It’s a long way from 51s staff to a World Series

Nick Christensen

Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004 | 9:57 a.m.

It wasn't that long ago that Brad Mills and Ron Jackson would jog out to Cashman Field's third and first base coaches boxes, respectively, leading that year's Las Vegas 51s to a franchise-best 85-59 record.

Wednesday night in St. Louis, Mills and Jackson ran onto the field for the last time this season, not as minor-league farmhands trying to resuscitate their careers but as World Series champions, coaches on the Red Sox squad that won eight consecutive games and broke the curse after 86 years of torment.

Jackson, known as "Papa Jack" to teammates and fans, was so beloved in his two-year stint in Las Vegas that he even had a fan club that would line up on the southern bleachers at Cashman Field to cheer him.

He came to the Dodgers' system after two years as the hitting coach with the Chicago White Sox and one with the Milwaukee Brewers. After Los Angeles switched its Triple-A league affiliate from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, Jackson came along and met 51s general manager Don Logan.

The move, as it turned out, had quite an impact on his career.

"One of the reasons I got this job was because Don Logan had a lot to do with it," Jackson said. "He was really familiar with the people in San Diego, and Theo Epstein worked in San Diego at one time."

Epstein, hired in late 2002 as the Red Sox' general manager, spent two years as the Padres' director of baseball operations. Even after the Padres ended their affiliation with Las Vegas after the 2000 season, Epstein and Logan remained close.

"All those connections fell into place," Jackson said.

Boston's batting average jumped from to .277 in 2002 to .289 in 2003. Home runs went up from 177 to 238.

"When Theo Epstein hired me, when I was with the Vegas team, the first thing I thought of when I came to the Boston Red Sox ... they've got a great chance of getting to the World Series," Jackson said.

Logan said he wasn't surprised to see Jackson's success.

"Papa Jack's a big-league guy," Logan said.

When Grady Little was fired as Boston's manager after the 2003 season, Jackson was kept on board. And when Terry Francona replaced Little, he brought longtime friend Brad Mills on board as the bench coach, essentially the baseball equivalent of the top assistant coach.

Mills worked under Francona in Philadelphia, spending four seasons as the Phillies' first base coach. When Francona was fired in Philadelphia, Mills spent a year as a scout for the Cubs before leading Las Vegas to the Pacific Coast League's best record.

Shortly after the Dodgers signed Mills to a contract extension at Triple-A, he was hired by Montreal manager Frank Robinson as the Expos' bench coach. Mills spent parts of four seasons with the Expos in the early 1980s, backing up Francona in the Expos' lineup.

Jackson, reached early Wednesday, didn't want to get ahead of himself in talking about the possibility of winning the World Series. But he sounded confident in his team.

"I'm not surprised that we are in the World Series. I felt like last year we should have been there," he said. "This is a great experience, a dream come true for me."