One of the good guys...

There was an entry on MILB.com that isn't there anymore, but I found what I was looking for at the Potomac Nationals website:

P-NATS ANNOUNCE FINAL MEMBER OF COACHING STAFF
Randy Tomlin to Serve as Pitching Coach

WOODBRIDGE, VA— The third member of manager Randy Knorr’s staff has finally been determined. Potomac Nationals Vice President and General Manager Bobby Holland announced today that Randy Tomlin will serve as the team’s pitching coach for the upcoming 2007 season.

"We are very excited to have someone like Randy Tomlin be a part of the Potomac Nationals coaching staff,” said Holland. “His experiences, especially in terms of pitching at the Major League level, will be a great asset to our team.”

Tomlin joins the Washington Nationals organization from his Alma mater, Liberty University, where he spent the past nine seasons as the pitching coach. He joined the Flames coaching staff in 1997 after a nine-year professional career that included five seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates (1990-1994). The former 18th-round pick of the Pirates was the organization's Minor League Player of the Year in 1990 and compiled a 30-31 career mark in Pittsburgh including leading the pitching staff in ERA (2.98) in 1991. That same season he started game four of the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves.

In 106 Major League games, Tomlin recorded a 3.43 ERA and struck out 297 batters in 580-1/3 innings pitched.

Why did this catch my attention? Randy Tomlin was a member of the Duluth-Superior Dukes in 1997. That was one of the season I was a radio announcer for the Dukes. Tomlin was a great guy to work with on interviews or just to listen to as he talked to the younger pitchers on the staff.

Quick story about this nice guy who almost started a brawl during a game on July 6, 1997 at Wade Stadium. (I went back to my scorebook to jog the memory a bit)

Jose Peguero was a third baseman for the Madison Black Wolf. He was a fastball hitter and Tomlin knew it. The first three times he faced the Peguero, Tomlin (who wasn't the hardest tossing pitcher at the time) threw one fast ball, but it was about two feet outside. The batter was retired easily each time on breaking stuff.

The fourth time Peguero batted in that game, Tomlin started him off with about a 57-foot curve ball and the hitter swung and missed. The hitter stepped out of the box, stared at Tomlin, and yelled at him to throw a fastball. Tomlin threw a couple of fastballs way outside and ths count went to 2-1. Peguero was all set up for a fastball in that count. Tomlin's next pitch was a change up that the Peguero missed badly. This time, the hitter took a step towards the mound and dared Tomlin to throw him a fastball. Peguero managed to foul the next pitch, another changeup, off to keep the count at 2-2.

Tomlin's final pitch was like that slow pitch that Bugs Bunny threw in Baseball Bugs against the Gashouse Gorillas. Peguero missed it and looked very bad in doing so. He took about four steps to the mound and yelled something. Tomlin took about four steps off the mound and yelled back. The dugouts emptied, but no punches were thrown.

The classy thing about this -- if a near brawl could be classy -- was that the manager of the Black Wolf, who may have been Wayne Krenchicki, took Peguero out of the game the incident.

After the game, I asked Tomlin about Peguero and he said something like, "There was no way that guy was getting a fastball from me once he started begging for one. That was great getting inside his head like that."

He's going to make a good pitching coach in the Nationals system.