Former Baseball: Didier returns for UL baseball reunion

Kevin Foote, The Advertiser, Oct. 2, 2014

Mel Didier, longtime baseball executive and former UL baseball coach and athletic director, shown here talking baseball with UL Hall of Famer Gene Bacque (seated), will be returning to Lafayette this weekend for a baseball reunion with his former players from the early 1980s.(Photo: Advertiser file photo)

There will be plenty of great baseball stories of yesteryear told, lots of joking on the golf course and even some old friendships rekindled.

But when members of UL Ragin’ Cajun baseball teams from 1980 to 1985 meet for an reunion in Lafayette this weekend, there will be one highlight event.

That will be seeing former Cajun baseball coach and now legendary Major League Baseball executive and scout Mel Didier, as well as the 48-minute documentary – "Scout’s Honor" – that’s been produced to honor his illustrious career.

Former Cajun catcher Bo Stuart is the reunion’s chief organizer. Stuart said Didier expressed his wishes in conversations to see his old players one more time in an organized gathering.

"I’m really anxious to see the boys and I hope I’ll even be able to recognize a couple of them," joked Didier, who is now 88 and still flying across the country on a regular basis as special advisor for the Toronto Blue Jays.

"I’m really looking forward to see those boys, well actually they’re grown men now, again. Bo told me he would get the guys together and I told him not to mess it up."

As always, the former Carencro High catcher Stuart listened well and executed.

At last count on Thursday afternoon, Stuart said as many as 42 former players had indicated they were making the trip back to Tigue Moore Field this weekend.

In addition to current UL coach Tony Robichaux, who sat out as a transfer from McNeese State during Didier’s last year as coach, and then played for Brad Kelley, Stuart said all the local stars from that era such as Todd Credeur, Garrett O’Connor, Todd Thomas, Ron Robicheaux and Todd Weber will be attending, as well as the likes of David Alvis.

Kelley is on the list to attend as well.

"A lot of the pitching comes from Brad," Robichaux said. "He was one of the best pitching minds. The professionalism comes from Mel. You didn’t go on the field if your shirt wasn’t tucked in. When he handed out meal money, if you didn’t say ‘thank you’, you didn’t get your meal money. I learned a lot from Mel."

Even today, Didier said Thursday that his greatest pride about his teams at UL was that his first team in 1981 had 26 players and all 26 graduated.

"To me, it was all about education," Didier said. "All that baseball stuff is great, but education was the most important thing. If I found out they weren’t going to class, I had them running at the football stadium at 5 in the morning."

The group will enjoy a social at the Hilton on Thursday evening, plans to play golf at Les Vieux Chenes on Friday morning, before meeting at the park at 4 for gumbo and an update on the program from Robichaux and Gerald Hebert.

Then comes the highlight even with a sneak peek of the documentary on Didier’s life in baseball. The plan is for it to be shown Friday evening on the field’s big screen, weather permitting. If not, it’ll be shown on a portable TV in a selected area at the field.

Stuart said that fans are invited to attend the activities at Tigue Moore Field on Friday night.

Didier said the idea for the film came from a lawyer friend of his from Toronto named Michael Silver, who will also be visiting Lafayette this weekend for the reunion.

"He said that it would be great for scouts for people to see how lonely of a life it is and how much you have to love the game to do it," Didier said. "Those guys don’t make big money, between $30 and $60,000 and the top guys get $75 to 80. It’s not what people think. You have to love the game."

Didier said the production went into overdrive during spring training this past February in Dunedin, Fla, where cameras followed Didier during camp. They later followed him to Phoenix where he scouted and later in Buffalo, the Blue Jays’ Triple-A affiliate.

The film has already debuted in Canada in prime time. Negotiations in the works with ESPN and MLB Network for viewing in the U.S.

"I didn’t know what to think of it at first," Didier said, "but they really did a great job. It’s first-class, very professionally done. This executive producer did two (Sylvester) Stallone films and some (Clint) Eastwood films. He’s a big-time guy."

The crew somehow chopped down 30 hours of film to a 48-minute documentary. Didier said he went on and on about his days at then USL, but "they cut most of that out of it."

The film interviews central figures in Didier’s career, such as Andre Dawson, Buck Showalter, John Hart and Orel Hershiser.

Didier is most famous for the advanced scouting that produced Kirk Gibson’s heroic home run in the 1988 World Series off ace closer Dennis Eckersley, but Didier said Thursday that his greatest achievement in the game was being a central figure in the start of three expansion franchises – Expos in 1970, Mariners in 1977 and Diamondbacks in 1998.

"That’s never been done in baseball history," Didier said.

Didier said the Blue Jays’ hot start to the 2014 season cost him a chance to see any of UL’s historic season that saw the Cajuns reach No. 1 nationally this past spring in person.

"Did I follow them?" Didier quipped. "I followed them like I was a part of the team. It was great. I’d talk to scouts about them and they would tell me how good they were and mostly how hard they played.

"And Tony (Robichaux) deserves all of that credit. He’s done a great job with the program."