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 Tom
Mulcahy
Righthander Pitcher, Gonzaga University One
of the originals -- a member of the 1954 Lloydminster Meridians, the
towns' inaugural entry into semi-pro ball.
While he was good enough at basketball to win three varsity letters
and co-captain a team, baseball was Tom Mulcahy's specialty at Gonzaga
in the mid-1950s and he played the game with unvarying excellence.
Mulcahy, from Butte, Mt, played in every game over three varsity seasons
and he completed every game he started as a pitcher. His 1954 season was
typical. As a pitcher he went 9-1, struck out 97 batters and registered
a one-hitter plus several two-hitters. As a first baseman he had a
superlative .433 batting average. In an era when the Bulldogs played
some abbreviated schedules, Mulcahy pitched 15 consecutive complete-game
victories over a two-season stretch. He was signed to a professional
contract in 1956 by fellow Gonzagan Bing Crosby, then part owner of the
Pittsburgh Pirates. In his multi-faceted career, Mulcahy spent 15 years
in the Jesuit Order and 20 years in the baseball front office of the San
Diego Padres. (Gonzaga University, Hall of Fame) The
genial Mulcahy,
a Butte, Montana native, came to the Meridians as a 19-year-old pitcher
- first sacker following a star-studded spring with Gonzaga University in
Spokane. He went 9-1 on the hill (averaging 13 strikeouts a game)
and batted .433 (as a starting pitcher, he lost his initial outing, then won 15 straight over
two seasons). He had begun the 1954 summer season with Butte in the
Copper League (where he had compiled a 12-0 mark in 1953),
but answered an urgent appeal from the Meridians and joined the club a
month into the schedule.
  Arriving on the evening of July 12, 1954 Mulcahy was on the hill
the next afternoon and put in overtime going eleven impressive
innings allowing just six hits while fanning fourteen. Mulcahy
moved on to Williston of the Mandak League in 1955 and added in
tournament play with the Kalispell Chiefs and
Troy Boosters (at times playing under the name of Morrie Mulcahy). After
a long '55 season, Mulcahy was the star as he led the Kalispell Chiefs
to victory in the Libby Labor Day baseball tournament. The Chiefs,
playing six games in less than 48 hours (including three on the final
day) downed the favoured Spokane Georges in the final as Mulcahy tossed
a six-hitter and fanned 14 in the 3-2 triumph. "Playing
his first games with the Chiefs, Tom Mulcahy, former Gonzaga University
mound ace ... put on a display of pitching and hitting that has probably
never been equalled or surpassed in Northwest Montana baseball
circles." (The Inter Lake, September 6, 1955)
 At
the plate, Mulcahy belted four doubles and a pair of homers to drive in
ten runs for the winners. He pitched a pair of gems -- the six-hitter in
the title game and an earlier four-hit shutout in which he compiled
twenty strikeouts in eight frames.
A
week later, Morrie Mulcahy tossed a four-hitter as Troy, Montana won its
opener 11-1 in the American Baseball Congress Northwest playoffs.
At the plate, Mulcahy had two hits and drove in three.
Troy
then dumped Lemmon, SD 5-1 as Mulchay had a pair of hits, one of them a
triple, and then saved the game on the hill getting starter Dick Miller
out of a bases loaded, one out jam in the ninth by inducing a
double-play grounder.
Then,
officials disqualified Troy (which came with just nine players) after
finding Mulcahy had not been re-instated by the ABC after playing
semi-pro with Williston.
 
Signed
to a professional baseball contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates (Bing Crosby, part owner of
the Pirates and also a Gonzaga University guy, was prominent at the signing) Mulcahy played two seasons of
pro ball, including an 8-3, 3.77 campaign with Spokane in the Northwest
League in 1956
before accepting a call to religious life and fifteen years in the Jesuit
Order, including time on staff at Gonzaga.
Left - Mulcahy, visited a movie set in 1956
to meet with movie star and a Pittsburgh owner, Bing Crosby, and sign with the Pirates.
Photo from Gonzaga Quarterly, Summer 2007
Above right
- Mulcahy (on the right )with lefthander Max Weekly, another Meridians' star of
1954, as teammates with Spokane in 1956.
Left - An item in Kalispell's The Daily
Inter Lake (June 2, 1968).
Below - Headline from
The News, Van Nuys, March 25, 1969 noting the signing by San
Diego of Mulcahy as a scout for the team. He would later spend two
decades as an executive with the Padres.
 In 1969, the San Diego Padres announced the
appointment of the Reverend Thomas Mulcahy, S.J., as an associate scout.
Peter Bavasi, the Padres' Director of Minor League Operations made the
announcement. At the time, Father Mulcahy was the Director of Student
Activities at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington.
He was born in Butte, Montana and attended Central
High School in Butte. An All-State basketball player, he was a key
member of the state championship team in 1950. The previous season
he had captained the Montana American Legion baseball champion team.
Upon returning to Gonzaga after his pro career, he acted as assistant
coach in both baseball and basketball. He was ordained a Jesuit
priest in 1968.
During this period, Mulcahy continued an association with baseball as a scout for the
San Diego Padres, coach for Gonzaga, and batting practice
 pitcher for Tommy
Lasorda's Spokane Indians of the Pacific Coast League. (Right
- Mulcahy bottom left with Manager Tom Lasorda, back
left; Coach Bart Shirley, back right; Dave Lopes, bottom right.) Later,
after a year as a high school teacher in Seattle, Mulcahy began a
twenty year assignment with the San Diego Padres as Director of Group Sales
and Season Tickets. Now retired (at least from full-time
duties with the Padres and helping out managing a restaurant / lounge - close to the
ball park in San Diego) he's moved back to his roots in Montana. But,
he makes trips to San Diego to continue charitable
work in the community. And, there are lots of hobbies -- art, collecting, genealogy
- to keep him busy.
In a 1984 story in the Los Angeles Times (September
13, 1984), Tom Lasorda recalled one of the many stories about his former
batting practice pitcher from their Spokane days.
"You knew Tom used to be a priest, didn't you?"
Lasorda asked. "Father Tom was pitching batting practice for me
one day a few years ago and one of the guys on the other team wanted him
to hear confession. So he takes the guy down the first-base line
and hears his confession. What's the guy do in the game?
Bang. One home run. Bang. Two home runs. Bang. Three
home runs. I told Father Tom no more confessions before games."
Left
- Tom Mulcahy at Gonzaga. Right - Four
members of the 1954 Gonzaga University team who suited up in
Western Canada -- Bob Bourbeau, Keith Gustin,
Tom Mulcahy, Gary Ball
Left
-- Mulcahy and Ron Webb at Lloydminster, 1954 (in their new
Meridian jackets). Right - Mulcahy with Hank Aaron.
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