Tombstone
Born: 1978
Re-Branded: 1980 (Victoria Blues)
First Game: June 20, 1978 (L 7-4 @ Bellingham Mariners)
Last Game: August 30, 1979 (W 5-1 vs. Grays Harbor Mets)
Northwest League Championships: None
Stadium
Ownership
Owners: Jim Chapman, Lynn Chapman & Dan Rogelstad
Major League Affiliation: Independent
Attendance
Background
The Victoria Mussels were a British Columbia-based independent minor league baseball team for two summers in 1979 and 1980. The Mussels completed in the Class A Northwest League, which was home to several other independent (non-Major League affiliated) clubs at the time.
The Mussels were founded by a pair of still-young ex-minor league ballplayers, Jim Chapman and Don Rogelstad, along with Chapman’s brother Lynn. 27-year old Jim Chapman rose as high as Triple-A ball in the Montreal Expos organization in 1973. Jim not only co-owned the Mussels, he also managed the team in 1978 and played infield. The 29-year old Rogelstad pitched in the New York Yankees farm system in the early ’70’s. He served as the Mussels’ pitching coach in 1978 and made ten starts for the club.
Pitcher Dale Mohorcic from the 1978 Mussels eventually made his Major League at age 30 in 1986 and enjoyed a 5-year career in the Bigs.
Final Season
In 1979 the Chapman brothers and Rogelstad formed an partnership with the independent baseball pioneer Van Schley. The California-based artist, film producer and baseball fanatic ran a sort of agency for undrafted and unwanted baseball players. Under the original terms of the deal, Schley would provide the team’s manager, Bill Bryk, and cover the payroll costs of 16 of the Mussels’ ballplayers. In return, Schley would keep the proceeds of any of his players’ contracts that he could sell to Major League organizations. Under a similar arrangement, Schley and Bryk had taken the Grays Harbor Loggers to the Northwest League championship the summer before. Jim Chapman and Dan Rogelstad stepped away from their on-field roles.
Bryk’s Musssels caught in the second half of the ’79 season, winning 24 of their final 36 games. But the late season run wasn’t quite enough. Victoria finished one game out of first place with a 41-31 record.
The Mussels found a gem in undrafted pitcher Tom Candiotti, who made the team out of a tryout in 1979. He went 5-1 with a 2.44 ERA. Candiotti later made his Major League debut in 1983 as one of the first pitchers to successfully make a comeback from Tommy John surgery. The Candy Man went on to win 151 games in the Majors. He was the last active member of the Victoria Mussels in pro baseball when he threw his final pitch in July 1999 at age 41.
Off the field, attendance remained miniscule at Royal Athletic Park, where the Mussels typically played to only 200-300 fans.
Shucked
Following the 1979 season, Nanaimo real estate developer Bob Peden took over the Mussels from the Chapman brothers by assuming the club’s debts. Peden changed the team’s name to the Victoria Blues for the 1980 season.
Oddly, the various bibles of Minor League Baseball, including Baseball-Reference.com and Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff’s Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball don’t recognize the existence of the ‘Blues’ in 1980 at all. All of these sources continue to refer to the Victoria club as the Mussels for the 1980 season. But contemporary media sources from 1980 such as The Victoria Times-Colonist are unambiguous about the official name change.
Following the 1980 season, the Northwest League shed two of its independent ball clubs. Both Victoria and Grays Harbor dropped from the league as the NWL shrunk from eight to six clubs in 1981.
Pro baseball did not return to Victoria until the early 2000’s. The Victoria Capitals played half of a season at Royal Athletic Park in 2003 before the Canadian Baseball League collapsed around them. Another short-lived independent club, the Victoria Seals of the Golden Baseball League, took up residence in 2009 and 2010.
Trivia
Grim debut: on June 21, 1978 the Mussels lost their debut home game 19-1 to the Bellingham Mariners.
On July 26, 1978 the Mussels travelled to Hoquiam, Washington to play the Grays Harbor Loggers. Saturday Night Live star Bill Murray was hanging out with the Loggers that summer, having a good time and gradually filming a segment for SNL. The Loggers activated Murray for the game and he stepped to the plate for a pinch hit appearance during the 8th inning. Mussels outfielder Paul Kirsch, making a spot pitching appearance, grooved Murray a “junior high fastball” that the actor slapped for a single.
In Memoriam
Third baseman Danny Gans (Mussels’ 78) died from an adverse reaction to medication on May 1, 2009. The Man of Many Voices was 52 years old. Los Angeles Times obituary.
Pitcher Dave Cheadle (Mussels ’78), the only player on the 1978 Victoria team with Major League experience, passed away on February 25, 2012 at age 60.
Links
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One Response
My brother Roy Moretti was the only player from Victoria to play on the Mussels, he went on to play in the minors for a few years. Sadly Roy passed away January 2015 at 59 years of age.