As it turns out, there was yet ANOTHER guy who wanted to come join forces with VERDUGO from Glendale High. Wiley Jackson. And the Glendale coaching staff signed him over as well. Nice.
I had seen ‘Ol Wiley when I had my JV Team in ’91. We took two out of three from Glendale that season. In the one loss….guess who beat us? Yeah….Wiley!
I didn’t like Wiley when he beat us that day….but I respected his will-to-win. He was fiesty and didn’t take any shit from anyone. I also noticed he could fire off a few scud-missle-type RAGS when he wasn’t on the field. He could fill-in here and there in the outfield, and he had NO EGO. He was okay with whatever playing time he got or didn’t get. After talking with him it was obvious….he just wanted to contribute wherever he could and be a part of what we had going on. And I didn’t for a second feel like he was telling me whatever I wanted to hear. I knew he was going to be there for us….and give it his all.
As it turned out….Wiley was instrumental in shaping the attitude of our ballclub for the next two years. We all really loved having ‘Ol Wiley in a Verdugo uniform. His word was good. He was loyal. He pitched some clutch games for us. Check out my earlier post “The ‘Wiley Jackson’s’ Tough Knuckler.”
He embraced the role of being “Wiley.” He even drew a PERFECT cartoon character of Wile E. Coyote under the bill of his cap. It kind of symbolized who he was with us in ’92 and ’93. He was a GREAT acquisition.
Evans and Wiley were historic players for Verdugo. They became the first players in the history of Glendale Legion who said to the Glendale coaching staff “Nope….I’m playing for Verdugo.”
We still had some open seats for ’92. And off on the horizon I could see we were headed towards a High School called St. Francis. I had a few questions to ask a couple of ballplayers there we had been watching about COMMITMENT. As it turned out, we never even had to ask. They were already waiting for us at the Train Station with their bags packed!!!!
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