Archive for June, 2011

The Pieces to the Puzzle……..

Posted: June 24, 2011 in 1991
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There was a different vibe at the ballpark in ’91.  And it all was a result of what we did in 1990.  The good news about 1990 was that everyone in the 20th District now knew who we were.  The bad news was that everyone in the 20th District now knew who we were.  And this is how our opponents treated a game with Verdugo….like it was The Biggest Game of Their Lives!  They were TOTALLY GEARED UP to play Verdugo………….whether we were ready for it or not.

And this was a lesson we had to learn in 1991, myself included.  We kind of struggled offensively in ’91, but looking back on it, it was because the caliber of pitching we were facing had been upgraded.  Teams were coming at us now with their number one or two every game.  And it was tough at first.  I wanted to build a dominant Team.  And by the end of the ’91 season I had learned this lesson:  I can’t let another team catch us off guard because they treated the game like it was the biggest game of their lives and we didn’t. 

If we were going to get to the next level….we were going to have to start preparing for each and every game like it was the game of our lives.  It was the only way.  It was fun being the most hated Team in the 20th District.  I liked the controversy that usually surrounded our Team.  I liked the way the headlines in the Newspapers would just magically gravitate towards US.  Something was being built that was bigger than any of us.  And looking back on it all, I can see how it all came together.  Many of the final pieces of the puzzle were discovered in ’91.  Looking back on it all….’91 was a GREAT year for us.

Adding Hank and Weap to the coaching staff was clutch.  Myself, General, Hank and Weap took the losses that season very HARD.  We wanted to accomplish in ’91 what we almost did in ’90…..reach the playoffs.  And we damn near did it in ’91 as well.

My phone was still ringing when we got beat.  Guys would call up after a loss and vent a little bit.  I always liked that.  This started in ’90 and continued until the Team disbanded after the ’93 season.  This particular Verdugo tradition came to a climax late in ’93….I will write a post about that at some point and I already have a Title for that post…..it will be named “The Call”……

I started to make it a requirement for all pitchers to be at every game even if they weren’t pitching.  Big Breck was one of the pioneers of this tradition.  He made it “cool” to come to games and just kind of hang out and shoot the shit.  Bark out a few “Ahhh’s!”  Get in some rags.  Wear some shades.  We found out that the usually quiet, reserved, and stoic “Big Breck” was actually a pretty funny guy to be around. 

Since we had some home games in ’91 at both Stengel and Glendale High, we started making some of the guys do the field prep before the games.  They always did a great job.  They also dragged the field after the games and fixed the mound and home plate areas.  After spending so much time on the road in ’90, we appreciated just having a field.  And the way we cleaned up a field before and after a game was second to none.  We kept both Stengel and Glendale High immaculate.

I was figuring how to tweek the schedule to our advantage.  Getting on the phone and bullshitting the other coaches that we needed to reschedule a game.  I started to use some pretty good excuses.  There were a couple of coaches in ’91 who I ran into on the phone that were better than I was at it.  I kept learning.  By the time ’92 came around, I was the best bullshitter in the League at “tweeking” a schedule to my own advantage.

I started handling the umps a lot better.  Yeah, I got tossed once in ’91….for turning my hat sideways!  But overall, I was getting better at it.  It’s a big, big part of the whole deal.  I remember feeling like I finally had it down when we swept a twin-bill at Newhall-Saugus.  Chili was on the mound and just painting the corners.  The Blue started pinching us a little.  Instead of going off like I used to….all I said was “C’mon now Blue don’t be taking away those corners from us now.”

You know what he said?

He said “Okay.”

That’s STRONG in my book.

We even tried doing a “Bullpen” thing.  We would start games at Stengel with a couple of pitchers down in the bullpen area with my JV catcher from CV Larry Kimbell.  Lounge chairs, Walkie-Talkie….jackets…the whole deal.  This went well for a couple of games until we had a guy get in trouble on the mound.  I got on the radio…NO ANSWER!  I looked down there and everyone was sitting around yacking with each other.  I walked down to the bullpen area waving my arms around at Kimbell.  Big Breck was in a lounge chair with his sunglasses on!  All he said was “Ahhhh Gee!”

That was the last game we tried that.

Other guys who were not playing we put in charge of the dugout.  Their job was to scan the field…and say “get outta my dugout” when someone looked in our dugout. 

I started working the phones with the players.  I had fewer conversations with the Team.  I talked to each guy on the phone between games.  I went over their stats with them.  I realized that the players WANTED to know their stats.  This was 20 years ago.  I couldn’t email them to anyone.  It was the only way it could be done.  I could get feedback from the players when I spoke with them in between games on the phone.  I could tell them what to expect at the next game.  By the time we got to the field, we’d go over signs and that was about it. 

I started to SELL.  I always had the FIRE.  But when I was on the phone with the players I started to sell.  What was I selling?  The fact that whoever we were up against wanted a piece of us.  Not everyone was buying into it.  But by the end of ’91…pretty much everyone figured it out.  We had the better ballclub and because of that….people wanted to take us out.  Guys were starting to get really pissed when we’d get beat by a bunch of clowns.  We started to believe in ourselves.  Some guys were flat out sick of it.  I loved it!

Between-inning-Hockey was starting to develop.  I don’t think “Flip” came about until ’92.

But all of this added up.  By the end of the season we learned that every game had to be treated like it was the Super Bowl. 

These were the pieces of the Verdugo puzzle that were starting to take shape in ’91.  By ’92…we had a turnkey operation. 

So as we go through the ’91 season here on the blog remember that EVERYBODY was coming after us.  Now that I think about it, the ’91 campaign was a BIG step forward for Verdugo.  Because we did what we did with everbody coming at us.  The ’90 Team caught a few Teams off-guard.  And there were a few teams that caught our ’91 squad off-guard.

But make no mistake about it…..we were onto something.  There was a monster growing in La Crescenta.  And the fury of two seasons of not advancing to the playoffs was about to awaken a very, very, ANGRY Sleeping Giant!

And the name of this “Sleeping Giant?”

Well……..let’s just say his name was “1992.”

Another Freebie from Burbank!

Posted: June 23, 2011 in Uncategorized
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The Burbank Team was disintegrating.  We had a game scheduled against them and we won on a forfeit.  We were now over .500 again at 3-2.  About a week later, the Burbank Team Forfeited all of their remaining games.  They threw in the towel and quit the League.

This was huge.  Not the win on the forfeit…..but it opened up an opportunity.  I had a chance to get CHILI free and clear and this time….NO ONE had to sign a waiver to release him over to Verdugo.  If I could pull it off we would be DEEP on the mound.  I started the groundwork for CHILI’s return “home” to Verdugo!

And within just a couple of games I had pulled it off….CHILI was coming BACK to Verdugo!!!!!!

AHH Chili!!!!!

Damn This Traffic Jam

Posted: June 23, 2011 in Uncategorized
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I’ll never forget this trip up the 14 Freeway on a Wednesday night to play Lancaster.  Everything was rolling beautifully.  We left early, everybody showed up at CV park to get directions….we had all of the horses we needed……and promptly got THUMPED.  We had planned to get to the field about an hour early.  As it turned out….we got there about 15 minutes before the game started.  Fuck I was pissed.

I just remember this bumper-to-bumper traffic jam up at the top of the 14.  How bad was it?  Well, let me put it to you this way.  There was a time span of about fifteen minutes where the car I was in had moved about a total of TWO FEET.  I couldn’t take it anymore.  It was like a parking lot.  We actually GOT OUT of our cars and started walking around the 14 Freeway and bullshitting with people. 

Finally, the traffic jam broke.  It’s a good thing we left so early that day or we would have forfeited the game.  We hurriedly tried to get loose and went through a hasty pre-game.  I’ll explain how late we were…..there were guys still playing catch and stretching on the sideline trying to get loose as we were hitting in the top-of-the-first inning.  We just didn’t have enough time to get ready that day.

We weren’t ready to go.  I gave the ball to JR.  He had only thrown 46 pitches on Sunday.  They came out and rolled nine on us in the first inning.  Six of the runs were unearned. 

God damn that traffic.

After the first inning we beat ’em 6-1.  But that nine in the first killed us and they prevailed 10-6. 

We out hit them 11-9.  It was a tough loss.  We always had trouble at that park.  And yeah…..it was still there that evening.  A year later.  About a 300 pound sheep in the left field “bullpen” area.  It looked like it hadn’t moved an inch since we had been there a year earlier.  I hated that place………That stupid looking sheep or goat or whatever it was….just standing there…existing.  What a bizarre place that was.  And in the summer of ’92…we saw that damn thing again.  Hell, it’s probably STILL standing there today as I write this. 

Yves went 3-4.  BullOxen doubled and singled, and had 2 RBI.  Moose, Rogers, Cowsill, Brett Miller, and Sammy all had base hits.

I also remember after this game getting into it with the Editor at the Glendale News Press.  All the writers down there were cool and we all got along.  But this guy was a little unreasonable.  He called me that night about 10:00 and wanted to know what happened at the game.  I told him if he wanted to know what was happening at ANY of our games then he needs to send a reporter to the game.  I was the Coach of the Team…not a reporter for him.  I set the guy straight.  He didn’t like me much after that….but I didn’t give a shit.  Oh…and by the way………the Glendale News Press/Foothill Leader ALWAYS sent a reporter to every game after I went off on that guy.  Ahhhh!  Verdugo!!!

I told the guy that I reserved the right to have “no comment” after any game we play.  I explained to him that if he had sent a reporter to the game he would have had a story to write for the paper.  And I would have declined the interview after the game…because I was PISSED! 

He got the message.  He didn’t like it, but he got the message. 

It’s all good.  Here it is like 20 years later and I’m finally commenting on it.  And if he’s reading this Post….he still has plenty of time to get it into tomorrow’s Newspaper! 

Have I got that guy’s back or what?

“Hey Two-One (?) Your Barn’s Still ON FIRE!”

Posted: June 23, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Yes-sir-ree.  Our old friends from Quartz Hill were next on the schedule.  But guess what?  This was a HOME GAME at STENGEL!  The first home game we played at Stengel Field in Verdugo history.  In ’90…we drove up to play Quartz Hill and we ruined their day with a 13-12 victory.  See our earlier post “Hey 2-3 Your BARN’S ON FIRE!”

The victory over Quartz Hill in ’90 was clutch.  They went 19-4 that year and made the playoffs, but when we left the field that day….well, let’s just say Quartz Hill HATED US!

And they definitely REMEMBERED what had happened the previous summer, and clearly wanted a piece of us.

The funny thing about this game was that the original guy we were ragging on about his “Barn being on Fire” was no longer number 23.  He was sporting a different jersey on this day.  They had the same uniforms they had worn the first time we saw them but this guy was wearing number 21 today.  It didn’t take us long to figure out who he was and in true Verdugo fashion BullOxen reminded him by saying “Hey 2-1….your BARN’S STILL ON FIRE!”  God these guys hated us.

J.R. Workman got the start on the mound for us.  We still have to call him J.R. at this point because we had not nicknamed him “Hack” yet.

Quartz Hill jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a couple of unearned runs.

In the bottom of the second, Big Moose ripped a double, and John Rogers sacrificed him over to third.  And here’s a blast-from-the-past name for you here….ELMO Geoghegan (who was our shortstop that day) grounded out to score Moose.  We trailed 2-1.

J.R. came out after four great innings.  He only threw 46 pitches.  We brought in BIG BRECK in the fifth.  Big Breck was breathing some fire that day as this was his first appearance of the season for us and he was well rested after throwing plenty of innings that season at the High School.

We made our move in the bottom of the fifth.

Brett Miller singled and stole second.  Eric Cadena walked.  Yves Brancheau laid down a beauty of a bunt single.  And Robb Turner hit a clutch double to right-center to drive in two and give us a 3-2 lead.  BullOxen then had a Sacrifice fly that scored Yves and we led 4-2.

Big Breck was totally breathin’ fire!  He had that big leg kick going and retired the first 10 hitters he faced, mowing down four of ’em on strikes.

They did score a run in the eighth, but that was all the noise they could muster against our pitching that day. 

Big Breck retired the side in order in the ninth….striking out the final two to seal the win.

AHHH Verdugo!

Workman and Breck had combined for a three-hitter…with NO walks!

We made the most of the six hits we got and were back above .500 at 2-1.

Yeah, no matter how hard that guy tried to NOT be number 23 that day we still knew who he was.  You just can’t hide from Verdugo.  And who knows?  By the time he got home after the long drive from Stengel Field………maybe his Barn actually WAS on fire!

Ahhhh!

Twenty Strikeouts in ONE GAME!!!!!!!!!

Posted: June 22, 2011 in Uncategorized
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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!!!

Sammy and “Moose”…….They’re In!!!

Posted: June 21, 2011 in Uncategorized
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Well, we got ahold of McBride this week.  He’s IN!!!

Then I got an email from “Sammy”……..He’s IN!!!

And today……I spoke with “Moose” Saltsman…….and He’s IN!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a list of who is attending as of today:  Gee, Hank, Weapon, General, BullOxen, Calf, Big Breck, Chili, Hack, Haggs, McBride, Sammy, Moose, Turner, Gabe, Ganny, Cowsill, Cowsill, Evans, Thunder, Wiley, Tex, and Rogers.  23 and counting!

Here are the guys we are going to make a furious run at…….and may God be with them if they tell us “NO.”

Yves, Bir-Dawg, VIC, Moreno, Lister, Frost, Chandler, Barrett, Greeny.

We need to hunt these guys down and get ’em there!

VIC!  If you’re out there reading this…….Weapon says “We’re calling you out right now brother.”

Opening Day 1991

Posted: June 19, 2011 in Uncategorized
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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!!!!!!!!!

A New Look, Some New Faces, and Stealing a Field

Posted: June 18, 2011 in 1991
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When you’re building a Ballclub…you gotta always keep an eye on the future.  I liked the nucleus we had coming back from the 1990 Team.  BullOxen, Sammy, Rogers, Turner, Moose Saltsman, and Big Breck.  Through a rather strange set of circumstances, we even got Chili back on the Roster.  I’ll explain the details of how that came about later.  But this was a great group of players coming back for the ’91 campaign.  “Moose” had seen limited action in the ’90 campaign from an injury he received while being bowled over by a baserunner at the plate in the first game of our history.  Heroically, he held on to that ball.  He was an All-League catcher in ’91 at the High School and led the Pacific League in Homers with Nine.

In Legion ball you gotta have three pitchers you would throw against ANYBODY.  Three guys you had the confidence in that they could (on any given day) beat any team.  We had that…with Bull, Big Breck and Chili. 

We still needed depth for the staff and I liked who we picked up in the off-season.  JR Workman, Brendan Cowsill, Brett Miller were great acquisitions.  We all know about Workman’s career with Verdugo.  Cowsill was playing on the Basketball team at CV and I knew up front that he would see limited time with us that first season.  But still….you gotta love “B.”  Brett Miller was a football star who threw pretty well and had a great attitude.  These were three guys I felt would develop into GREAT pitchers.  They were all only 16….once again…our future was looking bright.

You can never have enough pitching in Legion.  I learned that in 1990.  We added in Josh Willis, another Basketball star.  We didn’t expect to see much of him that summer either but he had a live arm.  I still was leary about what happened to our pitchers in 1990…I didn’t want to have to go through that again.  I also picked up Paul “Go-Go” Gomez from St. Francis.  He had thrown about 60 innings that season for their Varsity Squad.  While he wasn’t a “stopper” by any stretch…he had shown that season he could rack up some innings.  I was planning on using him against some of the weaker teams to give the other guys a rest if need be.

We also had Rogers who could throw an inning here and there and not hurt you and I also brought along a left-handed junior-to-be from my JV squad at CV named Eric Cadena.  There’s an old saying with Pitching…you can never have enough of it, and you can never have too many lefties.  While Cadena never developed into what I thought he might become, he did keep coming to the ball park that summer.  He was a great kid,  had a great attitude, and worked hard.

We had a hell of a lot of guys who could pitch on the ’91 squad.  But still, the Roster was too big.  We had eighteen guys at the start of the season.  I must say I really liked the economy of the ’90 Team.  At the end of that season…we had about 11-12 guys.  Everybody had a role…and they understood what that role was.  Going to the Ballpark was for those guys just like going to work.  It just…..worked.

I also brought along a couple of other players from my JV Team at CV that summer that probably didn’t belong on the Roster. 

We picked up a couple of GREAT position players as well before the ’91 season.  Ivan Moreno, an outfielder/first baseman from Maranatha and Yves Brancheau, a second baseman from St. Francis.  Moreno was also a Football star at Maranatha. 

I rounded out the Roster with Mike Parker….the starting catcher for the CV Baseball team in 1990.  Parker had red-shirted his freshman year at a college in ’91, and I felt he could help us.  Defensively he was a very good catcher.  He had a reputation off all-defense, no-hit…..and he had a little chip on his shoulder about his hitting. I liked that.  He definitely had something to prove about his hitting so it was going to be interesting to see how he panned out.  Moose Saltsman was going to be our catcher this season, but Parker was going to be a solid backup.  Rogers was a damn-good back-up catcher as well.  Behind the plate, we were going to be solid.

It was a pretty strong Roster.  But we still were going to have scheduling conflicts.  The conflicts were going to arise when Cowsill and Willis were at Basketball functions and also when Moreno and Miller were at Football functions.  It was what it was…and I was prepared to deal with it. 

We had a new look with the uniforms.  The Post had given us about $1500.00 that season.  We had our own catchers gear.  We had our own helmets.  And we had THE GATORADE cooler.  By the way, I still have that thing in my garage!  Ahhh Verdugo!!!!

We also had a year of experience under our belts, so we kind of knew what to expect. 

They moved us into a new Division.  The Northern Division.  What did that mean?  More traveling into Antelope Valley.  Yep…Lancaster, Quartz Hill, Newhall-Saugus, Palmdale, Little Rock.  Load up the shit boys cause we were gonna be driving up the 14 Freeway every time we turn around.  The other squad in our division?  San Fernando.

And while we didn’t get our own field like we wanted…there was a coaching change for the Glendale team.  And the new guy wasn’t much cooler than the old guy.  He was going to “let us” use the field for a total of four games that summer.  Wow……..how generous.  And I had to kiss some major ass to get those four games.  But it was better than nothing.  But behind the scenes, ‘Ol Gee was getting to know the Parks and Recreation Director from the City of Glendale.  He took a liking to me.  I just kind of did my best to develop a good relationship with that guy and waited for the Glendale coaches to make a mistake with the field (which they ultimately did). 

Yes-sir-ree………it wasn’t a PERFECT season for us…but it was a damn-good season.  And by the time it was over…..I had STOLEN Stengel Field from the Glendale Team.  There were a couple of other pieces in the puzzle that we had to find before our break-through year in ’92, but hi-jacking their field was HUGE!!!!!!!!!

We had two more additions to the ’91 Team.  Coaches.  Hank and Weap joined the staff.  What great additions.  It made life a lot easier for ‘Ol General and I.  Hank and Weap….there couldn’t be a Verdugo game without those guys being a part of it.  They were all geared up for it too!  They wore the new uniforms proudly.  They had earned it.  And it was an honor to have them want to be a part of the future of Verdugo.  Yes indeed, a great tradition was starting to evolve……and we all had front row seats!

FOUND: MCBRIDE!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: June 18, 2011 in 1990, McBride, Uncategorized
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All I can say is I found him today and he’s going to THE VERDUGO BASH!!! 

AHHH McBride!!!!!!!!!!

Now….we still got some guys to track down.  We need everyone to PULL together Verdugo-style these last few weeks.  We gotta close the deal and not give in.  Don’t let any of these guys we’re trying to track down tell us NO!!!  ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE THE LAST FEW WEEKS HERE IS NEEDED.  Help us get every possible guy there to this BASH!

No is not an option!

Let’s GO!!!!!!!

AHHHH VERDUGO!!!!!!

 

A Prediction from 1976 Happens…..

Posted: June 16, 2011 in 1991, Behind the Scenes
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I played on the JV Team at CV in 1976.  Well, maybe I should say I wore the uniform.  I certainly didn’t get much playing time.  So as a Manager you could say I “understood” what it was like to get kind of jacked around there. Hell, there was even a picture of me in the Yearbook that year entertaining the rest of “pine-riders.”  I had finished doing my little juggling act with a bunch of balls….and was holding one in the air that another guy was reaching for.  It looked like I was holding court, you know…teaching a class or something.  The caption read “This…is a baseball”……and then it had my name.  That was pretty much my “legacy” there.  Wow.

But no one ate, lived, or breathed the game like I did.  That is a fact.  Baseball consumed me.  They had recruited me HARD to play Basketball there at the High School.  I told the roundball coaches I wanted to play Baseball.  They told me the Team had already been picked.  I told them then I guess I won’t play ANYTHING.  I wasn’t into all the running with Basketball.  And I was sick of everyone saying to me (because of my height) “you must play basketball.”  Baseball was all I cared about.  I loved hanging out on the field…swapping stories…sunflower seeds….standing around…the whole deal.  It suited my personality.

I played behind some guy who was on the FOOTBALL Team the whole season who I had completely DOMINATED my entire career.  It sucked.  He ran the 40 pretty quick….but is that the criteria?  Half the time he came up to hit he whiffed….brutal.  And he was even quicker SPRINTING back to the dugout after he K’d……..what a lunch-pailer!  I just kept grinding.  Kept suiting up, showing up, and paying attention.  I listened to what the coaches were saying.  At the very least I wanted to coach someday….I absorbed it all. 

The season was winding down…only two games left.  We were having a shitty season…playing about .500 ball.  No one was into it.  Except ‘Ol Gee was……I was ALWAYS into it! 

Then one day the coach was hitting balls to the outfielders.  My turn came up.  He blasted one over my head up at Scholl Canyon.  I went back…stayed on it….it was going out of the park.  Guys were yelling for me to back off of it.  Hell no!!  I hauled it in…. hit the fence….and went OVER the fence.  I held on to it.  I ripped my body up pretty bad flying over that chain link fence up there.  We were practicing that day in gym shorts!

Coach Dan Holland screamed at the top of his lungs “I LOVE IT!!!”…..”I LOVE IT!!!”…..”MAGEE YOU’RE STARTING TOMORROW!”  Assistant coach Thad Brown was out there going wild as well.  It felt good.

I never came out of the lineup the last two games.  ‘Ol Gee had done it.  I finished the season 2-7 with an RBI.  One of the hits was left-handed.  And that was it for my “career” at CV.

They supposedly had “plans” for me my junior year.  Yeah right…on the JV Team!  Don’t get me wrong….we had a huge enrollment at that school and it was a BIG DEAL back then if you played on the Baseball Team.  I was proud to have been a part of it.  CV had a great program…but the legendary coach Gelsinger was on his way out and was about to be replaced by Coach Seibert. 

I loved Coach “Seibs.”  I think the only reason I made the Team was that I had taken a summer Baseball camp that Coach Seibert ran.  I was the only guy who was there every day.  I didn’t have much talent, I was slow, and you kind of had to hide me defensively….but I could hit.  I think he liked my attitude.  I’m sure he put in a word for me when they had that “walk-on” tryout where me and one other guy were the last two guys to make the squad in ’76.

Seibert was a good guy.  Coach Gelsinger had built up a great Program and Seibs was about to inherit it. 

I had decided to quit my junior year.  Seibs at least talked to me about it, for that I give him credit.  You gotta realize…at that time in my life I was (believe it or not) a completely introverted kid.  I was really shy and didn’t understand people.  I didn’t know what to say, but it was one of the first times in my life I spoke my mind. 

“I hear you’re not going to play.”

“No…I think I’m gonna move on”

“Why?”

“I think we should have Baseball players on the field not football players.”

“So what are you unhappy about?  You’re gonna play SOME this year.”

“I know…..but I’m INTO it.  I love it.  It hurts for me to sit and watch guys who are playing miss signs….guys who don’t care about the Team.  This is really ALL I care about.  And the coaches don’t really get it.  I like you Coach Seibert.  But I’ll be in this game LONG after all of these other guys who are playing are finished.  This is all they will ever have.  I’ll probably end up COACHING HERE someday.”

He was nice about it…but he didn’t put up much of a fight.  He let me go.  He knew I had made up my mind.  We parted on good terms.  Like I said….I always liked Coach Seibert.  And Coach Gelsinger was totally awesome as well.  But I planted that seed.

I would run into coach Seibert sometimes on Foothill Boulevard at Foster’s Doughnuts at about 3AM long after I had graduated.  I always reminded him.  “I’m still in the game.” I was coaching…long hair and all.  “Why do you wear your hair long?” he’d ask me.  “I’m in a band now…..but long hair and all, just as I predicted…I’m STILL in this game.  And if I ever cut it someday…..I just might be on the sideline with you.”

He never really gave that idea a second thought. 

Seibert ran the Program at CV for 12 or 13 years.  Had a lot of great Teams. 

Meanwhile, in late ’89…I DID cut my hair.  My musical career was over.  Six months later, I was an assistant coach at Burbank High.

Around that time Coach Seibert gave up his Post at CV.  I think he moved to Colorado.  One of the football coaches at CV took over the Baseball Program.

After our 1990 Legion season, it happened.  It started with a phone call.  And after several interviews….I was named the Head JV Coach at CV.  I was so happy I cried. 

I had DONE IT!

The next time I saw Coach Seibert was in the coaches office at CV.  You know what he said to me?  Nothing!  But he did take an extra long look at me, winked at me, and smiled.  Coach Seibert was a man of few words…..but that smile he gave me meant alot.  I don’t know if he had remembered my little prediction from 1976 or not.  But I know he was happy I had chopped off all of that HAIR!!  And yeah, all those years later after “moving on”…..’Ol Gee was STILL in the game.  And there WAS one guy who remembered my litle prediction from ’76…….ME. 

You know…if you LOVE IT…if you EAT IT…and if you BREATHE IT….good things will happen in life.  No matter WHAT it is you want to accomplish.  It can be done.  You just gotta keep grinding!

Well, I had wanted this gig for a long time.  And getting it kind of “exorcised the demons” from my playing days there at the High School.  I felt kind of vindicated. 

It was going to be painful leaving Burbank.  But I didn’t think I was going to get any other chances to coach at CV if I turned this opportunity down.

Like I said, I was really happy to be going there to coach.  But looking back on it all of these years later……I’m still undecided as to whether it was a blessing or a curse.

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