Look What I Found In Mazatlan

Yo Amigos! I was reading Mazatlan My City and saw familiar face, Rick Wise, and this headline: Rick Wise – Pitching Mazatlan Now. It was written by Lisa Lankins, a Portland, Oregon native. Lisa was born in Portland in 1962, went to grade school in Eastmoreland and then moved to Estacada for high school  Her brother and sister went to Cleveland High School. Lisa claims she is a Portland girl through and through.



The article about Rick Wise brought back old high school memories of Madison baseball. Rick and team-mate Keith Lampard tore up Portland teams with their power hitting and Rick's pitching. I graduated in 1962 and Rick and Jeith graduated with my sister Cheryl in 1964. Here's the article which Lisa Lankins allowed me to reprint:

You know the guy, maybe a favorite uncle, that looks at your shirt, points at a spot and makes you look, then flicks your nose with his finger and says, "Gotchya"? The funny guy that stands behind a 4x4 post and pretends you can't see him and peeks around it until you do see him? That is Rick Wise, a loving jokester that is very down to earth and enjoys making people smile. You would never know that Rick is also a very famous retired baseball pitcher. He comes to Mazatlan as often as he can.

Rick is from Portland Oregon. After graduating from high school, he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies. His rookie year was 1964 when he was 18 years old. His career blossomed and on June 23rd of 1971 he played the game of his life when he threw a no hitter and made two home runs in the same game against the Cincinnati Reds. That is a record that still stands to this day, 42 years later. His career in the major leagues lasted a total 18 years, a veritable marathon compared to today's short runs. After retiring, he became a pitching coach in the minor leagues. He coached at every level of the minor leagues including independent ball, for 24 years.

In his first major league win, he pitched the 2nd game of a double header on father's day 1964 at Shea Stadium in New York. At the end of the first game, I remember everyone came streaming in from the field talking about the perfect game of Jim Bunning, and I said "I need a baseball to go warm up!" I needed to be ready for game two. It wasn't my first start, but my first win. They don't play double headers any more. The closest thing is a split day-night double header. Two games in the same day, a whole different crowd usually. That allows for 70,000 people to attend. With today's baseball salaries the way they are, they have to do that."

Rick loved the competition, and still does according to his wife Susan who says he and his brothers are constantly trying to outdo each other. He knew he wanted to be a big league ball player when he was 7 or 8 years old. "We went out and played sports all the time, played whatever sport was in season. I was a born athlete, had college scholarship offers for three sports, but I was consumed by baseball. I was in the little league world series in 1958, where we were beat 2-1. Three years later at the age of 15, I went to the Babe Ruth World Series. I threw the 2nd no hitter in the history of the Babe Ruth Series in 1961. Then 14 years later I was in a Major League World Series".

In 2009 Rick and Susan were coming north on a baseball cruise and they spent eight hours in Mazatlan. It was a port-o-call for their cruise. They REALLY liked it. They had already wanted to come back to Mexico, having been to San Miguel de Allende 20 some years earlier. Then, because they liked what they saw in Mazatlan, they decided to come back here.

They found a condo to rent on-line, on icebox hill, and booked a 6 week trip. Hurricane Rick just happened to hit while they were here. It didn't affect their love of Mazatlan and have been back several times since, renting houses or condos and have found house-sitting jobs, a total of 5 visits since then.


When you ask what he likes the best about Mazatlan, he quickly answers and goes through his list:
"The people - happy, always smiling, such hard workers, so engaging, helpful, friendly, and outgoing".

"The food- I like everything about the food, I like the different ingredients, the flavors, and you can sit here on the Malecón and watch the sunset during dinner. Mexican cuisine is not the Taco Bell flavor that we know in the US. It's made with local ingredients known to the area. It's very, very good. "Chuletas" or pork chops, are my favorite food on this trip. The bread and desserts are wonderful, not to mention the fish and seafood. They take such care making their food."

"The weather- the weather is kind of a given. Summers down here are hot, there no getting around it. I have worked in this kind of heat before as a professional ball player, St. Louis and Philadelphia can be similar in the summer, especially back in the 70's where they were cookie cutter stadiums with Astroturf. It felt like it was 170 degrees on the field. They were nasty hot."

"We love the summer storms and the lightening. Mazatlan has some of the most beautiful storms at night in the summer. Normally it rains at night unless there is an actual storm coming through." Rick and Susan seem to stay a little longer every time they are down, "We are here for two months this trip and going home in a week. We arrived on August 3rd."

"I have gone to see the Venados games (Mazatlan's baseball team), a few times and really enjoyed the games. It's really a good brand of winter league baseball, really good competition. Mazatlan came in 2nd in their league a few years ago. If in Mazatlan, please watch them play. The season starts in October. Players use this league to hone their skills to try to get to the big leagues. So they can get experience in the off season. Everyone is trying to get to the big leagues."


When asked about how he feels about retirement, Rick replied, "Wish you could play forever, but physically you can't. It's a young man's game. You figure the average career today is 4 years in the major league, I spent 18, it was a long run".

"I went to get cigars a week ago in downtown and the guy knew I was a former pitcher in the major leagues. It stuns me how many baseball fans are here in Mazatlan. They love baseball here. They know the stats, the players and teams. It's amazing really. Everyone asks me if I know Fernando Valenzuela, who played for the Dodgers. He beat me 2-0 his rookie year in 1981. He was rookie of the year that year. He was great for Baseball, great for Los Angeles and great for Mexican Baseball."

When Rick is in Mazatlan, and you never know when that will be, he can be found enjoying a cold beer with his Mazatlan buddies, enjoying a walk with Susan around old town, or trying to make interviewers look at a spot on their shirts, haha.