LOCAL LEGENDS IN THE PROS: From Lee County To Richmond, Jim Pankovits Is State’s Mr. Baseball

BY TIM HAYES
Bristol Herald Courier
Jim Pankovits was born in Pennington Gap. He was raised in and still lives in Richmond. His current job as manager of the High-Class A Carolina League’s Salem Avalanche means that the Roanoke Valley is his home during the summer months.

If there was an All-Star team for Virginia natives who played in the major leagues, Pankovits would probably be the team captain.

He certainly knows the terrain.

“I imagine I’ve seen about every county there is,” Pankovits said. “It’s a beautiful state, and that’s why I still make it my home.”

Pankovits fits the bill of a baseball lifer. He starred in the amateur ranks, played six seasons in the big leagues and is currently one of the top managers in the minor leagues.

His career has included many stops and many of them have come in the Commonwealth.

Lee County Beginnings
Pankovits was around 18 months old when his family left Lee County and moved to the state capital. However, he still has some Southwest Virginia connections.

His grandmother, Meda Parsons Smalley, still lives in Dryden. As he has every year since his youth, Pankovits visits his birthplace near the Kentucky border in the offseason.

“I have a lot of memories of [Lee County] actually,” Pankovits said. “I get to that area quite a bit during the offseason. I usually drive down from Richmond to Possum Hollow, where my grandmother lives.”

Pankovits has been making memories on the baseball field since he was a kid. He led Tuckahoe Little League to the finals of the 1968 Little League World Series, where the team suffered a 1-0 loss to Osaka, Japan, and fell short of the title.

That was followed by a standout career at Douglas S. Freeman High School. He eventually landed a scholarship to the University of South Carolina.

After a career with the Gamecocks – which included a College World Series runner-up finish – Pankovits was taken by the Houston Astros with the 73rd overall pick in the 1976 MLB Amateur Draft.

His first stop as a pro? Covington, Virginia, of the Appalachian League. Naturally.

Big League Dreams
For Pankovits, his biggest trait in the minors may have been patience. He produced at every stop but never got a promotion to the majors.

He entered the 1984 season, his ninth in the minor leagues, with Tucson of the Pacific Coast League. Pankovits continued to pound opposing pitching and finally got the long-awaited call from Houston in May.

In his first big league at-bat, Pankovits lined a pinch-hit single off Pitstburgh Pirates reliever Rod Scurry.

Pankovits admitted that the long wait for his chance made the moment even sweeter.

“I think so,” he said. “I was a little more mature and knew how special it was. I certainly had to earn it.”

Pankovits became a reliable utility player for the Astros and could play almost any position. In fact, he spent time at second base, shortstop, third base, first base, the outfield and even caught one game.

He enjoyed perhaps his best season in 1986 as he hit .283 in 70 games. He was also crucial to the Astros’ National League West division title.

“It was a very good year for me,” Pankovits said. “I didn’t get to play as a starter particularly much, but we had a great second baseman in Bill Doran. I was the top pinch-hitter and it was just a great team. We had a number of unbelievable players and everything fell together.”

Among his teammates were Phil Garner, Jose Cruz, Mike Scott and the legendary Nolan Ryan. The team lost a classic National League Championship Series to the New York Mets in six games.
Game Six was a 16-inning marathon that the Mets won 7-6. Pankovits played in the game, grounding out to third baseman Ray Knight as a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the 13th inning.

“It’s probably one of the best games there ever was in major league history,” Pankovits said. “It was a heartbreaker.”

Pankovits played his final big league game in 1990 for the Boston Red Sox. In 318 major league games, he hit .250 with nine home runs and 55 RBIs.

However, his days in a uniform were far from over.

Back Home
After his days as a player ended, it didn’t take long for Pankovits to find a new job. He became the manager of Boston’s Class AA affiliate in New Britain, Conn., in 1992 and has been in the player development business ever since.

He’s in his third season as a manager with Salem, a Houston Astros affiliate. He earned Carolina League manager of the year honors in 2006 and has become a fan favorite because of his intensity and tireless work ethic.

He’s doing it in the state he calls home.
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