Sunday is Ring Ceremony [Archive]

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03-30-2007, 12:44 PM

Rings tell of Hooks' championship tale
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March 16, 2007 - By Alyson Footer / MLB.com

KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Josh Anderson, an eternally optimistic outfield prospect in the Astros player development system, looked around the room Wednesday night and noted that this may be the final time a very special group of people would all be together.

Anderson had just received his Texas League championship ring during a banquet hosted by the Astros front office, honoring the Corpus Christi Hooks for winning it all in 2006. All players and staff affiliated with the '06 Hooks were presented with championship rings during a 90-minute banquet held in the multi-purpose room of the spacious Minor League complex at Osceola County Stadium.

"At the time it happened," Anderson said of the Sept. 15 clincher, "It was such a blur. Now, you slow down and think about it and it just brings you that warm feeling about how awesome it was. To have everybody in the same room now ... everybody put so much hard work into it. It was incredible."

Incredibly exhausting, too. That 8-7 win over Wichita to win the Texas League title lasted 14 innings and nearly five hours before Wade Robinson singled to right-center with two on and one out. The Hooks won the series, three games to one.

Throughout the banquet, televisions played a highlight reel from those final moments of the game, showing again and again the elation of the players and sellout crowd of 8,394 at Whataburger Field, who reveled in the final moments of the '06 season.

For Anderson, winning in extra-inning fashion was representative of the entire season, filled with adversity, challenges and hard-fought efforts on the field.

Winning championships in the Minor Leagues is more difficult than it looks. With the big-league club plucking players from the top two levels of the farm club at will, a cohesive unit can turn into a team with holes overnight. The Corpus Christi team went through its share of transition through its 139-game regular-season schedule, but a strong pipeline of talent kept the team going even after a handful of key pieces moved up in the sytem.

"We worked so hard for this," Anderson said. "We had a lot of situations where we had a lot of guys coming and going. For that to happen and the things we dealt with throughout the season, it was incredible that we ended up being in the position that we were.

"I felt like the championship game was icing on the cake. It couldn't have ended any more perfectly. Fourteen innings of hard-fought baseball, we came out victorious in front of our home crowd. It was a beautiful game and a perfect ending for a wonderful season."

Dave Clark, the 2006 Texas League Manager of the Year, and Ricky Bennett, assistant general manager and farm director, presented the players with their rings.

Clark, who played for the Astros in 1998 as part of a 13-year Major League career, gave an inspirational speech during which he expressed his gratitude toward the players of the Hooks championship team.

"You kids that are coming up, chasing your dream, just don't ever take it for granted," he said. "Thank you for understanding that a team is more powerful than any one player."

Seven players from last year's Hooks team were in big-league camp this year: Anderson, Hunter Pence, Troy Patton, Paul Estrada, Matt Albers, Juan Gutierrez and Kevin Davidson.

The players weren't the only ones honored. Two longtime baseball men with more than 100 years of experience between them were also recognized with special awards: roving instructor Russ Nixon and Round Rock skipper Jackie Moore.

The 2007 season will mark Nixon's 55th year in professional baseball and his fifth in the Astros system.

"Russ has probably forgotten more baseball than you guys know baseball," general manager Tim Purpura told the Hooks players.

Moore, celebrating his 50th year in baseball this year, said he never tires of seeing the looks on players' faces when he tells them they're going to the big leagues for the first time.

"Of all my years in Round Rock, I think about how fortunate I have been to do something for 50 years that kids dream about growing up," he said. "It's priceless, gentlemen."

Also priceless are the rings, which are adorned with the words "Texas League championship Corpus Christi Hooks." The rings contain both the Astros logo and the Hooks logo and are personalized with the name of the individual player or staff member.

The ring ceremony Wednesday night was the first of two for the Hooks. They'll have another presentation on April 1, when the Hooks host the Triple-A Round Rock Express for an exhibition game at Whataburger Field.

But this one was special, because it brought together everyone involved with that Hooks club, from Purpura to Bennett to Clark and all of the players, who will be scattered this season as they continue their ascent through the system.

"Our mission statement is to develop Major League winning ballplayers," Bennett said. "We came up with a slogan -- 'Why do we do it?' It's simple. It helps us win."

Alyson Footer is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.