The original Team put together a brilliant season, all things considered. I’ve already written about all the factors that were kind of working against us that first season.
At the end of the season I took a hard look at what I wanted and what we needed to make overall improvements to the Team. We needed a field. We needed more than just water at the games…we needed COLD water. Oranges to eat in the dugout would have been nice, too. And I wanted some nicer uniforms. Bottom line was…we needed more money from The Members of Post 288….and I was ready to ask for it.
Dave Haskell was The Commander of Post 288 our first season. He took a liking to me and the program, and he even went to several games. Every year at The Post they hold elections. So in 1991 there was going to be a new Commander. I wondered how we would fare once Haskell was out.
Well, things went well for us during the “off-season”…and a guy named Ken Zeutell was elected Commander of Post 288. Zeutell, fortunately, was behind the Verdugo Legion Program. See my earlier post “From $1000.00 to a Team Bus?”……
Zeutell, Haskell, and I met around December of 1990 and began “plotting” for 1991. They agreed with the items on my wish list. I also told them I had my eyes on some players from St. Francis that I thought would be great acquisitions to the roster. They were totally supportive of all I was trying to do with the Team.
All I wanted to do from the beginning with this Team was kick as much ass as we could. Haskell and Zeutell had figured this out about me, and they liked that about me. And with all of the money they were giving us……it made me want to win even MORE. I wanted to deliver to them a playoff Team. I figured they were the De Facto “Owners” of the Team….and I was their manager. I never felt they would dump me if we had a losing season…..but Haskell, Zeutell, and myself all certainly ENJOYED winning as many games as we could. We had a great first season, and I wanted to build on it.
It was fun going to a few Legion meetings in the off-season and listening to Haskell, Zeutell, and another guy named Jess Rogers “sell” our Team to the rest of the members of The Post. These guys were instrumental in keeping the Program going and getting us more money each year. They had built myself and the Team up to be something bigger than we actually were….and it helped. The sales job these guys did to the rest of the Members of The Post was nothing short of brilliant!!
I had heard (loud and clear) from the players that first season about our uniforms. And the caps. I didn’t figure out the importance of the caps until 1992. The first season, we used a Cleveland Indians hat. I liked it. It kind of represented Verdugo. A smart-ass looking, laughing, red-faced Indian and all of that. And I….having about 8% Cherokee blood in me…..IDENTIFIED with that hat. I bet all of you out there didn’t even know that “Ol Gee isn’t quite as white as he looks!
But most importantly, we needed some kick-ass looking shirts to play in. Button Downs! I got with Jack over at Tiernan Athletic in Glendale. Jack and I started designing the jersey that would become the staple of our look for the rest of our existence. I knew we wouldn’t have the money to get the right caps in ’91…but we would have it by ’92. Every year we improved the look of our uniform. In ’92 we added the Official Verdugo Hills cap…and in ’93 we went with a grey pant with a pipe-stripe navy blue line down it. If we did the ’94 season….we were going to have home and away shirts. The list of all the stuff I wanted to get for the players was long…..but after the ’90 campaign, I realized how important it was to the players. Who knows what that Team would have had if it was still going today!
So we decided to change the hat, at least for one year. Looking back on it…we should have kept that Indian hat. But the Atlanta Braves hat we selected looked cool with the new shirts. The Atlanta Braves hat was navy, red, and had that white “A” on the front of it. So the “A” looked out of place with the new shirts. So what were we? The Verdugo Hills “Atlantans?” It didn’t make sense. I remember taking a survey before we commited to changing the caps. Everybody seemed to want the Atlanta hats. I’d ask “What’s the ‘A’ for?” John Rogers provided the answer…..he said…”We’re the assholes!” Well, that seemed to fit the personality of the Team….so it stuck. We knew it would be temporary, and the caps did look cool with our new uniforms.
So that’s who we were going to be in 1991. The Verdugo Hills “Assholes.” I liked it. I asked around, but couldn’t find the cap I was REALLY looking for with that Team. If they had the Internet back in those days, I’m sure I would have found it. I wanted a hat that was red, navy, and had a BIG white “F” on the front of it!
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