Sports Columnist {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. LAS VEGAS – The winding trail of Fran Riordan's professional baseball career continues in the desert heat. When he arrived here in 2019, it was a stop on the road to the big leagues, and it still can turn into that.
Based on his record, it probably should. But it has also become a second home. The Canisius High School graduate became the winningest manager in the 41-year history of the Las Vegas Aviators last month, when he won his 324th game to eclipse the mark former big-league infielder Jerry Royster set in 2006.
Riordan's record is 337-315 heading into the Oakland Athletics' Triple-A affiliate's game Tuesday at Sugar Land. Las Vegas Aviators manager and Canisius High graduate Fran Riordan gives the signs from the third-base coaching box. "This is a great place to manage.
It's a great place to coach and play, a really good front office, a really good area, beautiful stadium," Riordan, 48, said in his office before a recent game in Las Vegas Ballpark. "So I look at it as where I am today and it's a great spot. I'm always looking at what I have to do today to get these guys prepared to play at a very high level.
And I don't really look too much further past that." Riordan's life story is a nose-to-the-grindstone tale that has been told before, but bears repeating. A nine-inning game itself is only a sliver of the fun of Banana Ball.
It quickly turns into.