When it comes to promotions that attract fans to the ballpark, no one has anything on minor league baseball.

Where else are you going to see a "Silent Night" promotion where, in an effort to play the quietest game ever, fans wore duct tape over their mouths and held cards that read, "Yeah!" and "Boo!"

Ushers were replaced by librarians and golf marshals held up "Quiet Please" signs.

If you think that's weird, the Altoona Curve baseball team held an "Awful Night" promotion in an attempt to produce the worst atmosphere ever at a baseball game.

The Curve played music from William Shatner and Milli Vanilli and had a pregame autograph session with non-celebrities.

One team hosted a Ted Williams Popsicle Night, after Williams' body was cryogenically frozen, and then there was a "Nobody Night," a promotion designed to set the record for professional baseball's lowest attendance (zero). Fans were locked out of the game until the fifth inning when the game became official.

But of all the weird and wacky minor league promotions, of all the funny, memorable and forgettable attempts to draw fans, the Orem Owlz have one to top them all.

Tonight at Brent Brown Ballpark, the Orem Owlz will host "1,500th win night."

Let's see anyone top that.

The Owlz host Idaho Falls at 7 p.m. and will be honoring manager Tom Kotchman for his 1,500th minor league win. They will be showing video clips from many of his former players and giving away "Tom Kotchman 1,500 wins" mini bats.

That's no typo.

Fifteen hundred minor league wins. Actually, he won No. 1,500 on June 27 with a 5-3 win at Ogden, but the team waited until today for the promotion. You can't have a 1,500-win night until you win 1,500 games.

It's safe to say, the Owlz could have moved up the date of the promotion by about a month.

To get an idea of how remarkable this achievement is, consider this: Last year Lenn Sakata won his 527th career California League game, passing Greg Mahlberg to become the most victorious manager in the minor league's 66-year history of the League.

Kotchman has nearly three times as many minor league wins.

"Those 1,500 wins, the majority of those are over half-seasons (rookie ball)," said Owlz pitching coach Zeke Zimmerman. "So if he would have been there in full seasons, what would that number be?"

Good question. How many wins would he have if he managed for an 162-game season all those years?

If you take Kotchman's winning percentage of .532 and add the additional wins he would pick up in a longer season, he would have roughly 35 more wins per year, which translates to 1,041 more wins for his career, including the 26 wins the Owlz have this year.

That's more than Walter Alston, more than Leo Durocher, Joe Torre, Bobby Cox or Tony LaRussa. If you buy that math, it would put him as the third-winningest manager in baseball history behind just Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763).

What does Kotchman think of this math?

"You've got to have the players. You've to have pitching. If you don't have it, you can only teach so much. You can only get a guy so much better," Kotchman said. "You're dependent on so many things. No. 1 you're dependent on scouts to sign players. If you don't sign good players with good makeup and good attitudes, it don't matter who is here. No. 2 is your coaching staff. Zeke's been with me forever. The key to anything, whether baseball or softball, is pitching. There you go, you've got a guy with that much experience who is willing to stay at this level."

Whatever the reasons, it's been working for Kotchman. Since he's been managing at the Rookie/A level (1990), the only losing season he's had was last year when the Owlz went 37-38 overall, and last year the Owlz came back to win the Pioneer League Championship.

Perhaps what's so impressive about Kotchman is that after 30 years in baseball, he doesn't need to be here. He doesn't need the 12-hour bus rides to Great Falls, Mont. The three months away from home.

There are other ways to make a living. With his experience, he could be with the big club. He could be in a front office. He could be anywhere, but he chooses to stay in Orem.

Ironically, one reason why he stays in Orem is so he can be closer to his family. The Seminole, Fla., resident, manages from mid-June to mid-September and scouts the rest of the year. If he were managing a Major League team, he'd be gone from February through the end of September.

"I was in Triple A Edmonton for three years. My last year there, my son was six and my daughter was three and I saw them three weeks in seventh months," Kotchman said. "I'm pretty good in geography and Edmonton is closer to Russia than it is Florida. It just wasn't conducive to raising a family. I've seen a lot of my friends that are big league coaches and are big league managers that I've managed against me in the minor leagues and stuff like that, that's fine, but maybe I've got something they don't have. It all starts with family. I think the emphasis in society is so wrong. Family is first."

His wife Susan is a Susan Lucci (actress) look-alike and an elementary school principal in Florida. His daughter Christal is a senior at College of Charleston, where she's playing softball, and his son Casey was traded this week from the L.A. Angels to the Atlanta Braves.

Susan and Christal made a visit to Orem last week, a rare treat for Kotchman, who usually spends his summers solo. Even though he is in Orem, he's never far from his family. On Tuesday, Kotchman was trying to get some sleep on a bus ride to Ogden when his cell phone rang. It was Casey. He had just been traded and had to talk to his father.

"A long time ago, he put his selfish ambitions and desires aside to become a coach in the big leagues to keep his family intact because he didn't want to miss out on the memories of his kids growing up," Casey said. "As a kid, you have to be eternally grateful for that, that you have a family member that puts his dreams/ambitions aside. One thing that he's always told me is that at some point, the cheering stops. Baseball's going to be done with and what do you have after that? You have your family."

Kotchman could retire and watch his son. He could do a lot of other things, but he chooses to teach.

It is often said those who can't do, teach.

In Kotchman's case, there is nothing better to do than to teach.

He keeps coming back to where baseball begins. Where it's fresh. Where he can have an impact.

His wake over the years impacted hundreds of players, including former Mountain View High School outfielder Casey Child, who played for Kotchman in 1997 when he managed the Boise Hawks. Kotchman says Child is like a second son.

When Child drops by to see Kotchman, he opens the clubhouse door and invites him to speak to the team or take a few cuts during batting practice.

That is not an abnormality.

One of Kotchman's former players named John Donati, who played for Kotchman in Boise in 1994, stopped by to see him a few weeks ago.

"Do you remember me?" Donati asked.

"14 or 25," Kotchman said.

"What?"

"Those were the numbers you wore when you played for me. Of course I remember you."

Stories like those go on like the miles he's traveled by bus over the years.

"I think the players know I care. I tell them that they will see three things this year," Kotchman said. "You're going to see constructive criticism, which they might say is yelling, but it's going to be in the dugout or in the locker room. It's not going to be in the newspaper. It's the only way you're going to get better.

"You're going to see me laugh with you and kid around with you, and you're going to see me cry at some point. I don't know when you're going to see all three, a lot of it depends on you guys. A lot of it depends on what's going on in my life. I'm a human being, too. I'll never lie to you. When you leave here, you'll have a business card so you'll have access to me with my cell number and e-mail. If you want to text me, yes, I've figured that out."

So it comes as no surprise that when asked to comment on his 1,500th win, players didn't hesitate to congratulate him.

"I can't say enough about what he's done for me. His record speaks for itself," said Salt Lake Bees/Team USA infielder Matt Brown.

"He's a great teacher of the game. The man knows how to win. He knows how to teach. He's the best manager I've played under. You can't beat him. He finds a way to win. That's what I like," said Owlz outfielder Trevor Pippin.

And finally, this from his son Casey.

"He'll probably tell you that just means he's been doing it for too long. It's cool that he's been around long enough to do it," he said. "He's been fortunate to get 1,500 wins. But more important to him is when kids first get out of high school or junior college, college and try to be winners in the game of life more than the 1,500 wins. That's more what he teaches is guys becoming men on and off the field."