Something Old, Something New

Nearly 70 years ago the construction firm of Six Companies Inc. announced that it was looking for laborers to build what would be known as the Hoover Dam. Thousands of families left their homes for the dusty, largely uninhabited hills of southern Nevada, where they hoped—prayed—work awaited. This was during the Great Depression. It was summer when folk began to arrive; there were daily doses of lip-cracking sun and temperatures reaching 120�. Weary men would stand on lines for hours, simply hoping their services would be put to use.

Please, God, grant me work....

It's two o'clock last Friday morning, and Todd Rizzo is sitting in the Forum Lounge, one of numerous theme bars located in the neon-spangled Monopoly board that is Las Vegas's Caesars Palace. He's awaiting his second Bud Light. He needs work. "Let's be honest," says Rizzo, gliding an index finger around the rim of Bud Light number 1. "Coming here is a chance to be seen and, hopefully, get a job for next year. I want to win"—Brandi, a toga-wearing waitress, arrives with number 2, and Rizzo takes a swig—"but what I really want is a job." Rizzo, a 28-year-old, control-challenged lefthander for the Triple A Charlotte Knights, offers the last seven words with a tone of desperation, sounding more like an aspiring dam worker than a baseball player.

Over the six days that made up last week's Triple A World Series, variations of his words would be offered repeatedly:

?It's great to be here, but what I really want is a job....

?I know I'm good enough to play up there. I just really need a shot....

?If they give me the chance, I'll prove I can do the job....

It wasn't just Rizzo, but almost every member of the Knights and the Vancouver Canadians, who, with a 16-2 romp last Saturday night, beat Charlotte, three games to two, for the Triple A title. There was the Knights' Dave Hollins, the onetime Philadelphia Phillies World Series hero, angry over not receiving a call-up from Charlotte's parent club, the Chicago White Sox. There was Canadians speedster Terrence Long, just 23 but certain he could thrive in the Oakland outfield, if only he were to be tapped by the parent A's. There were the two veteran managers—Charlotte's Tom Spencer and Vancouver's Mike Quade—shaking hands before the final game with an agreement, in Quade's words, "that we do this again next year in the big leagues."

For most of last week it was difficult to find anyone who actually wanted to be at Cashman Field and not, say, shootin' craps. In the press box a nightly game was made of counting the fans. Early in the week the tally was fewer than 1,000. For Saturday night's finale the unofficial count was 276. That included Trixie, a light-brown golden retriever, a seat full of empty beer cups and the pistachio-colored Alf wannabe that passes as the Knights' mascot. It was depressing, not just for the participants, but probably also for Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, who earlier in the week had hyped his town as a natural for major league expansion. Maybe the lack of spectators had something to do with the series' advertising campaign, which was almost nonexistent. Maybe it was that the Triple A World Series, in just its second season, has yet to become—in Vegas-speak—an event. Maybe Las Vegans simply don't like baseball. "Gotta be honest," Rizzo said. "If I lived in Vegas, I wouldn't go to a baseball game either."

This was too bad, because Charlotte, the winner in the International League, and Pacific Coast League champ Vancouver—opposites in many ways—matched up beautifully. With its $22 million payroll and ability to develop young talent on a needed-right-now basis, Oakland boasts a roster chock-full o' 23-, 24- and 25-year-olds. The A's are so good, so young, that there's not room enough in Oakland for all of the kiddie talent. Hence Vancouver's roster was a who's who of Baseball America: Long, the Series MVP who was acquired earlier this year from the Mets; third baseman Adam Piatt, the Triple Crown winner for the Double A Midland Rockhounds before he was promoted to the Canadians on Aug. 31; lefty Mark Mulder, the No. 2 pick in the 1998 amateur draft; second baseman Joey Espada, a 24-year-old Manny Trillo clone.