So Chandler and Chili were gone. Yes it hurt. But we had to pick up the pieces and move forward. At least in ’91 Chili was back on our Roster with us and had another great year. This is the second post I am writing about this game against Chaminade. The first post I titled “Short Porch in Right.” We won that day 16-12. It was one hell of a shootout. We used four pitchers that day…Canale, Hank, McBride, and TEX! Even Weapon kept coming up to me during the game (about three times) and he would pretend he was on the mound looking in for the sign. I guess that was his way of saying “Gimme the ball, Gee.”
I told Weapon after the third time “No, I’m not giving you the ball….but I like what I see….I notice you’re never in the stretch!”
Weap laughed, and said (referring to himself in the third person) “That’s right Weapon’s never in the stretch! No one ever reaches base on Weap!”
“Well, we just may find out whether or not that’s true before the season ends” I told him. We had a good laugh.
I thought that was cool. Everybody knew we lost a couple of great pitchers…and now we had all kinds of people stepping up asking for the ball. Vic wanted the ball, so did Tex. I already knew Rogers could hurl an inning or two as well and not hurt you, but it was “moving” to see the guys ask. It was totally Verdugo…….
We banged out 19 hits that day. Vic had three hits. Tex…three hits. Weapon…three hits. Bull….two hits. Hank..three hits. Frost…three hits. Sammy..two hits. Wow. Home Runs by Vic and Frost. Turner and Rogers were hitless but between the two of them scored three runs.
This put us at 5-4-1 in the standings. Another interesting statistic: When Robb Turner was our starting catcher…we were 5-0 at this point in the season. Turner had earned a spot in the starting lineup. In fact, from this point forward…Turner and Rogers took over all of the catching duties. I was very happy with the job they did. And by the end of the season…we went 9-3 with Turner behind the plate that season.
Canale was lighting it up at the plate! He was only sixteen…and held the cleanup slot in our lineup the entire season. At this point of the year, the soon-to-be-nicknamed “BullOxen” was 16 for 38 (.421), had hit safely in ALL TEN GAMES, and still had not struck out!
Vic was hitting .448, Tex was at .382. Weapon was on a roll as well at .353. We were putting up some solid numbers offensively, we were hitting over .300 as a Team.
I was very concerned about the pitching staff at this point. At least what was left of it. McBride, Bull, and Hank were the staff. Big Breck had basketball commitments and it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to finish the season for us. But Breck did come out late in the year and threw one more game for us. The rest of the year we kind of pitched by committee. Rogers, Tex and Vic all filled in here and there with an inning or two. It was all we could do. And I think the guys we had did a gutsy job. Guys were throwing when they were tired…..but they kept battling Verdugo style.
Hank and McBride were used to being pitchers. But I will say this….from this point in the season forward BullOxen really stepped it up and threw some great innings for us. By the end of the season he had become a very good pitcher. I was glad to see him reach this level at age 16. When Bull had all of his pitches going (and he had the absolute NASTIEST curveball I have ever seen from a kid his age) he was pretty much unhittable. He struggled with his control, but that improved with experience.
Yes, it hurt losing Chandler and Chili. It did. I want to thank them for the job they did for us that season. After our rough season at Burbank High that year, I don’t think anyone expected them to do much. But those two guys had a little bit more will, grit, and resolve than most people expected of them. I had watched them all season at Burbank. The were competitors and they hated getting beat. They never quit and they kept coming to the ballpark. While alot of the guys on the Team that year dwelled on the negatives…they just kept working at their craft. It was a joy to be around them. And I can’t really express how happy I was for them when they beat Hart and won the Division Title their very next season at Burbank. Absolutely INCREDIBLE!
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