verdugo288

I was quoted in the newspapers back in 1991 that I’d “probably never see someone strike out 20 hitters in a game again in my life.”  Well, 20 years later…..I still haven’t seen it.  In fact, I haven’t even HEARD about it happening.  I don’t care WHAT level it is….Pro, College, High School or Legion.  You strike out TWENTY guys in one game and you are LEGIT….the REAL DEAL. 

We always knew BullOxen was legit.  Like I said, the first time I saw him he had the nastiest yellow-hammer I’ve ever seen….and he also threw HARD.  When he had it all going…he was virtually untouchable.  And ’91 was only his second season with us……

My God……join me for a minute or two and just kind of reflect upon that staggering number.  I still can’t believe it. 

I knew he was dominating that day.  But I was a little bit wrapped up in the moment.  We needed that first win of the season.  Palmdale had come down to play us at Glendale High School that day.  We actually TRAILED after five innings 1-0.  They scored an unearned run in the third.

Bull drew a leadoff walk for us in the bottom of the fifth.  Moose reached base on an error.  Turner hit into a fielders choice. 

With two outs, John Rogers tied it up with a clutch base hit.  Josh Willis walked.  Then Bret Miller blew the game open with a bases-loaded triple. It was 5-1 Verdugo.

Palmdale was already done.  Bull had already struck out eight in the first four innings, including FOUR guys in the third (dropped third strike where the batter reached base).

Bull then basically took over. It was like he was “just getting loose” by the fifth inning.  He struck out five guys in a row.  Then he gave up a fly ball out leading off the seventh.  Then he struck out six guys in a row…..(an all-time Verdugo Record by the way). 

He was done as far as I was concerned.  He had already thrown 143 pitches.  Way too many…..

I told him he was done.  “Let me go see the scorebook and see how many strikeouts I have” he told me.

I didn’t really think much of it….until he came back and told me he had EIGHTEEN. 

We looked at each other.  Yeah, it was crazy.  But I had to keep him in.  He wanted to try for it.  Shit, I was thinking he had a chance to make some history.  He would have been okay with me yanking him…..but he was looking at a chance here at….well…..immortality. 

“On one condition”…I told him.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“That you ‘glove-flick’ for the 20th.”

You’ve seen it before at Baseball games.  The pitcher gives the sign to the catcher instead of the other way around.  They do this between innings.

Are you saying Gee that you wanted him to telegraph to everyone in the ballpark (including the hitter) what pitch he was going to throw to record the 20th strikeout?

That’s EXACTLY what I wanted him to do.

We both got that evil look in our eyes and it was ON!

And Bull was totally up for the challenge.  Basically this means if he did whiff the 20th guy…it was like saying “Here it is…I may as well tell you what pitch I’m throwing because you ain’t hitting it anyway.”  We had some serious swagger going on in 1990….but nothing like this.  But with Verdugo…we always push the envelope.

Moose liked the idea, too.  He had called a damn good game up to that point.  It kind of took the pressure off.

In the ninth inning…the first guy STRUCK OUT on three pitches.

He had two strikes on the next hitter but was having trouble with that glove-flicking thing.  The batter hit a come-backer……1-3 if you’re scoring.

Two down.

He got two strikes on the final hitter.  It took him one or two glove flicks if I remember correctly.  But he glove-flicked “fastball” and BLEW the final hitter down on strikes.

TWENTY!  Count’em!! TWENTY!!!

He not only struck out 20 guys in a single game, he TOLD the 20th victim what pitch he was gonna throw and the guy STILL couldn’t touch it.

AHHHHH!!!!!

Call me evil if you will…..whatever, dude.  When a Verdugo Chucker Blows down 20….we glove-flick for it.  That’s just how we roll at Verdugo.

The teams did the obligatory post-game handshake.  That’s when the opposing coach took a little exception to our “flicking.”

First, he chest-bumped me.

“Is that shit coming from you?” He asked me.

In the “Art-of-War” (or one-upsmanship) it’s always important to take the enemy again down that road that led to his ruin.  At this stage I wanted to make him say out loud what was bothering him…kind of “re-live” the humiliation of what had just happened to him and his team.  So I took him back down that road.

“What shit is that?”

He was “down that road” all right…and I enjoyed watching him recount the misery and hearing him say:

“That glove-flicking shit.”

“Oh yeah…that ‘glove-flicking” shit.  YEAH as a matter of fact it did come from me.  And do me a favor…the next time you see the name ‘Verdugo Hills’ on your schedule do us all a favor and do NOT come to the ballpark as UNPREPARED as you were today.”

Dead silence.

As we walked back to the dugout after that exchange….all I could hear was our guys saying “Ahh Gee…Ahhhh!!!…Ahhhh!…..Ahhhh Gee!!!   Ahhhh!!  Ahhh Gee.”

But all the “Ahhhs” that day go to BullOxen.  Think about it for moment again.  Twenty K’s in one game.  That’s just downright SICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I mean that in the very BEST of ways………

I am sure that record still stands in 20th District Baseball.  No One will EVER see that again.  But WE did.  And here in just a couple of weeks….we’re gonna be PARTYING with the guy who did it!!!

Ahhh BullOxen!!!   Ahhhh Verdugo!!!!!!!!!

I will add the newspaper stories soon!!!