SJ Sports: Wild Thing at the Shore

The Atlantic City Surf took an improbable road to the best overall record in the Atlantic League of professional baseball this season, but it is one road that general manager Mario Perrucci does not regret taking.

The Surf was one of the Atlantic League’s worst teams in the first half of the season having won only 28 games. But Perrucci made some major personnel and coaching moves after June and the Surf quickly went from league laughingstocks to one of the top organizations in independent baseball.

The biggest of those moves was the one that raised the most eyebrows: bringing in former Philadelphia Phillies reliever Mitch Williams to run the team.

Williams was known to many area baseball fans as one of the key players in the Phillies miraculous 1993 National League pennant-winning club. But he also is remembered as a charter member of that locker room’s “Macho Row,” and the guy who gave up the now-famous home run to Toronto’s Joe Carter in Game Six of the World Series that year, which won the Series for the Blue Jays.

“Many folks second-guessed me when I went from (former manager) Tommy Helms to Mitch Williams,” Perrucci said. “Helms was very laid back. Mitch is a fiery guy. He stressed fundamentals. He made the players (accountable).”

While many Phillies fans may have chuckled at the notion of the “Wild Thing” running his own baseball team, reports quoted baseball people from all over the area as saying Williams was as knowledgeable a baseball guy as there is in the game.

Apparently, they were right.

Helms never seemed to reach the players in the Atlantic City dugout. Players often seemed to take his laid-back approach with them onto the field. Under Williams, the Surf played with a bit more emotion. Losing wasn’t tolerated, and the Surf players seemed to know it.

“When the smoke cleared, the Atlantic City Surf had the best overall record in the league,” Perrucci said. “And that was with us starting the second half six games under (.500).”

Under Williams, the Surf went 43-19 in the second half of the season and finished with an overall record of 71-53. The second-half surge notched the Surf a South Division playoff spot but Williams’ team fell to eventual league champ Newark in three games.

“It was a tough series,” Perrucci said. “We lost to a Newark team that won it all. If we had a couple of bounces go the other way, we could have won the series. But that’s baseball.”

Williams wasn’t the only reason for the Surf’s turnaround. Perrucci also brought in former Phillie Pete Incaviglia to work with his young players and the move paid off as the Surf led the Atlantic League in hitting.

Perrucci also picked up two key players in a trade with the Camden Riversharks, Garry Maddox Jr. and Rich Johnson, who seemed to add some spark to the surf lineup.

But the biggest move was the promotion of Williams from pitching coach to manager.

And Perrucci thinks this is just the beginning for the Wild Thing, who he hopes to have back next season.

“Mitch knows pitching,” Perrucci said. “Aside from that, he knows baseball. He’s a motivator. I believe without a doubt that he will coach in the Major Leagues someday. I wouldn’t be surprised that in two or three years time he’s in the majors as a pitching coach or manager. I think he could step in as a pitching coach somewhere right now.”

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Author: SJ Sports Club-Don Latham