The city of Macon was packed with Peach fans Sunday when their World Series Champions brought home the hardware for the second time in three years. Macon police were stashed everywhere, and the state sent some officers as well just to make sure things didn’t get out of hand. There were few incidents in 1988, but the city of Macon did not want to take their chances, as other cities have had problems with riots before.

The GM, who the locals have dubbed “Doaf”, is an absolute legend in the city now, if he wasn’t after the first championship. Upon taking the job in 1985, he stated flat-out that the team would win the World Series in 1990, and never once wavered from his prediction. He had this to say:

“When I took this job, I had a vision for this team. We were lousy on the field, and given the players we had, I felt it was better to rebuild. We had a good prospect base, and I was able to make some shrewd deals which I felt would help the club in the future.

“1988 was a real watershed year for us. Everyone points to the championship and the 38 game improvement, but the thing I think about is the emergence of our rookies that year. I’ve never seen anything like it in all my years in baseball. Weiss, 24 wins and a Cy Young. McGowan, a solid season, and our best pitcher in the playoffs. Locke, a speed demon and a power hitter, and our playoff MVP that year. Cunningham, blazing speed from the catcher position and pretty good pop too. Kurtz also had a solid year, though I may have left him down another year if we felt we didn’t need another starting pitcher. He left in the Simmon trade, and is doing good things for the Power, but when you have a chance to grab a player like Alvin you take it. Any of those first four rookies could have been legit rookie of the year candidates in any other season, but Weiss was better than spectacular.

“Some asked me if the World Series win in 1988 would make me back off my promise to the Macon fans that we’d win in 1990. I said ‘Hell no, I told you from the beginning that we’d win in 1990. We’ll try to win every year, unless there’s no chance we can.’ But with this team, there was no way I was saying we might not win. You gotta have faith. I know you may ask me now what’s next. Certainly we’ll try to repeat, I mean after all we have as good a team here as this league has ever seen. But if you start predicting a championship every year, the novelty wears off, and you’ll start being wrong, and you won’t be taken seriously.

“Albany made us sweat a little this year. When they had that commanding lead in Game 6, I thought we might be done. I knew our guys were capable though, and they pulled it off. Smith was an absolute life-saver in that series. 10 home runs. Wow. What can you say. Our team really showed what we were made of in that series. I also want to congratulate the Greenville Drive for getting to the Series, and putting up a good fight after we had them on the ropes. We would have liked to finish it there, but it was also special to win it here in front of our wonderful fans. That’s why we do it.

“They’re saying I should be mayor. I dunno, I’m the owner and GM of this franchise and I really don’t want to give that up, hehe. Our mayor does a fine job, but if anyone from the team is gonna win, it’s Patrick. He has the whole female vote.  He's also come out with those 'TWeiss is Nice' T-shirts you see everyone wearing.”

Weiss: “I heard that. And my momma says she’s voting for Burkie (Burkhart). I see our GM is a little long-winded. That’s okay, he knows what he’s doing. He’s put together a great team, and my individual success doesn’t come without the help of each one of these guys. I just hope I can serve this team and our fans well in the future.”

Burkhart: “Yay. One chick vote. Thanks. No, seriously, we had a great team, a great year, and great times. Like in West Virginia, when we poured warm water on Iggy (Keen) while he was asleep, and he woke up thinking he had wet himself. He hit better after that, but I live in fear he’s gonna get me back for that.”

Keen: “You got that right.”

McClendon: “I’ve been here through the bad and the good, and it just makes it that much more satisfying having gone through the journey. I was kinda disappointed in ‘88 when I was traded to Salisbury, though Nicky (Locke) was probably worth it. But I got off to such a good start with Salisbury that Doaf said he needed to have me back. He assures me he didn’t overpay, but I think he may have. Oh well, I can’t say I have a problem with it.”

Smith: “I’ve had the best years of my life here. The people of Macon are awesome, and it’s a great place for me to raise my family. Also, I’ve had success in my career like I never thought I could. I loved Augusta, but here I’ve been surrounded by a great team, and I’m feeling like a little kid again. I feed off of that, and the Macon fans are a big part of that too. I thank each and every one of them for making me feel at home here, and for supporting our team. Go Peaches!”