A lot goes into making a championship professional baseball team. Of course, some productive combination of pitching, hitting, defense and speed is vital. Those things even a casual fan can see.

     But there are other factors which can be just as important, things like camaraderie, perseverance and dedication to the team concept.

     For Dan Logan, Trion and many of his teammates on the 1980 International League champion Charlotte Orioles, it’s those intangibles which make their 30-year old success story so special. Logan was joined by many of those same teammates last weekend in Charlotte, where a reunion gathering sparked many warm memories.

     Logan, who now works for Georgia Farm Bureau in Summerville, was a slugging first baseman on the title-winning club that included future Hall of Famer Cal Ripken.

     The Charlotte O’s were a part of the Baltimore Orioles farm system. Baltimore picked the 6-7, 250 pound Logan in the second round of the free agent draft in 1977 after the Trion High grad finished a stellar, three-year career on the powerhouse West Georgia Braves baseball team coached by Archie White.

     Logan excelled in the minors, playing well in Rookie League and Class A. He started the 1980 season in AAA, but hit poorly and was demoted to Double AA Charlotte.

That’s where Logan regained his batting stroke and enjoyed the most rewarding season of his pro career.

     “That was a very special team,” said Logan, 53. “Egos were not a problem. We played hard on the field and had a good time together off the field.”

     The O’s won the first half pennant and finished high in the standings in the second half. That qualified them for the playoffs where they knocked off Savannah and Memphis to win the Southern League championship.

     It wasn’t easy. Memphis’s starting lineup included future All Stars Tim Wallach and Tim Raines.

SUPERSTAR

     Charlotte had its own future superstar, third baseman Cal Ripken who would go on to set the MLB record for most consecutive games started and make the All-Star team 19 times.

     “Cal was a super teammate,” said Logan. “Even then he did the right things, did things the way you hoped he would. He was very loyal.”

     Ripken was unable to attend this year’s gathering but did make it to Charlotte 10 years ago when the title team got together for the first time since 1980.

     “Cal was a great teammate,” said Logan. “It’s impossible not to pull for him.”

     Ripken was productive for the O’s in 1980, hitting .276 with 25 homers and 78 RBIs.

     But Logan was no slouch himself.

     In only 78 games with the team, he cracked 13 homers and drove in 57 runs with a .278 batting average.

    The O’s were the toast of Charlotte.

    “That was before Charlotte was a major league town,” said Logan. “We were it in Charlotte. The local media covered us closely and the fans were just great.”

    Logan said the team drew almost 200,000 customers during the season.

   “There were very good fans too, very knowledgeable,” he said.

    In those days most minor league franchises were owned by private individuals or groups. The O’s were owned by the Crockett family of Charlotte.

    “The Crocketts were super owners,” Logan recalls. “They were at the ballfield for all the games and they made sure things were done right. They were involved in the day-to-day operation of the team.”

     The Crockett family was also well known in the Charlotte area for one of their other business enterprises. They owned the hugely popular professional wrestling promotion which produced many “rasslin” stars, including Ric Flair and Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat. Logan recalls seeing the late Andre the Giant at apartments housing for both wrestlers and baseball players.

2000

Many of the 1980 title team veterans came together in Charlotte in 2000 for the 20th anniversary reunion. Logan attended that event as well. Last weekend he was happy to see several teammates who could not be found or who didn’t come in 2000 were at the 2010 gathering.

“It’s strange, some of those guys I have not talked to since 1980 or just after that, but when we see each other now we can just start talking like it’s only been a few days,” Logan said. “That’s the kind of team we had then.”

Logan played seven years of minor league baseball and could have played more. But at 27 his impatience with making it to the majors combined with an opportunity to get into coaching and teaching led him to retire.

He has a lot of positive memories about his career, but few rival the sheer joy of the 1990 season at Charlotte. That’s why he was happy to make the trip to North Carolina this year for the reunion, despite a grim weather forecast.

Sure enough, the ice storm which slammed parts of North Georgia also found its way to Charlotte.

Logan left on Friday morning, flying from Chattanooga. Later he was joined in Charlotte by two inches of sleet.

Yet only one of the players who planned to attend was stopped by the lousy weather.

Eighteen to 20 others made it and for a few hours on Friday they managed to “remember” themselves out of a wintry Charlotte night and into a hot summer afternoon at the ballpark.

A gentle breeze disperses the smell of grilled hot dogs. Hawkers work the stands, peddling food and trinkets, some of which will be thrown away a few hours after the game, while others treasured for years to come. The stands are awash in color. The crowd hums expectantly like bees in a hive. Gigantic cumulus clouds look down from the azure sky.

Fleet John Shelby dances off first, threatening to swipe a bag. Cal Ripken sits in the dugout, studying the pitcher. He’s always studying. Meanwhile Trion, Georgia’s Dan Logan tightens his grip on a Louisville Slugger and strides to the batter’s box.

It’s show time.