Knights to celebrate 1999, when a late surge and a bird helped them win a title

The Charlotte Knights will celebrate Saturday night how, 25 years ago this month, a mix of veterans and young players who had battled each other and opponents through the regular season caught lightning in a bottle.

Everything came together at once, and, thanks in part to a bird (you read that right!), the Knights captured one of the few professional sports league championships the Queen City has enjoyed.

“It was an amazing time,” said former pitcher Derek Hasselhoff, who was part of the 1999 Knights team that earned a wild-card playoff spot and then went on to win the Triple-A International League championship.

“There haven’t been a lot of championships lately,” said Knights’ vice president of communications Tommy Viola.

In fact, only the 1993 Knights and the 2019 Charlotte Checkers have equaled what the Knights did a quarter-century ago.

The anniversary celebration will take place before the Knights’ 5:35 p.m. game Saturday against Jacksonville at Truist Field.

Hasselhoff, along with MLB veteran Dave Hollins and several other members of the 1999 team, will be on hand and sign autographs for fans.

Anyone associated with the team will admit that the championship seemed unlikely through much of the ‘99 campaign.

At the time, the team played at the old Knights Castle in Fort Mill. Don Beaver had bought the franchise in 1998 from George Shinn, original owner of the Charlotte Hornets, and Beaver switched the team’s affiliation in 1999 from the Miami Marlins to the Chicago White Sox.

The White Sox filled the Charlotte roster with a mix of veterans and young prospects.

One of the veterans was Hollins, who had played several seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins before joining the White Sox organization.

But most of the players were on the way up. One of those was Hasselhoff, who set pitching records in college at Towson and then worked his way up through the White Sox farm system. Another was slugger Jeff Liefer, who would go on to play seven seasons in the majors.

“It was a bunch of guys from many different places,” Hasselhoff said. “We gradually came together as the season went along.”

Battling together

Hasselhoff recalled how a comment from one player to another led to a brawl inside a Charlotte restaurant early that season.

“But that actually brought us together,” he said. “There was a chemistry that united our team.”

Marty Steele was general manager of that team, and he agreed with Hasselhoff.

“The team gradually came together, and the chemistry was really good near the finish,” he said.

Hasselhoff said the Knights “were not a very good team” early in the season.

“Down the stretch, we added some pieces,” recalled Knights’ radio play-by-play man Matt Swierad, who has been calling games since the mid 1990s. “The older guys took the younger guys under their wings, and that made a difference.”

Swierad, Steele and Hasselhoff all point to Hollins as a key in the team’s late surge.

“Hollins really made the difference,” Knight said. “He played some great baseball down the stretch.”

Slowly but surely, the Knights played themselves into contention. In the final week of August, they passed their main competition for the league’s sole wild-card spot and finished a game behind Southern Division champ Durham. The other playoff teams were North champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and West champion Columbus.

The Knights faced the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons, a Phillies farm team, in the semifinals.

And this is when things got ... well, in Steele’s words, “Things got a bit crazy.”

The bird incident

In a game early in the series, the Knights held a two-run lead in the late innings. Red Barons’ slugger Pat Burrell, who hit 292 home runs in his major league career, smacked a ball to deep left field.

“You know when a ball is hit really hard, and the outfielder doesn’t even turn and run back, because they know it’s a home run?” Steele asked. “Well, that’s what happened this time.”

Except, Steele recalled, the ball suddenly dropped near the Knights’ left-fielder, who, probably in disbelief, picked up the ball and threw it into the infield.

“A moment after the ball fell, a bird fell to the ground nearby,” Steele said. “Burrell’s hit had struck a bird. And we got a runner out on the play and went on to win the game.”

“When something like that happens, you feel you’re destined to win,” he added.

The Knights won the semifinal series in five games, then beat Durham in five games for the league championship.

Swierad has a tape of his call of the ninth inning of Game 5, which was played in Fort Mill.

“The crowd was unbelievable,” he said. “It sounded like a major league crowd. I’ll never forget that.”

In fact, the Knights drew 344,491 that season — about half of what they typically draw at Uptown’s Truist Field, where they moved in 2014.

“But the fans were truly behind that team, down the stretch,” Steele said.

Hasselhoff, who lives in the Baltimore area and coaches a travel-league youth baseball team, said he visited Charlotte a year ago, saw the new ballpark, talked to Knights’ officials, and together with Swierad, came up with the idea of the anniversary celebration.

“Matt mentioned that this would be the 25th year,” Hasselhoff said. “I had stayed in touch with a number of players, so we started making calls, and a number of guys are coming back for this.”

Hasselhoff said he expects returning members of the 1999 Knights to do what he did last year — visit the site of the old Knights Castle in Fort Mill. Only the parking lot remains, Hasselhoff said.

“It was bittersweet, but it brought back a lot of memories,” he said. “I think that will be the case this weekend too.”

There was a postscript to the championship. As IL champs, the Knights went to Las Vegas for the Triple-A Minor League World Series, where they faced Pacific League champion Vancouver.

“The team took everyone — players, office staff — for a week to Vegas,” Steele said. “We had a great time.”

Charlotte took a 2-1 series lead against Vancouver but lost the final two games of the best-of-five set.

Remembering the champs

The Knights close their home season Saturday with a day-evening doubleheader. The day game is at 12:35 p.m. and has a separate admission from the 5:35 p.m. contest. The 1999 team celebration will be during the evening game.

The first 1,500 fans will receive a photo of the 1999 team, and returning players will sign autographs during the evening.

Some leading members of that 1999 team:

Manager Tom Spencer: He was named International League Manager of the Year and coached for a while in the major leagues.

Jeff Liefer: He batted a team-best .339. Liefer played for Montreal, Milwaukee and Cleveland in the majors and had 779 at-bats.

Luis Raven: He slammed a team-best 33 home runs with 125 RBI. But Raven, a Venezuelan, never made it to the majors.

Chad Mottola: He batted .321 and slammed 20 homers. Mottola played parts of 11 seasons in the majors.

Derek Hasselhoff: Recovering from Tommy John surgery, Hasselhoff compiled a 6-0 record, mostly in relief.

Mario Valdez: He hit 26 home runs and later played parts of four seasons in the majors.

Dave Hollins: A veteran of the big leagues, Hollins batted .317 and was particularly hot down the stretch.

Several members of the 1999 Knights team were on the Chicago White Sox squad that won the 2005 World Series.