Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach Ray Searage is a trivia buff's dream.
At 60 years of age, he's the only New York Mets baseball player to have won 100 percent of his games pitched (1-0) and have a 1.000 batting average (1 for 1).
All right, so that's kind of lame. But it gets better for West Virginians.
Name the only remaining Charleston Charlie still in uniform.
The answer: Ray Searage.
Oh, and where did Searage pitch in college?
Answer: West Liberty, right here in the Mountain State.
These days, Searage is one of the hottest names in Major League Baseball. His Pirate pitching staff is not only ranked No. 2 in the National League, but No. 2 in all of MLB in earned run average (3.17). And that's not happening with starting pitchers like Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, a la the Los Angeles Dodgers. That's not happening with Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg of Washington. Or even Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey of the Mets.
Searage has Gerrit Cole ... and, well, the Pirates in a wild pennant race. Working with manager Clint Hurdle, Searage and company are up on the Chicago Cubs for home-field advantage of the one-game wild card playoff and, before Thursday's games, four games behind St. Louis for first in the National League Central division.
Searage is simply getting the most of his pitchers, like Francisco Liriano and J.A. Happ. He's known baseball-wide for "reclamation projects." And now his name is bandied about as a possible manager.
Much of which started here, in West Virginia.
"I'm originally from Freeport, New York," Searage said. "Well, I was at a community college up there and had some friends that went to Bethany College. They told me West Liberty had good baseball at the time. So I went to check it out and bingo! I was there two-and-a-half years."
Searage points to former West Liberty coach and, later, athletic director Jim Watson.
"We're in touch all the time," Searage said. "He comes to some games. We go out to dinner. ... I studied social studies and [physical education], but was really just there for baseball.
"Jim made me more disciplined as a person. He made us set ourselves up for life. He was very helpful in us growing up and maturing."
The left-handed pitcher signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1976 but was traded to the Mets for catcher Jody Davis in late 1979. After his trivia-worthy stint in 1981, Searage was traded to Cleveland. And sent to Charleston.
"I was there for two years," Searage said. "At the time, it wasn't fun. I wasn't with a winning organization. The good thing is, I met a lot of players I still stay in touch with."
His mind went to old Watt Powell Park, now demolished.
"There would be 200 people in the stands," Searage said. "The lights would buzz. The No. 707 coal train would go by. It was quite an experience."
The Charlies, who would cease to exist after 1983, were a Class AAA franchise in the International League. Watt Powell Park was known for its deep outfield fences and the CSX railroad line that hugged the south wall.
"Obviously, the park was on its way out by the time I got there," Searage said. "We just tried to make the best of the situation. We had a bunch of characters on our team.
"I remember the nook and cranny in centerfield. I remember when we ran in the outfield it was like a cow pasture. In retrospect it was fun, but at the time I thought I'd died and gone to baseball hell."
There was one redeeming quality to his stay.
"I had a nice apartment," Searage said. "I remember it was on a hill and had a nice view of the city. After games I could go and pretend I was in the mountains or Rockies."
Searage was the pitching coach for the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians when, in 2009, he was promoted to Pittsburgh. He was named to the full-time position when Hurdle was named manager.
The manager is being repaid in kind for the hire.
"The staff is taking heed of our core values," Searage said. "They aren't out there just for numbers. Our core values say, first, you pitch for strikes on the first pitch. Also, you pitch inside. And you make something happen in three pitches or less.
"Studies have shown if you get ahead of a batter 0-1, batters hit .200 or below. If the batter gets to 1-0, they hit .280 to .300. Pitching ahead in the count is what makes a pitcher effective."
Cole has been more than effective this season. If you go purely on stats, he'd have to finish second in the National League Cy Young Award voting to Chicago's Jake Arrieta.
"He's really grown and matured," Searage said. "I'm really happy for him. He's competitive. He doesn't like to lose in tiddlywinks. I see a Cy Young in his future. He's learning, growing every day."
Searage's stock, meanwhile, continues to trend upward.
"The goal right now is to bring a World Series championship to Pittsburgh," he said. "It's nice to hear the things people are saying, but what I want is a championship."
Still, he'll hear the buzz.
And this time, it won't be from those old Watt Powell lights.