Dukes retro night still a hit, even for those who don't remember them

Jul. 15—He didn't know the jingle. He couldn't name his favorite player on the team. But Brandon Quintana, decked out in a crisp new, flat brimmed Albuquerque Dukes hat and a red Dukes jersey knew this much: "I'm a Dukes lover." As the 14-year-old from Santa Fe walked into Isotopes Park on Saturday night with his parents and two uncles for the popular annual Dukes Retro Night game, it was apparent the nostalgia was still a very big part of the night, but not the only part. Albuquerque's wildly popular professional baseball franchise of yesteryear has now been 23 years removed from playing its final game in 2000. That's at least a quarter century since anyone could have been alive to appreciate hearing the catchy "The Dukes are comin' out, comin' out swingin'..." commercials on local television and radio or who could have actually taken in a game at the old Sports Stadium. Still, the logo and the memory seem to have stuck in this city and part of the state. "I guess I can't name any of them," Quintana admitted when pressed on his Dukes love, "... but the logo is awesome for someone from New Mexico." What that means to the community is important for the Isotopes — the franchise that brought baseball back to Albuquerque — to keep alive for the state, even if just once a season as agreed upon by the owners of the Dukes trademark. "The reason I got into baseball was because of the history of baseball and what that means to people," said John Traub, general manager of the Isotopes. "... We knew from the time we got here in 2002 that name, that logo means a lot to this community — and this community is steeped in tradition. People really like it." HALL OF FAME: John Ely, one of this year's two Hall of Fame inductees and of the best pitchers in Isotopes history, said in a pregame induction ceremony he was humbled to think of the people he was joining in the Albuquerque Professional Baseball Hall of Fame, including 1972 Dukes manager and Los Angeles Dodgers great manager Tommy Lasorda, a 2007 inductee who made numerous visits back to the Duke City. "I was fortunate to be here in 2012 (on Dukes Retro Night) when Tommy Lasorda, who was one of my heroes and one of the most influential people I've ever been around — he was here and he got inducted. Now here I am. Wow," said Ely, now a coach in the Chicago White Sox organization who was joined on Saturday by his wife and parents, who all flew in for the occasion. "... And now I get to say that I'm an Albuquerque Isotope for life. I love you guys." Ely — the winner of the 2012 Pacific Coast League pitching Triple Crown for most wins (14), lowest ERA (3.20) and most strikeouts (165) — and fellow inductee Gary Herron, a local sports journalist and 40-year-official scorer of nearly 1,700 Dukes and Isotopes (combined) games, threw out side-by-side opening pitches. Coincidentally, Isotopes outfielder Jimmy Herron caught the ceremonial pitch from Gary Herron. "First of all," Gary Herron said in his speech, "I am not Jimmy Herron's father." A HALF CENTURY AGO: Like the Isotopes turned back the clock on Saturday night and looked great wearing the old Albuquerque Dukes jerseys of the past, we can pull the same trick here at the Journal. Fifty years ago, on July 15, 1973, the actual Albuquerque Dukes won a doubleheader. And here's how some of reporter Bart Ripp's article looked (or read) in the next morning's Albuquerque Journal: "Albuquerque rallied in both games of a double-header Sunday to stun the Hawaii Islanders, 3-2 and 7-4, as the largest baseball crowd of the season — 9,233 — jammed the Sports Stadium. "The big crowd was treated to a five-run rally in the sixth inning of the night-cap that was highlighted by a game-winning grand slam homer by Duke third baseman Jerry Royster." The Journal had no art of the July 15, 1973, Dukes game in the next day's paper. Instead, the sports section ran a story and a large photo of some guy named Nolan Ryan, a 26-year-old pitcher who tossed a no-hitter for the California Angels that day, striking out 17 Detroit Tigers in the victory for his second no-hitter of the 1973 season.