Sports, Ink

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Manto hits three

   July 14, 1997 -- You've never seen a bigger swing of a baseball bat than the ones Jeff Manto took in his final at bat on this date.

   Manto had hit three home runs already on the day, and you don't get that many chances at four. Manto created nothing but a breeze, but it was still a great day's work. Here's the way Mike Harrington portrayed it in The News:

   Manto Mania is sweeping through North AmeriCare Park.

    It reached a crescendo Monday night as Bisons third baseman Jeff Manto became the first player inthe 10-year history of the downtown ballpark to crack three home runs in one game.Manto provided Buffalo with more than enough offense to pick up its seventh straight victory, 6-1, over the Iowa Cubs.

    It was a wild night before a rollicking crowd of 19,255 -- the largest since Opening Day. Most were drawn by the postgame fireworks, rescheduled from July 3 after being canceled due to wind.

    They got their fireworks this time -- both after and during the game.

    Not just from Manto, either.

    Things really heated up in the fifth inning with a brief bench-clearing incident after Buffalo's Randy Curtis was beaned by Iowa starter Amaury Telemaco. No punches were thrown, but Telemaco and Iowa pitching coach Marty DeMerritt were ejected after the teams met behind home plate for a heavy exchange of words.

    Manto became just the second Bison to hit three homers in a game in the American Association era, joining Al Martin's 1992 slugfest at Louisville.

    In 40 games since joining the club in a June 5 trade with the Toronto organization, Manto has belted 18 home runs to move into a tie for second place in the Association with New Orleans' J.R. Phillips. Manto is hitting .331 with 43 RBIs.

    "I've never seen a person play as well as Jeff has in such a short period of time," Buffalo manager Brian Graham said. "He's hotter than any hitter I've even seen at this level."

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: A Bisons' explosion

   July 13, 1929 -- The Buffalo Bisons couldn't have been much more mediocre in this particular season, going 83-84 and finishing fifth. On one particular day, though, they were world-beaters.

   The Bisons not only set an International League record with 11 straight hits, but it was a professional baseball record as well. Here's the list:

   * Singles by Clayton Sheedy, John Barnes and Jim Cooney.

   * Home run by Buck Elliott.

   * Singles by Ollie Sax and Herb Thomas.

   * Double by George Fisher.

   * Singles by hack Miller, Al Moore and Sheedy.

   * Triple by Barnes.

   The Bisons scored 12 runs in the inning.

--- Budd Bailey

Working and playing at Fort Erie's biggest day

FORT ERIE, Ont. --- Prince of Wales Day at the Fort Erie Race Track is one of my most favorite days of the year. The pageantry, the excitement, the $1.99 breakfast, and the fact that I can play the horses while I work, or vice versa.

Here's how my day, and my bankroll went. (All dollar figures are Canadian).

First race:Legendary Ella came flying on the outside and opened a daylight lead while jockey Jerry Baird looked through his legs and over his shoulder to see that none of the other six fillies in the field were nowhere close in this opening dash for $7,500 claiming fillies with a purse of $12,880. (Total purses on this, the Fort's biggest day of the year, will be $683,605.) ... This 6 1/2 furlong dash was Legendary Ella's first trip over the Fort's track. She was dropping in class after finishing seventh three times in a row over the Polytrack at Woodbine and won by 6 3/4 lengths. ... I bet $34 on various combinations and am alive in the daily double with two horses --- Beautiful Lily (No.3) and Princessjadynatto (No. 6). The first will pay $11 and the second $18, so no matter who wins, I lose.

Second race:  Jockey Gerry Olguin shot 8-5 favorite Beautiful Lily to the top and led every step of the way of the mile and 70 yards and just held off Daniel David on Tee Cubed to win by a neck. ... Key to this race may have been trainer Erika Winkelmann's change of jockeys from apprentice Krista Carignan to veteran Olguin from Toronto. ... This may be the start of a good day for Olguin, who's attempting to win his second Prince of Wales Stakes with long shot Keino West, subject of a feature I wrote in today's paper. Olguin won the 2005 Prince of Wales on Ablo.

Let's see, I bet another $24 and collected $11.15 on the daily double, and $15.70 on the exacta. That leaves me $21.15 in the hole.   

Between races, Sam Lima of the horsemen's association presented trophies to Mike Newell and Chad Beckon for being last year's top trainer and jockey respectively. Beckon is in the hospital after an accident at Woodbine and his trophy was accepted by trainer Nick Gonzalez. Newell is currently the 2009 leading trainer too, with 15 wins, one more than John Simms and Daryl Ezra, who have 14 each.

A young lady just sang the national anthems. O Canada got slightly louder applause than The Star Spangled  Banner.

Third race: What do you know? Olguin takes even-money favorite County Wage wire-to-wire to beat a bunch of 2-year-old filly maidens by 11 lengths. County Wage, with six starts under her belt, was the most experienced filly in the race. I had County Wage in my exacta box, but not the second horse, Sing to Me Dolly. So now I'm down $31.15.

I bumped into Gonzalez in the dining room and asked him if any of his horses had a chance today? He said he liked Stuck In Traffic in the sixth race and Approved by Nick in the 10th. The latter, he said was not named for him, but was already named when he purchased him.

I'm on the free food list today and am eating a piece of pumpkin pie from the clubhouse buffet. A few more winners and I'll think it's Thanksgiving.

I also ran into mutuel manager Chad and congratulated him for negotiating a contract to get Fort Erie's races into the Western Region OTB system in Western New York. He said the Fort --- which races Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays --- could not get into the OTB lineup on other Sundays (except today) because OTB did not have any more room. Hopefully, that can be renegotiated in the future. I think an OTB presence will help both OTB and Fort Erie.

Fourth race: Bent Attorney, the even-money favorite, outdueled Dancing Allstar to win the $50,000 Ernie Samuel Memorial Stakes over 5 furlongs of grass.

Trainer Don MacRae, who's been at Fort Erie since 1996, said it was his first stakes win at the Fort (he won a stakes at Calder Race Course in Florida too) and his first win of any kind on the grass. MacRae claimed the 5-year-old mare for $50,000 last year and she's rewarded him with three wins and three seconds and has more than earned back her purchase price.

"I just liked her form. I like horses with consistent numbers. She fit the mold," MacRae said. "We claimed the horse, we never expected to run in stakes. She's progressed nicely for us."

Jockey Stewart Elliott said Bent Attorney "won easy" but added that Dancing Allstar, ridden by Eurico Rosa da Silva "started to blow the turn. I went to let my filly run up in there and then he got his horse back and I don't think he realized I was there. He kind of come down on top of me a little bit."

Publicity director Daryl Wells Jr. said the exacta, which paid all of $4.15 for $2, "was the easiest exacta ever." Wells and his TV sidekick Elissa Blowe pick a Win-4 combination every day for races 4 through 7. They had both horses on their $36 ticket and are alive with three horses in leg 2, the next race. I lost $17 on the race (I'm dead already in the Win-4) and now am out $48 for the afternoon.

Fifth race: Musical Storm, a 3-year-old filly ridden by Sunny Singh for local trainer Bill MacKinnon romps in the fifth race to become the first long-shot winner of the day, paying $15.80 to win an $7.60 to place. I also happened to bet her but, unfortunately, the other members of my exacta ticket finished nowhere. And if you're wondering, the Wells-Blowe pick 4 is also out the window. I wagered $14 and got back $23.40, so now I'm down $38.60.

MacKinnon clever trainer who runs a small but surprising barn. Two years ago he won the $125,000 Rainbow Connection Stakes with Flashy Pink, a long shot who was the center of a controversy with a jockey's agent. ... I him just this morning at breakfast. He was wearing a sport coat so I should have suspected he was planning on getting his picture taken.... This was MacKinnon's first win in 17 starts this year and his first in nine starts at Fort Erie. ...Until last month, Musical Storm had been trained at Woodbine by David Cross, who is famous for winning the Kentucky Derby in 1983 with Sunny's Halo.

Sixth race: Olguin wins his third of the day getting even-money favorite Drunken Love up in the last stride to nip 15-1 shot (which I bet) Marco Be Good at the wire to win the $50,000 Daryl Wells Sr. Memorial Stakes. ... In the postrace TV interview, Olguin discloses that he's won his last seven races at Fort Erie. Next up for him is Better Than Enough in the seventh race.

Drunken Love, a son of Whiskey Wisdom and No Sugar, is running for the first time since being claimed for $62,500 by trainer Norm McKnight, and the first time the 4-year-old gelding has raced on grass. Two races back he finished fourth at Woodbine in the New Providence Stakes, named for the winner of the Prince of Wales Stakes, and the Canadian Triple Crown, in 1959.
 
Brad McKnight, the trainer's son, said "He's a little bit paid for now, not all the way but we're getting there."

I'm out $62 as I tried to shoot the moon for a four-horse exacta box. Maybe playing and working don't make the best combination.

Seventh race: Olguin's streak is stopped as Better Than Enough gets off slowly and can't catch T Que under Eldridge Lindsay, who paid $19.60 in a 6-furlong dash for $5,000 claimers. I lost another $12 (that's $74) and really have to get to work as the Prince of Wales is next.

Eighth race: Wow! What a finish! Milwaukee Appeal took the lead, then Gallant passed her on the first turn. Then Milwaukee Appeal fought back and stuck her nose in front. Then Gallant got up to win in the final stride by a margin so close, if it had been any closer it would have been a dead heat.

After a big race, my job gets crazy. Down by the jockey's weigh-out scale, Bill Tallon of the Daily Racing Form and I interview losing jockeys Mike Smith (Mr. Foricos Two U) and Eurico Rose da Silva (Eye of the Leopard). Then we realize we missed Stewart Elliott, the guy whose horse lost the photo.

We high-tail it back to the jocks' room and grab Elliott for a few comments. By then winning jockey Corey Fraser is being interviewed on television, followed by Ricky Griffith, assistant to winning trainer Mark Casse, who is in Toronto and didn't make the trip.

Then it's up to the publicity office to interview Fraser ("Do I sit or stand? I've never done this before," said Fraser after winning the biggest race of his career.

Then Tallon makes a call to Casse at Woodbine and a bunch of reporters interview him on the speaker phone. Now it's back to the press box to write a story. Oh, yes. I bet $5 to win and $5 to place on Milwaukee Appeal, the horse I picked in the paper, and another $6 in the exactas. So I lost $7 on the race and now am down $83.

Ninth race:Because of the above activity, I didn't see a step of the race until I noticed No. 5, Nightnightnight was in the winner's circle. He was ridden by Christopher Griffith, younger brother of the aforementioned Ricky Griffith. Chris is an old friend who will always be remembered as the guy about whom I was writing a long feature story on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. ... Anyway, I didn't have his $7.50 winner, but I have him in a $12 daily double combination with four horses in the next race. So if I don't bet any more, I will lose only $95 for the day.

Between the ninth and the 10th races I was engaged in what some might consider a bureaucratic nightmare.

When I saw the photo finish picture on the TV screen, I thought it was so dramatic that I wanted to get a copy of it for the readers. I asked the head of the photo finish department if he could e-mail me a copy but he said I would have to get approval of the stewards.

So I went up stairs and the stewards said it was OK with them, but they'd have to ask the Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency. So a stewart walked me down to the agency's office, where I was told they'd have to check with headquarters in Toronto. I gave up and went back to work and was happy to hear a little while later that my request had been approved.

        

10th race: I took a break from the keyboard to watch Seafields beat Approved by Nick in a stretch drive decided by 1 1/4 lengths. The winner was ridden by Rui Pimentel, who leads the Fort Erie jockey standings with 49 winners. I had both of them io my double ticket, along with Manderlay, who finished third.

Too bad I didn't hook them up in the trifecta, which returned $191.90 for $2. Instead, I caught a double worth $17.50, trimming my loss for the day to $77.50. Guess I shouldn't quit my day job.

--- Bob Summers

Live from the Honda Indy Toronto: Dario wins from the pole

TORONTO -- We're coming to you live from Exhibition Place, site of today's Honda Indy Toronto. Another week, another mini-road trip to an IndyCar Series event. We'll have to see what's in store for today -- Justin Wilson's win for victory-starved Dale Coyne Racing was a pretty great story last week at Watkins Glen.

10:50 a.m. I was dropped off out front and joined a lot of fans making their way to the venue.

This is such a great city. Everytime I cover this race I promise myself that I have to make the short trip up here -- truly one of the world's best cities. And of course, I haven't tripped here since I last covered this race a few years ago.

10:54 a.m. Arrive in the media room, which this year is located outside the track as part of Exhibition Place's National Trade Center. You can actually walk out of the media room and across the busy, wide hallway to see the frontstretch leading to the very sharp Turn One -- from where I'm sitting, I can see some sunshine and a grandstand through the doorway. Kind of nice to have a glimpse of the track.

In past years that I covered the race here, the media room was inside the track in the Automotive Building. But it wasn't easy to step out of the room and see the track -- you literally covered the race from a room without windows without seeing the track at all. I always feel like I'm giving away a trade secret when people ask me where I get to watch the race -- essentially the only way to effectively cover a race (especially on a street/road course) is by watching television -- not unlike what a lot of people will do on their couch today.

11:28 a.m. A whole lot of photographers are on the move out of the media room. That means only one thing -- the food is being served.

11:34 a.m. A nice selection of tasty wraps and sandwiches. But nothing to drink! Advantage, Watkins Glen -- by at least a few laps.

11:37 a.m. Race grand marshal Gene Simmons, the famous tongue-brandishing member of KISS, is shown on the closed-circuit television awarding the winner of Miss Honda Indy Toronto. Shockingly, he looks like he is enjoying his role.

12:37 p.m. After some housekeeping, I'm heading outside to get a look at prerace activities.

12:50 p.m. Firehawk, the Firestone tire mascot, throws T-shirts into the bleachers. A few attempts are weak. He is booed by the crowd. Good to see mascot taunting is a universal language.

1:17 p.m. Here's some video of Gene Simmons' command to start engines, from outside the frontstretch, looking across to pit lane (thank you, new iPhone). From right to left, the frontstretch goes past pit lane and on to Turn One.

1:19 p.m. We're off and racing and Will Power has a bummer of a start from the second spot -- while all the cars made the sharp turn into Turn One, he coasted into the corner with a cut tire due to contact on the start. No such problems for Dario Franchitti. Graham Rahal had some contact on the start, which forced him in for a pit stop. Ryan Briscoe had a flat right rear, necessitating a pit stop. 

1:31 p.m. We're back to racing after Dan Wheldon's spin brought out the yellow. As soon as I typed that, Ed Carpenter's nose of the No. 20 car is stuck into the wall.

1:45 p.m. Paul Tracy got a huge roar in prerace introductions, and he's getting more cheers from the hometown fans as he's moved up to fifth in the running ourder after starting 15th. Alex Tagliani leads with Tracy second after Franchitti went to the pits. 

1:55 p.m. Tagliani left in front as Tracy comes in for a great pit stop. Tracy comes out roaring and passes rookie Mike Conway; Conway tries to catch up and really slams his back end into the wall. Ouch. 

1:57 p.m. Tagliani in and out smoothly on lap 35 (of 85); Mario Moraes assumes the lead.

2:07 p.m. Helio Castroneves leads Ryan Hunter-Reay and Tagliani and we're more than halfway through -- 44 of 85 laps.

2:13 p.m. Castroneves into the pits and surrenders the lead, leaving Tagliani and Tracy on top again. On lap 51 of 85. After a couple of early yellows, this race is flying.

2:20 p.m. Speaking of flying, check out the view from the outside of near start/finish. The sounds alone are pretty cool (thank you again, iPhone).

2:23 p.m. Graham Rahal spins as Castroneves was coming into the pits; Rahal went inside Carpenter in a turn and Carpenter's rear banged into Rahal's front. Tagliani leads Dixon, Moraes and Matos -- all four only have had one stop so they will be coming in with nearly everyone else.

2:32 p.m. Jimmy Vassar is "flabbergasted" that Tracy had to allow Franchitti in front of him after a pitting issue related to the start of the caution period. Soon after, Dario makes a slick move past Helio for the lead as we approach 20 laps to go. Tracy is now stalking Helio. 

2:35 p.m. The media room -- and many living rooms -- erupt in an "OHHHHH!" Tracy roared along side Helio, and the two went side-by-side before Helio banged Tracy into the wall. Wow. Helio made it to the pits, but he has too much damage and his day is done.

2:41 p.m. Under caution, Dario leads Briscoe, Justin Wilson, Will Power and Danica Patrick. Going green, some nice action as Will Power gets past Wilson and Wilson holds off Patrick.

2:45 p.m. Dixon passes Patrick for fifth while E.J. Viso and Moraes have some troubles. Speaking of troubles, Kanaan is out of his car after a bad day.

2:47 p.m. Moraes, Thomas Scheckter and Tagliani involved in an incident that brings out the caution. With 11 laps to go, Franchitti had more than a one-second lead on Ryan Briscoe, who was followed by Power, Wilson, Dixon and Patrick.

2:49 p.m. Scheckter waited for Tagliani to come around again and he threw something at his car before finally ducking into a safety vehicle. Replays showed Sheckter waiting, waiting, then pointing to his head as he hurled his golves at Tagliani. Good stuff.

2:54 p.m. The field takes the green -- there are seven laps to go. Dario and Briscoe check out on Power, although he catches on to Briscoe soon enough. Dario doesn't look like he'll be caught, especially with all the racing behind him -- Wilson and Dixon are battling each other, and they're not too far behind Power. Great move by Dixon to pass Wilson.

2:57 p.m. Approaching five laps to go, Dario leads Briscoe by 1.8 seconds; four laps to go it is 2.2; three left 2.3; two left 2.1. 

3 p.m. White flag for Franchitti, who has a 2.1-second lead.

3:01 p.m. Dario Franchitti WINS the Honda Indy Toronto. 

Ashley Judd, his wife, is being interviewed by ESPN. Hey, bring her in the media center!

Time to write. Final top 10 according to scoring monitor: Dario, Briscoe, Power, Dixon, Wilson, Patrick, Hunter-Reay, Andretti, Tagliani, Matos.

5:44 p.m. My story is complete at buffalonews.com. Dinner, drive and a ??-minute wait at the border to come.

---Keith McShea

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Edwards departs

   July 12, 1976 -- Defensive lineman Earl Edwards played for four National Football League teams in his career. It's safe to say he's best remember right here in Western New York.

   Edwards came to Buffalo from San Francisco and was a good-sized part of the Bills teams that had some good years in the mid-1970's. He played with the team in 1973 through 1975, when the Bills were above .500 in each season.

   Alas, good moments don't last forever, and Edwards was traded to the Cleveland Browns for draft choices on this date. He spent three seasons there before playing one last season with Green Bay.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: It's May's Day

   July 11, 1979 -- If you have a soccer team and you don't have a goaltender, you're going to give up a lot of goals.

   On this date, the new Buffalo Stallions of the Major Indoor Soccer League got themselves a goaltender. Jim May became the first player to sign a contract with the team, which would beginning play later that year.

   May was a top college goalie at Brockport and went on to play for the Rochester Lancers of the North American Soccer League. May was an all-star with the Stallions in 1981. He came back to Western New York as vice president and occasional coach of the Buffalo Blizzard in the 1990's. May is a member of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: The Bills begin

   July 10, 1960 -- There had been plenty of talk about pro football returning to Buffalo in 1960. Today is the day that the Buffalo Bills actually gathered for the first time. They opened the first training camp in team history in East Aurora on this day.

   Maybe this American Football League would lead somewhere after all.

   The Bills used the Roycroft Inn for housing and team meals. They practiced on the Knox polo fields, and dressed and undressed at East Aurora High School. The new Bills -- about 100 strong -- were guided by coach Buster Ramsey.

--- Budd Bailey

Running notebook: Off to Utica

Plenty of runners are off to Utica for Sunday's annual running of the Boilermaker. It's one of the best 15-kilometer races in the country, and always draws a huge crowd. I'll have more on it in Sunday's running column.

The weekend actually started tonight, with the Old Home Days 5K in Williamsville. Ted Sullivan always does a nice job with that one.

The Tuscarora Nation 10K will be held on Saturday morning, as will the Tom Drake Memorial 5K in Mayville. Also on Saturday morning, Wilson will host the Padre's Cup, as Pastor Gary of Hamburg continues to try to reach his goal of staging a race every single weekend of the year. Well, maybe not, but he's personally keeping the calendar busy.

Finally on Sunday morning, there's the Run for Rover at LaSalle Park in Buffalo. The 5K race is followed by a walk for dogs and their escorts, which is always one of the cutest events of the year.

Full details are at buffalorunners.com, and you can find the latest standings for the News' Runner of the Year series as well. Those standings will also be in Sunday's newspaper; the men's overall race is as close as I've ever seen it.

By the way, Bob Dimmig of the Lancaster Striders has posted a video of the July 4 race in Lancaster. You can see it here.

--- Budd Bailey

Bandits notebook: Faceoff help?

The Buffalo Bandits didn't do much in the dispersal draft of the Portland LumberJax earlier this week, but they did add some potential help in a key area.

Jamison Koesterer is 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, and he won more than 50 percent of his faceoffs for Portland last season (57 of 103). The Bandits were the worst team in the league in that department last season, so Koesterer might have a role to fill there.

Buffalo opted to pass in the second round of the draft, so Koesterer -- a native of Cazenovia (outside of Syracuse)  -- was its only acquisition. Brodie Merrill was the biggest name in the draft; he went to Edmonton but is said to be arguing that he should be an unrestricted free agent.

New York acquired Ryan Powell from Portland in the draft, and then traded him to Colorado on Thursday for forward Matt Danowski. Powell supposedly wanted to be closer to his business interests in the West. Meanwhile, it's nice to see the Titans showing a sign of life with the deal. Now all's the team needs is a definite place to play.

--- Budd Bailey

This Day in Buffalo Sports History: Destroyers roll an 11

   July 9, 1999 -- The Buffalo Destroyers had spent more than a year trying to break into the minds of Western New York's sporting consciousness. It was about at this point when it was easy to wonder when, and not if, those efforts would end.

    The Destroyers lost to San Jose, 52-46, to fall to 0-11 for the season. Little had gone right during the season, as could be guessed, as the team turned over its roster in furious fashion to find some sort of winning combination. The team never did find the right formula, moving to Columbus. Here's the beginning of the story of loss number 11:

    After nearly falling apart, the Buffalo Destroyers almost pulled off a miracle for their first-ever win.

    However, a fourth-down pass in the end zone fell incomplete and the Destroyerssuffered a bitter 52-46 loss to the San Jose SaberCats Friday night at San Jose Arena.San Jose seemed to have the game in hand after recovering an onside kick with 34 seconds left. But Buffalo defensive lineman John Dewitt recovered a fumble to give his team life. But the Destroyers were unable to snap their season-long losing streak, now at 11 games.

--- Budd Bailey