Jan. 30, 2009
Lowell's Bill Moloney got to share in some of the spoils from the Tampa Bay Rays' championship season.
Moloney, a star pitcher at Lowell High and ULowell back in the 1970s, was the pitching coach at the Rays' Class A Sally League affiliate in Columbus, Ga., the last two years. He received a cash bonus from the Rays after they won the AL pennant last fall.
Moloney was coaching at the Rays' baseball academy in Venezuela when the club flew him and the rest of the staff back from Caracas to St. Petersburg to attend the first two games of the World Series. It was a reward the Rays gave to all their minor-league people.
Venezuela was a tough place for Moloney, however, and not just because of the political unrest and anti-American rants of president Hugo Chavez. During a workout in October an errant throw by one of the Rays' young pitchers struck Moloney in the face and broke his jaw in two places.
Moloney was sent to a dental surgeon who inserted a plate into his jaw, but the pain persisted. When he got back home to Lowell earlier this month, he saw another dentist who told him his jaw was still broken and the plate was in the wrong place. Moloney plans to undergo another surgery before leaving for spring training in March.
Moloney, now 52 and beginning his 30th year in pro ball, has been promoted by the Rays and will serve as the pitching coach for Port Charlotte in the advanced Class A Florida State League in 2009.
Colleague Barry Scanlon's column the other day about the successes enjoyed by Westford Academy basketball coach Ed Scollan and Wilmington High basketball coach Jim McCune reminded me just how many terrific pro coaches have been developed here in the Merrimack Valley.
Former Lowell Lock Monsters coach Bruce Boudreau was the NHL's Coach of the Year last season. As a rookie NHL coach who took the reins in Washington midway through the campaign, he led the Capitals from oblivion into the Stanley Cup playoffs and this year has the Caps in first place in the Southeast Division.
Former UMass Lowell basketball coach Stan Van Gundy has enjoyed enormous success in the NBA with the Miami Heat and now the Orlando Magic. Van Gundy's Heat set a team record for victories a few years ago, and the Magic are currently 33-10 and atop the Southeast Division standings.
Former Westford Academy coach Jim Todd was head coach of the wretched Los Angeles Clippers for half a season in 2000 and is currently an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks.
Craig MacTavish, the greatest hockey player in ULowell history, has carved out a successful career as coach of the Edmonton Oilers. He led them to the Stanley Cup finals in 2006 and might well have won the Cup if goalie Dwayne Roloson -- another former UML star -- hadn't gotten hurt in the first game of the finals against the Carolina Hurricanes.
MacTavish, despite coaching a team with a low payroll, is closing in on his 300th NHL victory and has the Oilers in the thick of the race for a playoff berth in the Western Conference.
Going a little further back in history, Lowell's Mike Skaff managed the Detroit Tigers to a third-place finish in 1966. Going a lot further back, Fred Lake, the owner-player-manager of the New England League's Lowell Tigers from 1901-05, managed the Red Sox in 1908-09 and the Braves -- then known as the Doves -- in 1910.
Bill McGunnigle, who led the Lowell Browns to the NEL pennant in 1887, managed the Brooklyn Bridegrooms -- later known as the Dodgers -- to the NL flag in 1890 and also managed the Pirates in 1891.
On minor notes, Billerica's Gary DiSarcina managed the Lowell Spinners to their first-ever New York-Penn League Stedler Division crown in 2008. Former ULowell star Mark Kumpel coached the AHL's Portland Pirates a few years back.
Scanlon and I have done some sparring on these pages in the past, but I'm in total agreement with him on this: HBO's "The Wire" is the best series in the history of television, edging "The Sopranos."
