Remembering the Gulls’ Short Flight : Ventura Farm Team Lasted Only a Season, but 9 Players Went On to the Big Leagues

The end, though not entirely unexpected, came suddenly, and by a unique set of circumstances. Their epitaph might well have read: Ventura County Gulls, 1986-1986, victims of no night life or alcohol.

With an Oxnard developer attempting to attract a minor league baseball team to Ventura County (see related story below), the action stirs memories of the county’s last minor league team. The Gulls, members of the Class-A California League, played one season at Ventura College before their owners--two former major leaguers and a mortician--called it quits.

They had no choice.

Asked recently when the Gulls first become endangered, former owner Ken McMullen replied, “When Ventura College said they didn’t want us back.” A month of the season still remained.

Truth be told, the feeling was mutual.

The Gulls, a Toronto Blue Jays’ affiliate, played at the college out of necessity. Their field, home to a junior college team, lacked lights, locker rooms and a ground crew. In addition, the club did not own a license to sell beer, thereby limiting its potential for profit at the concessions stand.

“You could say the odds were stacked against us,” McMullen said.

McMullen, a third baseman who played with the Dodgers and Angels during a 14-year major league career, Jim Colborn, a pitcher who won 20 games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1973, and Jim Biby paid $125,000 for the franchise rights in 1985.

The Gulls were a bust at the gate. In 71 home dates, the club attracted 38,962 fans, an average of only 549 per afternoon. There were, however, a small but hearty flock of committed regulars.

“The fans were great,” said Greg Myers, a former Gulls catcher who last week was traded from the Blue Jays to the Angels. “There just weren’t very many of them. Of course, there wasn’t a lot of room for them anyway.”

For a while, the home crowds were treated to some top-quality baseball.

The Gulls were 45-26 in the first half of the California League season, finishing second, three games behind Palm Springs.

But in the second half, with pitchers Todd Stottlemyre, Jeff Musselman and Jose Mesa having ascended from the nest to double-A Knoxville, Tenn., the club struggled to a 30-41 mark, finishing 13 games back.

Former Gulls Manager Glen Ezell recalls the final weeks of the season as dog days of summer.

“It was a neat year because we had a good ballclub, but a tough year because of what we had to do to make it all work,” said Ezell, who is in his fourth season as a coach with the Kansas City Royals.

“Who was going to come out at 4 o’clock on a weekday to watch a ballgame? Toward the end, we’d have 15 people in the stands. And a lot of times I had to do some groundskeeping work and stuff like that.

“It wasn’t what you would call a professional atmosphere.”

Rob Ducey, an outfielder who came to the Angels along with Myers last week in exchange for pitcher Mark Eichhorn, said playing day games wasn’t necessarily to everyone’s disadvantage.

“I liked it,” he said. “Other places, when you have night games you usually have some guys going out afterward. In Ventura, no one could stay out too late because we had to get to work early every day.

“Everyone had clear eyes. No hangovers.”

In all, nine Gulls and their manager have earned their wings, making it to the major leagues.

Stottlemyre, 27, and left-hander David Wells, 29, are starting pitchers for the Blue Jays. Stottlemyre, son of New York Mets pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre, has a record of 6-7. Wells, who lost against Boston on Tuesday, is 6-5. Last season, they each won 15 games.

Musselman, a Harvard graduate, used Ventura as a springboard to become the first of the Gulls to earn a late-season call-up. He pitched 5 1/3 innings over six appearances in 1986, then blossomed the following season, winning 12 games for Toronto out of the bullpen. Converted to a starter in 1988, he was 8-5 with a 3.18 earned-run average.

Also in ‘88, the left-hander made his first stop on the disabled list because of an arm problem. He pitched in only five games for the Blue Jays the next season, was again on the DL from late April until mid-June, then was traded to the Mets. He was 3-2 in 20 games as a reliever for New York.

Two months after the season, he was released. A Mets spokesman said Musselman, 29, was last known to be playing in Japan.

At 26, Mesa is in his 11th season of professional baseball. Signed by the Blue Jays in the Dominican Republic when he was 15, Mesa made his professional debut for the Baltimore Orioles in 1987, only days after being traded by Toronto.

The right-handed curve specialist was dealt again two months ago, this time to the Cleveland Indians. His cumulative record this season is 4-9.

Myers, 26, a left-handed-hitting catcher, earned September call-ups from Toronto in 1987 and ’89 before earning a permanent spot on the roster, platooning at catcher with the right-handed hitting Pat Borders.

He was batting .239 through Tuesday, coming off a 1991 campaign in which he posted professional career highs with a .262 batting average, 81 hits, 22 doubles, eight home runs and 36 runs batted in.

Ducey, who won the Gulls’ first home game with an eighth-inning home run, shuttled between Toronto and triple-A Syracuse from 1987 until last Thursday’s trade. He took a .247 career major league batting average into this season but has only one hit in 23 at-bats. Ducey, 27, made his Angels debut Sunday, striking out in both plate appearances.

Three other former Gulls are at the triple-A level after playing in the big leagues.

Eric Yelding, the Gulls’ speedy shortstop, bounced from the Blue Jays to the Houston Astros to the Chicago White Sox. He played regularly at shortstop and in the outfield in 1990, batting .254 and stealing a team-high 64 bases.

The following season Yelding struggled at the plate and was sent to triple-A Tucson where his campaign ended in August when he was struck in the face by a pitch. He was back with Tucson this season before being traded to the White Sox for a minor league pitcher. Now 27, he plays for Vancouver, one of Tucson’s Pacific Coast League rivals.

Geronimo Berroa, an outfielder with the Cincinnati Reds’ triple-A affiliate, the Nashville Sounds, appeared in a total of 88 games for the Atlanta Braves in the 1989-90 seasons. Berroa, 27, was called up to the Reds in early May, but appeared in only three games as a pinch-hitter--getting one hit--before being sent back down.

Francisco Cabrera, who made his professional debut with the Gulls, is a catcher for the Braves’ triple-A club in Richmond, Va. The 25-year-old native of Santo Domingo broke in with Toronto in 1989 and shortly thereafter was traded to Atlanta.

He appeared in 95 games for the Braves in 1990 and ’91 and was on the club’s postseason roster last season.

“Nine guys is a lot from a single-A team. Very unusual,” Ezell said. “I knew we had quite a good gathering of talent. It was young talent, but I had been around the game long enough to see some qualities in those guys I knew could carry them to the major leagues.”

McMullen said the highlight of his ownership was his affiliation with a Toronto organization bursting at the seams with young talent.

“If we had some other things going for us, it would have been a lot of fun,” McMullen said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t.”

So much for fond memories.

McMullen estimated that he and his partners lost about $50,000 in their one season, a deficit that was erased after the team was sold to investors who relocated the franchise in San Bernardino.

“We made maybe a couple of thousand dollars,” McMullen said. “Really, the community lost more than we did.”

Former Gulls Who Made the Major Leagues

Nine former Ventura Gull players have made the major leagues. Those who made the grade are listed below, along with the organization with which they made their debut, their position and the year of their debut.

Big League Debut Player Team Pos Yr. Geronimo Berroa Atlanta OF ’89 Francisco Cabrera Toronto C ’89 Rob Ducey Toronto OF ’87 Jose Mesa Baltimore P ’87 Jeff Musselman Toronto P ’86 Greg Myers Toronto C ’87 Todd Stottlemyre Toronto P ’88 David Wells Toronto P ’87 Eric Yelding Houston SS ’89

Player Comment Geronimo Berroa In triple A with Reds; played with Braves in ‘89-90. Francisco Cabrera Played in 3 World Series games for Braves last fall. Rob Ducey Recently traded to Angels; is 1 for 23 this season. Jose Mesa Now with Indians; has 11 years of pro experience. Jeff Musselman Released after trade to Mets; now playing in Japan. Greg Myers Had best big league season in ‘91; now with Angels. Todd Stottlemyre Has won 34 games for Toronto the past 2 1/2 seasons. David Wells Is 6-5 after going 15-10 with 3.72 ERA last season. Eric Yelding Now in triple A; had 64 steals for Astros in ’90.