Goat becomes a Hero

Today we are looking at a game from 1981 in the Gulf Coast League. The early days of the Gulf Coast League made it a unique league to play in. From its first games that were played in 1964 until 1986, the league restricted itself to the Sarasota-Bradenton Area of Florida. The leagues clubs were based in as many as 5 different ballparks scattered thoughout the two cities. In 1981 the league peaked out at 12 clubs in the era. As many as 3 clubs would share one park. Most of the times though because the facilities that were used had more then one field that could be used, more then one game could be played at one facility at a time.

Such was the case on July 17, 1981 when Lyle Olsen, manager of the Astros-Orange team, took his team across the field at Arthur Allyn Park in Sarasota to the visitors dugout to play the Rangers team in the league. The Astros two clubs shared the park with the Rangers Club. The Royals also had two clubs in the league playing in Sarasota, but they were based at the Royals Academy in a different part of the city.

In the top of the sixth inning, Steve McAllister of the Astros hit into an unassisted triple play. Rangers second baseman Craig Goodin pulled the feat. The game would later go into extra innings. In the top of the 13th inning, McAllister got his revenge on Goodin and the Rangers when he drove in the winning run of what turned out to be a 3-1 win for the Astros-Orange club. McAllisters career peaked out in AA with the Pirates and Goodin, a second year player in the league peaked out after two years of low A ball with the Royals.

Today the league is scattered thoughout Central and Southern Florida in three divisions, however the league does not allow its clubs to play outside of its divisions until playoff time. The league no longer has teams sharing parks as each club plays in its spring training facility.
No MLB team has had more then one team in the league since 1981. As with 2009, all clubs that trained in Florida had a team in the league. Although the league is down one club as the Reds moved to Arizona, where the Ariona Rookie League develops prospects for teams training there. The Arizona Rookie League started in 1988.

Tomorrow, we take a look at the Arizona Rookie Leagues first no-hitter.