verdugo288

Opening Day.  Ahhh!!!  You gotta love Opening Day.  Opening Day kind of sets the tone for the year.  It’s a great opportunity to get off to a great start.  In 1990….HANK was our opening day pitcher.  I think I made the right move giving him the ball in 1990.  Hank came out of that game after six great innings and we had a 4-1 lead.  He battled Verdugo-style!!  It’s an HONOR to get the ball opening day.  So who was I going to give the ball to opening day in 1991?  BullOxen?  Big-Breck?  Chili?  It could have been ANY of those three. 

I had a good relationship with all three of those guys.  But we needed that 4th guy to step up in the rotation.  All three guys were “cool” with not getting the ball opening day.  I talked to all of them…and decided to give the ball to “Go-Go” Gomez.  Bad move…….or was it a bad move?

Why did I do it?  Well, we needed him to throw some innings for us that summer.  And I felt this was the best way to give him a vote of confidence, kind of let him know he was going to be a part of what we were doing that summer.  I certainly didn’t do it because he was the “Ace” of the staff…..but I think HE thought that’s why I did it…..

Well, Gomez was hammered and we got beat 10-3.  After the game he asked me when his next start on the mound was going to be.  He also wanted to know why he wasn’t entered into the game as a position player after he got blasted on the mound.  I was starting to get the feeling that this guy was confusing “Facts” with “Opinions.”  And while it may well have been his “Opinion” that he was a “Franchise-Player”…..the “Fact” of the matter was…he wasn’t.  Nor would he ever be. 

Even before the game he asked me to buy him a “fitted” cap.  He said the caps we had didn’t fit his head.  John Rogers told him “That’s because you’re head is the size of a bowling ball.”

Go-Go didn’t like that.  It was clear he wasn’t going to be able to handle the “internal needling” we do at Verdugo.  You see, this is how we roll at Verdugo.  As we gather before a game we rag on each other and give each other a hard time about everything in a light-hearted manner.  Then when the game starts we start RAGGING on the opponent.  When the game is over…we start back in on each other.  It’s all GOOD….it’s just “How we roll” at Verdugo.

Go-Go and I had a little “come-to Jesus” conversation over the phone between our opening game and our second game.  I tried to spell out his role to him.  He didn’t really get it.  He called me a couple of hours later and QUIT the Team.  I was nice over the phone with him….but I did make it clear to him that he was no Chili, Canale, or Breck. 

I just kind of laughed.  It was a blessing.  Losing a guy with an attittude like that never HURTS a ballclub….it only helps it.  The way I saw it, I had about 35 innings penciled in for that guy before the season started, and if he continued to pitch like he did that opening day for Verdugo….he would’ve been cut-off at about NINE.

Whatever, dude…….I made the decision….Opening Day I had narrowed it down to BullOxen or Go-Go.  BullOxen should have gotten the ball out of history, tradition, and respect.  Bull knew it.  But that’s the kind of guy BullOxen is…..he saw the big picture, and never had any ego.  Bull, Chili, and Breck had no egos.  In fact, not having an ego was kind of an unwritten law for Verdugo.  None of our guys ever did.  That’s what kept me coming back.  And the parents were awesome as well.  They may have second-guessed me at times but none of the parents ever got “weird” or made a scene about ANY decision(s) I ever made.

The song “Round Here” by Counting Crows ALWAYS reminds me of Verdugo.  I love the line in the song where he says “Round here, we talk just like lions…but we sacrifice like lambs”…….

But looking back on it all………I DID make the right move by giving him the ball.  We got a potential cancer out of there early on in the season.  It was Good that Go-Go decided to “Go-Go.”   

It just kind of opened the door for BullOxen to do what he did in our second game of the ’91 season.  And I was GLAD Go-Go was gone.  Because frankly, Go-Go was not worthy of sitting in our dugout, wearing our uniform, and watching the HISTORY BullOxen was about to make………the single-greatest performance EVER by a Verdugo pitcher.  And maybe the single-greatest game ever pitched in the 20th District History.

Yeah buddy…Counting Crows…”Round Here.”  In my book, he wrote that song about Verdugo.  It’s eerie….it’s like he’s talking about our Team!  In the Chorus it says “Round Here, we always stand up straight….Round Here, something radiates.”   Later, he says “Round Here, we’re carving out our names……Round Here, we all look the same”………………

It’s true with great Teams…..they DO “talk just like lions” (they RAG)….they DO “sacrifice like lambs”…..they Are “carving out their names”……while at the same time “looking the same”….they DO “stand up straight”……..and indeed with great Teams…..something DOES “radiate.”

All of those lines (to me) describe what we created at Verdugo.

Something ALWAYS did, in fact, RADIATE about Verdugo………

And we were about to watch one of the most selfless guys we ever had…..’Ol BullOxen……walk out to the mound for our second game of the ’91 season….and truly, truly SHINE!!!!!!!!!