verdugo288

Now I’m down at Stengel Field.  “Hey wait a minute!” you say….”you said the next game was at North Hollywood High.”  That’s right!  I did.  And….it WAS scheduled to be the NEXT game.  I was down at Stengel Field coaching the OTHER Team I had that summer.  A Connie Mack Team comprised of players from CV and Burbank High.  We put this Team together to keep the rat-weasel from the Burbank Legion Team from coaching any of our underclassmen who would be returning to play for us the next season at Burbank High.  Except for ONE GUY.  Yeah, there was ONE GUY who was an underclassman who we let play on that Burbank Legion Team.  His name?  Jeff Kadis. 

Kadis was kind of “on the fence” about our Burbank High School Program.  He ultimately became LOYAL….but he was (I must admit) the LAST of the underclassmen we had to give their unbending loyalty to myself and Coach Johnson (The Head Coach).  So that summer Kadis played for ME on the Connie Mack Team and also played for the rat weasel on the Burbank Legion Team.  But deep down he was a good guy.  And at the field this night at Stengel…he pulled off one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a pregame drill.

Anyways…I’m talking to Kadis before the game.  “Hey how’s your Legion Team doing?” I asked him (like I even cared).  I was just making a little “small talk” with him.

“Yeah” we had a game last night.

“Did you win?”

“Yeah….we won on a forfeit” he said.

“Who was the other team” I asked.

He sat there for about ten seconds and then he says…”YOU!!”

I went WILD.  We didn’t have any god-damned game scheduled against Burbank.  Not for another week I told him.

“Bullshit” he said…..”The umps were there and everything.”

Soon enough I put two and two together.  That FUCKING LITTLE RAT WEASEL.  That fucking little rat weasel who refused to sign Chandler and Chili over to us was pulling some more SHIT!!!

I went straight to the payphone at Stengel.  I called the League Supervisor.  Got him on the phone.  And went WILD.

As I was walking to the payphone…I’m thinking…”Does it EVER stop with this guy?”

After about ten minutes of going off…..the Commissioner realized that the rat weasel had taken it upon himself to “reschedule” the Verdugo-Burbank game…….AND NOT TELL VERDUGO about it!!!

It was an easy fix.

“He’s been pulling this kind of shit all summer long”……..the commissioner said……..”this time I’m gonna make him pay.”

The final verdict:  FORFEIT.

AGAINST BURBANK!!!!!!

The winner?  VERDUGO!!!!!!!!

Why?

For trying to pull shit on Verdugo!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!!!

This post is NO joke.  This coach actually tried to pull this shit off and thought he was gonna get away with it.  I enjoyed every minute of returning to the field..hitting pregame…and telling Kadis….”yeah, it WAS a forfeit……….AND I WON!!!”

Kadis was a little bit overweight.  He was usually lethargic during day games.  And since most Baseball games are played during the daytime….well, I guess you could say Kadis was “lethargic.”  But on this night game at Stengel….he was ON FIRE!  Was it the cool weather?  What was it?  I’m telling you, he was ON FIRE!

I even told him…”Dude, you’re ACTIVE tonight.  I’ve never seen you this ACTIVE.”  Kadis was usually a catcher or first baseman….and he was ALWAYS begging to pitch.

I stuck him in left.  Kadis was crow-hoppin’….putting on a clinic out there during pre-game.  I couldn’t believe the way he was hustling that night.

“Now I know what you’re capable of”….you dogged it the whole season”….. I told him….”and Coach Johnson’s gonna hear about this!”

Don’t get me wrong.  I was elated!  Kadis was ALIVE!!!  I was loving it!!!

At least until we started making throws from the outfield to third base.  Our opponents had gathered just outside the third base dugout at Stengel and their coach was going over something with his players while we hit pre-game.  The coach had his back to the field.

I hit it to Kadis…..”Three” we yelled.  Kadis came up with it cleanly……put on a textbook crow-hop….and promptly FIRED one to the third baseman….about fifteen feet OVER HIS HEAD.

Everybody in the park saw it coming…..except the coach…he had his back turned to the field.

RIGHT IN THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kadis and I were “Bro’s” after that one………

Every time I saw Kadis from that night forward…I couldn’t stop laughing.

Finally, after all of the B.S……..Kadis and I were Bro’s.  And Kadis (who was kind of a Babe Ruth look-alike) hit a titanic BLAST deep into the wash at Stengel that night.  DAMN he was ACTIVE that night!!!!!! 

Yes-sir-ree…..but all that mattered to me was the fact that Verdugo had officially swept Burbank that season……no matter what the rat weasel tried to do.  Hey rat weasel…THANKS for the FREEBIE!!!!!!!  And thanks for pushing us to 11-9 on the year!!!  AHHHHHHHH Verdugo!!!!

I said it in an earlier post and I’ll say it again……….Good ALWAYS triumphs over evil!!!!!!!!!!