spent five years coaching at Sacred Heart High School, a small Catholic school near his home in New Jersey that did not have it's own baseball field. Over those five years, he led the team without a field to two New Jersey State Championships.
Money's itch to return to professional baseball grew larger and, in 1997, he saw that his old friend, Cecil Cooper, had been named the farm director of the Brewers. Money called Cooper and inquired about any managing opportunities that the Brewers may have. In 1998, Cooper named Money the manager of the Midwest League's Beloit Snappers.
"Beloit is the first full-season year for most players. The majority of guys that I would have there had been drafted the year before and had only played in short-season. I would always tell them that they were about to go through something that they had never experienced before in playing 140 games in 152 days. I would do a lot of teaching there and concentrate on fundamentals."
Money spent the next seven seasons in Beloit, guiding the Snappers to the Midwest League Championship Series in 2000 and 2003. In 2005, Milwaukee rewarded Money's success with a promotion to Huntsville, where he became the manager of the Stars. The 2005 season would turn out to be a special one for Money, the manager, and Money, the player. On July 1, 2005, Money earned his 500th career win as a manager when the Stars beat the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx 5-2. That same season, the fans in Milwaukee let
Money know just how much they had appreciated his contributions to the club as a player by electing him to the Brewers' Walk of Fame, which commemorates some of the greatest players and executives in Brewers' history and currently holds twelve members.
"Being elected into the Walk of Fame was great. It was special to go in with Harvey Kuenn. The Brewers honored us last July and Harvey's widow, Audrey, and I gave speeches on the field. It was great to go up to Milwaukee because I saw a lot of people that I don't really get to see too often. It was an honor to be elected because the fans voted me in. They recognized my playing ability over the course of my career. The community embraced the team back then and made it a wonderful place. I loved playing in the City of Milwaukee and I was honored that they enjoyed having me play there."
This season, Money is in his second year at the helm of the Stars. After finishing fourth overall in the North Division in 2005, the Stars are currently in contention for a second-half division championship and a playoff birth. Seeing his team succeed would mean a lot to Money, who has watched the majority of his current players grow through the years after managing them in Beloit.
"Here in Double-A, most of the guys I have now, I had two to five years ago. So, I know them. It's nice to see where they have developed and where I still need to work with them. I tell all my players that this level is one phone call away from the Big Leagues. You never know what can happen. We have had a few players go straight to Milwaukee from here this season. I want to instill in them that they need to play their best each and every day because they will get their chance with either the Brewers or somewhere else if
they play well here."
While his players may get a chance to either play in Milwaukee or somewhere else due to a trade, Money would like to stay with his organization for as long as possible. He has played or managed for the Brewers for twenty years. Being with the organization for that long has given Money a strong sense of loyalty to his team.
"I played in Milwaukee for eleven years and I've been managing for nine years, so I've been involved with the Brewers' organization for twenty years. I'm very loyal to the organization. It just doesn't occur to me to go somewhere else because I am happy here. This organization and it's fans have been very good to me and have given me many great moments throughout my career, so I feel very loyal to them in return."
While the Milwaukee Brewers and their fans have given Money some great memories, he has returned the favor by giving them many as well. In the past, the four-time All-Star and two-time team MVP has helped guide his team to the pinnacle of baseball: the World Series. The Brewers and their fans have recognized his contributions by rewarding him in many different ways. As he looks into the future, Money hopes that he and the people of Milwaukee can continue to provide each other with many more special memories in the years to come.
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Southern Bases, Volume XII, Issue 10 August 25, 2006 An Official Publication of the Southern League.
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