The mashing 1998 Jacksonville Suns

In retelling the story of Jacksonville baseball, the 1976 Jacksonville Suns stand out in a unique way for setting all sorts of (good) pitching records and (bad) hitting records en route to a thoroughly mediocre season. However, in Jacksonville’s record books to this day, there is one team that holds a heavy majority of offensive marks, and they were quite a special club: the 1998 Jacksonville Suns.

The 1998 Suns finished fourth in the 10-team Southern League in runs allowed per game (5.2) and fifth in ERA (4.57), yet were still able to blast their way to an 86–54 (.614) record — at the time, the most wins in club history (the 2006 team also wound up finishing 86–54).

After winning the East Division by 15.0 games, Jacksonville swept Knoxville in three games. However, the Suns ran out of gas in the Southern League Championship, losing the series 3–1 to the Mobile BayBears, who had also finished the regular season 86–54.

Gabe Kapler batted an astounding .322/.393/.583 with 47 doubles, six triples, 28 home runs and 146 RBIs to roll to Southern League MVP honors. The current San Francisco Giants manager’s name is still the club record-holder in RBIs (no one else has finished with more than 114 in Jacksonville history), hits (176) and doubles (tied with Robert Fick, who also notched 47 two-baggers in 1998). Kapler’s .322 average is also fourth in club history.

After spending the entirety of the 1998 season in Jacksonville, Roberts made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians the next year. In a lot of ways, it’s ironic; the 1998 Suns are maybe the most prolific offensive team in Southern League history. It’s just that their most successful alumnus topped out at eight home runs in a big-league season and posted an above-average OPS+ just twice. The milliseconds’ Dave Roberts picked up as an advantage to swipe a base or get a quick jump on a ball defensively in the outfield helped him carve out a decade of playing in the majors. Perhaps it’s those subtleties of success that are why he has made such a good big league manager.

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