Jarrod “Salty” Saltalamacchia (above) & Matt Esquivel (below) both ended the 2005 season with 81 RBI, a new Pelican record. |
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After 140 games this summer the Myrtle Beach Pelicans season is officially over.
While the team came up short of a playoff spot, the 2005 campaign will be remembered for so many other reasons, such as:
- Matt Esquivel and Jarrod Saltalamacchia each finishing the season with 81 RBI, a new Pelicans club record, or
- how about Atlanta Braves 1st round draft pick Joey Devine, fresh out of North Carolina State University, starting his professional career in Myrtle Beach, only to find himself on the mound at Turner Field in Atlanta a few months later, or
- who could forget Martin Prado’s 18-game hitting streak, the longest in Pelicans history, and
- one of the biggest highlights the realization that 17 former Pelicans were on the Atlanta Braves major league roster at one point this season, including five from last year’s team (Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann, Kyle Davies, Blaine Boyer, Anthony Lerew) and one from this year’s squad (Devine).
Here is a quick look at the 2005 Pelicans season in numbers….
| Fun Stuff… |
- 1,233 – Innings played this season
- 380 hours and 24 minutes (Approx. 16 days worth of baseball) – Time it took to play all 1,233 innings
- 53 (We started with 25 on Opening Day) – Players that put on a Pelicans uniform
- 80 – Transactions made this season
- 11 – Pelicans promoted to Double-A or higher
- 15 – Extra-Inning Games
- 49 – One-Run Games
- 2 – Pelicans named to the Carolina League – California League All-Star Game (Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Brady Endl)
- 1 – Pelicans club record broken by two people! Matt Esquivel and Jarrod Saltalamacchia each collected 81 RBI, breaking Marcus Giles’ (current Atlanta Braves second baseman) mark of 73 set in 1999.
- 1 – Guinness World Record broken by 1,827 “Groucho Marx Glasses Wearing” Pelicans fans on June 7th during a game against the Lynchburg Hillcats.
- 15 – Minutes the fans had to wear the Groucho Glasses in order to break the record.
- 61 – Laps around the bases run by Dinger “The Home Run Dog”
- 134 – Fresh baseball deliveries made by Dinger to the home plate umpire
- 3 – Detours made by Dinger during his deliveries….one to second base, another to the pitcher’s mound, and another to first base where he gave Pelicans 1B Scott Schade the baseballs.
- 5 – Times Pelicans Manager Randy Ingle was ejected
- 1 – Number of bases Randy took with him after an ejection, he stole second base, literally.
- 3 – Longest winning streak the Pelicans posted this season
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| Offensively Speaking… |
- 4,667 – Pelicans plate appearances
- 1,161 – Total Pelican hits
- 803 – Singles the Pelicans rapped
- 248 – Doubles Myrtle Beach laced
- 16 – Triples the Pelicans legged out
- 94 – Home runs the Birds belted
- 596 – Runs the Pelicans scored
- 459 – Walks the Pelicans drew
- 56 – Bruises the Pelicans hitters suffered as a result of a bean ball
- 121 – Bases the Birds swiped
- 76 – Number of times the Pelicans were caught stealing
- 23 – Straight games that Jarrod Saltalamacchia reached the base paths after being married on July 12th.
- .347 – Batting Average for Saltalamacchia after July 1st
- 14 – Home Runs the Pelicans hit at Coastal Federal Field in 2004 (last year)
- 42 – Home Runs the Pelicans hit at Coastal Federal Field in 2005 (this year)
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| On The Hill… |
- 4.11 – ERA posted by Bruce Dal Canton’s pitching staff (3rd best in the league)
- 9 – Shut outs thrown by the Myrtle Beach pitchers
- 27 – Saves the bullpen recorded
- 1,236 – Hits given up by the Pelicans
- 662 – Runs allowed
- 563 – Earned runs allowed
- 993 – Strike outs notched by the Pelicans
- 2 – Position players that pitched for the Pelicans (Willie James & Scott Schade)
- 13 – Starting pitchers the Pelicans had this season
- 19 – Age of lefty Kelvin Villa who finished the season by allowing just one run in his last 18 innings.
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Thanks to MBBC’s Ryan Ibbotson for this capcom story & to Steve Terry for these capcom photos.
