Kernels hope to follow lead of 1994 MWL championship team

CEDAR RAPIDS - They took after their manager.

Tom Lawless was never a star, not even close. He played parts of eight seasons in the big leagues but didn't get into more than 59 games in any one.

He worked for every single thing he ever got in professional baseball and brought that mentality to the 1994 Cedar Rapids Kernels. It worked because they were a team full of guys just like him.

'We were a reflection of Tom,” Steve Cook said. 'He was a utility player, a grinder. None of us were slam-dunk, future big-league stars or anything. We pretty much knew that.”

Yet they blended into a group that won it all, this city's last Midwest League championship team. Finally, 21 years later, the Kernels are back in the finals, playing West Michigan in a best-of-5 series that begins Wednesday night at 5:35 at Grand Rapids, Mich.

If you really look at it, these Kernels are a lot like those Kernels. For one, their regular-season record is virtually identical (77-63 to 77-62 in 1994).

There aren't a whole lot of can't-miss guys around, just a bunch who play hard, get along and pull for each other. Their manager (Jake Mauer) was a middle-infield utility type in his playing days, too, the modern version of Tom Lawless, if you will.

'Tom was as real of a person as you could get,” said Cook, who has been Coe College's baseball coach for 19 years. 'He related well to the guys. He was more than just someone who made out a lineup card every day. He cared about you, without going over that (manager-friend) line.”

'One of the best managers I ever had,” said Tony Moeder.

Cook was a shortstop for the Kernels, a guy from Division III Allegheny College in Pennsylvania whose odds of ever making it to the majors were tiny. In fact, he was out of pro ball a year later.

Moeder played first base, another example of the ultimate underdog, someone who was signed by the parent California Angels as a non-drafted free agent out of the University of San Diego. Speedy outfielder Jovino Carvajal was 25 years old and had been released by the New York Yankees, but hit .292 and stole 68 bases.

About the only big-name guy Cedar Rapids had that season - and it was only for 40 games before a promotion - was Earl Cunningham, a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Cubs in 1989. Even then, Cunningham only signed with the Angels after failing miserably and being released by the Cubs.

Five guys from the ‘94 team eventually made it to the majors, led by catcher Bengie Molina. He played parts of 13 MLB seasons, though was just a 19-year-old minor-league 'suspect” that year, playing in 48 games.

The other big leaguers were fairly non-descript: outfielder Aaron Guiel, corner infielder Jamie Burke and pitchers Anthony Chavez and Matt Perisho. Burke ended up managing the Kernels in 2012.

Lawless managed the Houston Astros for 24 games on an interim basis last season.

'A championship, baby,” Burke said, when asked what he remembered about 1994. 'A long season, but it turned out to be a very good season.”

'Everybody got along great,” said Moeder, who, like Cook, ended up settling in Cedar Rapids after his playing career. 'It was kind of weird because there was talent on that team, but not a lot of superstars. What I remember is that every night it was somebody different who was stepping up, either defensively, pitching or hitting.”

They were a mediocre team in the first half, but then-General Manager Jack Roeder said he had a feeling it would turn around in the second half. Even the coaching staff was incredulous about that.

'I remember being at a team picnic on the old Pfaff Terrace (at the old Veterans Memorial Stadium),” Roeder said. 'I was having a conversation with pitching coach Joe Georger and told him ‘I think you guys are going to have a great second half.' He kind of just spit his drink out when I said that. I told him ‘No, you guys are going to turn it around.'”

The Kernels won 15 games in a row down the stretch, getting hot at the exact right time. They defeated the Springfield Sultans in the first round of the MWL playoffs and took down the Rockford Royals in four games in the finals.

Cedar Rapids won the first two games of the championship series on the road but failed to clinch at home in Game 3, in front of what Roeder estimated was over 3,000 fans on a Saturday night. The crowd the following day was considerably smaller.

'I remember the final out was a dropped third strike,” Roeder said. 'Bengie Molina picked it up and threw to first base.”

Cook and Moeder will throw out ceremonial first pitches before Saturday afternoon's Game 3. Maybe 21 years from now, a couple of these Kernels will get that honor.

'It was special. It really was,” Cook said. 'Not that you don't think about it that way at the time. But as you get older, you really realize just how special that was.”

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