verdugo288

Yesterday was quite a day.  I was inspired by the overwhelming response we had from yesterday’s blog post titled “Merry Xmas to Verdugo ONLY.”

I couldn’t believe it.  By noon we had received almost 200 hits.  I decided to head out on Christmas day and track down a few Verdugo Rivals.  Just wanted to see if they remembered us.  I wanted to try and convince them to let bygones be bygones.  I wanted to try and reach out and see how they all were doing all of these years later.  Damn was I surprised with what I found!

We all remember the left fielder for Newhall-Saugus.  This was the guy who (while in a full sprint) ran face first into the plywood-constructed “Blue Monster” left-field fence chasing down a towering fly ball hit by HACK.  We also remember Turner yelling “Fence” about 5 seconds after the collision!  Great job Turner.  Great job by Verdugo that day.  I always wondered what happened to this guy.  Well……from what you can see here in the picture, I didn’t really get to speak with him.  But his mother was there.  She says he’s doing “just fine these days…all things considered.”

She says he was “never really the same” after that collision with the left field fence.  Well, it was a life-changing event for me as well!  Now every time I see an outfield fence I can’t stop laughing!!!  So I wanted to get a quick snapshot of this guy for everyone.  It kind of goes without saying that we at Verdugo are always concerned about the welfare of others………..even if it’s 20 years later!

now he runs into the ground!

it looks like he really turned his life around!

I probably went out yesterday and tried to visit about 20, maybe 25 people who years ago had tried to tangle with Verdugo and lost.  It was kind of pathetic seeing how they had turned out.  I also discovered that many of the families I went by just to say “hello” to after all these years were in full-on DRUNKEN family arguments.  Always the peacemaker that I am….I still was unable to pull these families out of their lingering miseries that probably all started with a meeting with Verdugo!

 

I did make one final trip last night around 8 PM to visit the guy that Hank kept slap-tagging in the face when he was taking too big of a lead off of first base back in 1990.  Ironically, a former Notre Dame player.  He was pretty much passed out on the floor…..so I took it upon myself to do a little “Verdugo was here” artwork.  I think it came out pretty nice.  It was the least I could do…….after all, he was in NO condition to enjoy the bottle of champagne I wanted to give him to kind of extend a symbolic “olive branch” to those guys directly from Verdugo. 

 

It looks like the Verdugo legacy lives on.  We ruined many lives.  It was kind of sad to see, but this is what happens to those who dared to challenge us.  As always, I was just trying to “reach out” after all of these years and try to sit down and sort out any differences they may have had with Verdugo.  Unfortunately, none of them were in any condition to communicate. 

 

Well, it was a great Christmas for VERDUGO…..and I guess that’s all that matters!

 

Well……..here he is.  That guy from Notre Dame.  What do you guys think of my “artwork?”

 

Gee does a little artwork with a bag of baking soda!