verdugo288

I wanted the world to see front and center what a well-coached and disciplined team we had….and that’s why I’m sharing this clip here.

Everybody knows when the third out was recorded when Verdugo was on the field that all of our players (being well-coached and disciplined) would hustle off the field….regardless of the score.

I’m proud to say I personally instilled this discipline in our players and you can see it on full-display right here. I think back fondly on the long and tireless workouts we had at our dozens of team practices at our team-facility in Long Beach working on this very thing.

Yes-sir-ree!!!!

Ok…well…truth be told maybe I’m exaggerating shit a little bit here.

What actually happened here was this….

We had clinched the playoffs the night before. I’m assuming most of the players and coaches had hangovers….I know I did.

One of the Mom’s brought some donuts before the game which was huge. Those were long gone before the game even started.

This game was a hot miserable day. The goal was to end it in seven innings on the ten run mercy rule and get outta there. (We ten-ran ’em in the 8th)….

What happened here was old Jess Rogers showed up with his sno-cone factory right in the Verdugo dugout. I remember this.

The problem was ….most of the guys were out on the field. As Jess set-up I have to admit myself and the other coaches and a couple of reserves were in the dugout rubbing our hands together! While you fools were all out standing in the sun!!!

We’re in the dugout hanging out in the shade and surrounding that sno-cone factory as we all waved to you guys on the field from the dugout!

Nobody in the field was saying anything but all you guys were just looking at us as if to say “ahhhh hell no!”

He made the first few and we were really letting you guys in the field know how excellent and refreshing they were!

All of a sudden we started getting pretty quick and pantherike on the field. Turner making a leaping catch on a groundball trying to turn the double play to get himself a sno-cone!

We were in the dugout rubbing it in! Enjoying those sno-cones keeping ’em all to ourselves. Normally we would go out and argue that call at first for the inning-ending double play!

Not today!

We were really loving those fresh cherry flavored sno-cones! And we had ’em all to ourselves!!!!

Even the General said out to you guys in the field “yeah he was safe at first!” To keep you guys out on the field as long as possible while we were holding those sno-cones up high between bites so you all could see ’em!

Really hamming it up…

Toasting each other before biting into it….the whole shot!!!!

“Oh man that is goooooooooood…..ahhhhhhhh” I would say after biting into it!!!

“Best sno-cone I think I’ve ever had General” The Weapon would say

“Ahhhh hell yeah” Henry would pipe-in!!!!

Finally…..we got out of the inning.

Look at you guys hustle off the field!!!

You know how I love talking about the diving, hustling, swarming Verdugo Defense!!!!

Even when we’re hitting….our swarming defense is on full display!!!!

When we’re hitting? Absolutely!!!! Just take a look at this here:

I rest my case!!!!

I’m transferring six hours of video footage of the ’92 Team to CD/DVD.

I will have the CD tomorrow.

Expect to see snippets of a lot of the stuff I’ve written about on here soon.

I will back-embed highlights to games I’ve already written about.

Mrs. Brancheau filmed all of this stuff. She gave me the tape at the end of the season.

Most of the footage is from the second half of the season. Starting around the games against North Hollywood. And all of the playoffs. It’s about six hours of footage.

Thank you Mrs. Brancheau….

I want you all to have a copy of this footage. If you want one…text me and I will forward it to you in the post.

If you don’t have my phone number….make a comment here in any of the posts. Include your email address in your comment. I will ERASE your email address and the comment too if you wish BEFORE they are visible to anyone on the web.

I have set comments here so that none appear publicly until I approve them. So if you send your email I can retrieve your email without it being visible to anyone and then erase your contact info and the entire comment if you wish.

I encourage everyone out there reading this stuff to comment!!!!

Let us know you’re out there!!!!

We all may have lost contact with one another and by posting a comment here it doesn’t mean we’re all going to be best-friends-forever.

It just means that like me….and a lot of others….you remember.

I’ve written about all of this stuff. Well, now you’re gonna get to see it.

I look at the scorebook today and all I see is 5-3….6-3…4-3….F7 etc…

Once in a while Nancy would write in “nice”….or “great play”

But when we see “5-3” in the scorebook, it doesn’t really tell us much. Was it a high-chopper? A bullet he backhanded and threw the guy out at first from his knees?

This is why this footage is priceless.

You’re gonna get to see some great stuff as long as the guy transferring it from video to CD doesn’t destroy the tape.

He’s been warned today that he will be hanged publicly if anything happens to it.

🙂

So let’s all keep our fingers crossed!!!!

Make some comments!!!!

You guys were never shy about ragging or speaking up 28 years ago…

So let’s GO!!!!

In an earlier post….I admitted to cheating by throwing Wiley Jackson 15 innings over a four day time frame. Those days were Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

He threw on a Wednesday….and again on a Saturday.

And I do specifically remember not calling that game into the papers so nobody could track his innings.

But I still have the 1992 Rule Book.

I realize now why I didn’t call it in. The rule was 12 innings in three days…..not 12 innings for the week.

But the rule is vague. If a guy pitches on a Wednesday….like Wiley did….do they count Wednesday as a day?

If that’s how they count it…then there is no violation. Wiley got the last out around 8pm on Wednesday night in that Palmdale game.

I would have argued that he pitched on Wednesday, and then didn’t pitch on Thursday or Friday. So for those three days he was kosher.

Or I could have argued that he didn’t pitch on Thursday…..or Friday….and then pitched on Saturday. So for those three days he was kosher.

But what if they counted it by hours instead of days?

When Wiley finished the win on Saturday against Panorama City….it was around 2pm.

72 hours hadn’t passed by the time he won again on Saturday. So technically they could have tried to nail us on it. But again, the rule book says “days”….not “hours”….

So I covered his tracks on innings pitched.

It only says three days in the rulebook. And it doesn’t say if the first day is counted in the “three-day” rule.

So I think we were clean.

This is what I was concerned about and why I didn’t call it in to the papers.

It could have gone either way. Definitely a grey-area.

I could have argued it if they came at us.

I would have liked my chances. I could always sell. But I “think” we were clean on that one….

I’ve included a pic of the actual rule.

You think about it….that’s a hell of a lot of innings they let guys throw if you wanted them to.

The rule now in Legion Baseball is based on a combination of innings and pitch counts.

The rule today (in the year 2020) is 105 pitches per day max….plus a cap on innings that is much more in-line with modern-day baseball.

It was a Senior Babe Ruth game back in the summer of ’77. Another big game for the young Gee. This one at Stengel Field.

Gangly, slow….sloth-like, but the big red-headed kid could hit. From either side of the plate!!!! And he could fire the ball. Pitcher, corner-infielder, and to top it all off he could roam that tundra!!!!

Gee could do it all…or so he thought!!!!

Our big catcher Ray Augustines didn’t show up at the game. Our Manager was standing outside the first base dugout while we sat in it and he was saying “we got a problem here…now who’s gonna catch?”

Nobody was stepping up. I had never been behind the plate my entire life.

Being the idiot I’ve always been I knew what I had to do. And without hesitation, I squinted my eyes, looked bravely to the horizon, and said “gimme the fucking gear!” To a rousing ovation from the dugout.

Keep in mind gentleman that I wasn’t just going behind the plate….but I was going behind the plate….at Stengel.

Bad move.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I caught one-inning. There may have been a couple of passed-balls. I’m not so sure. Personally, I think they were wild-pitches!!!!

The other team didn’t score that inning. A guy did reach base after these passed balls and he easily stole second base off me. Fucker….

I don’t think the mask came off the entire inning!!!!

I even went out to the mound to calm the pitcher down….regarding the horse-shit job I was doing back there!!!!

But make no mistake about it….Gee was battling!!!! I remember looking up at my dad in the stands at one point and he was just kinda shaking his head.

Definitely a “supportive” head shake….but nonetheless a head shake.

We finished the inning and I was pulled from catching and moved to third base the coach and I agreed to give one of the rookies a shot behind the plate. I figured it was the least I could do.

Truth be told….all I wanted as soon as that inning began was to get the hell outta there.

I volunteered to do it because “the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few”

Right? I was taking one for the team volunteering to go back there!

I was “relieved” of my catching duties because “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”

In other words, get that fucking guy outta there cause he’s killing us!!!!

And while it was certainly total stupidity courageous to bark out the words “gimme the fucking gear”….Clearly….I was out of my element.

Even during the warm-up pitches before that inning began….the umpire was saying “oh shit you better not get me hurt”

I’m like “what?”

He’s like “you’ve never caught a single game in your life have ya boy?”

Let’s just say that after that one inning….I had a greater appreciation for catchers that I still carry with me today.

And we’re about to talk about a couple of total fucking WARRIORS who handled that for us in ’92.

So stay tuned gentlemen….

Here’s a couple of pictures of the guy I will always refer to as “The Father of Verdugo Hills”

He was mighty proud of us for all four years. But ’92 and ’93 Haskell was just “in his glory” with how well we did.

I will run a detailed story on him at some point. But I think of him often. Our Team ended after the 1993 season, but Haskell and I remained very good friends until he passed away in 2003. He played football for USC (back in the 1930’s) and had season tickets and we always went to at least one game together every year.

I still have the dozens of hand-written letters he sent to me before the advent of email and the internet.

He got us the money we needed from The Legion Post that enabled us to play. He was the first guy at the Legion Post in 1990 to slap a hundred dollar bill down on the podium and say “I think it’s time our Post puts our money where our mouths are….and with this (slams down a $100 bill on the podium) let’s see if you ladies can match it”

By doing that he was saying to the Legion Members “yeah we’ll use some of the money from the Post, but this here is coming out of my wallet” and he challenged a room with 30-40 guys to step up.

To make a long story short….they did.

One picture here we see him as ‘Ol Dave Haskell…..the other shot (he was born in 1918) had to be taken some time before 1940.

Thanks ‘Old Dave for your kindness, your generosity, your guidance, and your support!!!!

We had a lot to be proud of going into the playoffs.

Nobody would have predicted before the season that we would end up in this position. Nobody. Well….except Canale, Turner, and Evans. They did. Even I was a skeptic.

20 wins. Second best record in the District. Some respect was there and some fear of us was there, too. But those who thought we might be one of the two teams to advance from the eight-team double-elimination tournament we were about to play in were definitely in the minority.

We came within one out of advancing. We defeated the number-one seed, Notre Dame. That was the only playoff loss they endured.

It was huge defeating them. Not only in the scheme of the playoffs….but it meant we took two out of three from them in ’92.

Notre Dame handled a lotta things in ’92. But they couldn’t handle Verdugo.

And again….we did it without being at full strength. And yeah, in the arms department….we may have looked to be strong, but actually….we were staggering.

Evans was still out. Healing….but still out. But we had a bigger problem. Something we didn’t know about until after the season.

Canale’s arm was shot.

I tried and I think I did a good job of getting him at least seven days rest between appearances on the mound. And I did, sometimes even nine days. But I pushed it with his pitch counts. There’s No doubt about that at all. That’s all on me.

He told me this week that during the second half of ’92….he could barely lift his arm a week after an appearance on the hill.

He never said anything about it during the season. Even after he beat Newhall-Saugus in our opening playoff game. He told me after the ’92 season he felt something pop during that game.

He had won our opening playoff game probably with a partially torn rotator cuff. And it may have been completely destroyed during that game.

I also want to say that during the game he pitched …yeah okay he walked the first four guys he faced….But he settled down and at one point in that game retired 21 hitters in a row. With a partially or totally destroyed rotator cuff …..and he did it in a playoff game.

I think about that today and it really magnifies what all you guys did out there. We left everything we had out there on the field. Some guys even left their arms out there for Verdugo.

I’m going to get to that in more detail probably in the next post. What each individual player did to get us where we were. The beatings we all took. Especially our catchers. The tough play. The way we pushed back.

The precedent that our veterans set on the field for the younger players. The younger players started to see that attitude and drive and not backing down to anyone was a part of the deal.

It was contagious. I’ve always felt that what you bring to the field is contagious.

And our veterans cultivated that with the younger players. Our rookies were probably the best in the 20th District already (Fielder, Vo, Hagge, and Bir).

What a rookie class….and I will talk about that in a future post you better believe it.

Those rookies we had could play. They were already tough guys. It wasn’t very long into the ’92 campaign that all four of them turned into thugs.

That’s what made this team staggering.

Our will and intestinal fortitude was tested all season long. We came up short, but I say we answered the call.

So I want to make a footnote of this here. By the time we reached the playoffs….Josh’s arm was shot. He was done. And he still threw a complete-game victory for us.

I know we had a great team. But I don’t know how much farther we could have gone with him out of the rotation, and maybe even completely off the field.

I will say here publicly. I believe I at the very least contributed to his injury. It’s something I’ll always feel I had something to do with it. I was the manager.

I’m glad Josh and I spoke this last week about it. We never really had that conversation. It was something that always ate at me. I think it was good for both of us to finally have that talk.

Let’s face it, too….Josh even said to me in a text this week he would’ve “chopped my fookin’ legs off” if I tried to take him off the hill. We know there was no quit in him.

But still….I’ll always think that I had a lot to do with, and maybe even be fully responsible for his injury.

I’m glad I’m doing this blog here 28 years later. I’ve had some great conversations and texting sessions with many of our great former players and coaches.

I’ve admitted to cheating by throwing Jackson for 15 innings in three days.

This is cleansing getting all this off my chest. Right?

Remember the Star Trek movie where Spock died for the entire crew? What did he say before he died?

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few….or….the one.”

Spock was all about logic right?

That show was wayyyyy in the future.

Maybe Spock in his infinite wisdom was referring to Verdugo when he said that.

Because you guys all took bullets for each other. All of you did.

It’s 28 years later. I’ve found that yeah we’ve all changed a little bit…but at the same time nothing has really changed.

I’m still moved by what we did that ’92 season.

In many ways we were a surprise around the League. But I also felt we did that year what we were always capable of doing. It was always there within us….it was my job as a manager to draw that out of you guys. Or to stay out of the way and let it happen.

I think I’m guilty of the latter rather than the former….but at least I was bright enough to stay out of the way and “just let ’em play”….

Nobody would have predicted that we would have done in ’92 what we did in ’92.

Nobody would have predicted it.

The dominating tradition we built in ’92 continued in 1993.

93? It was more of the same. Everybody knew by then we would be dominant. Many thought the 93 team could possibly run the table, at least in the regular season.

And that team almost did. In 93 we lost two games in the regular season by a total of two runs. Both games ending with furious Verdugo rallies. Both games we had the bases loaded at the end of the games when they stopped us.

But 92? Nobody would have predicted it.

And we were about to show the League and the world in our first-ever playoff performance….that maybe they should have.

Absolutely staggering….

Correction: Robb Turner had 95 plate appearances ….not 75

I’m tired. I’ve shattered my previous record for most posts in a month. I think this is the 42nd for May. And this month isn’t over yet…and I’ve got more to do.

I’ll get started on the playoffs soon. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

You basketball fans out there may remember John Lucas. Played in the NBA up until 1990? Had a great career as well.

Anyways he was going to be the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the 92-93 season. I’m not sure he had been hired there yet.

I watched a lot of TV back then and sometime in May or June they had some feature on this guy that he was going to be some hot-shot coach in The NBA and blah blah blah.

I was a Laker fan of course so I checked this thing out on TV.

I’m thinking “oh you guys have something you think is gonna stop my Lakers? Pffffft”

They had the camera on him on the sidelines….some game was going on. Crowd was there and the whole ball of wax. It wasn’t an NBA game.

But they were building some case about how great he was going to be.

Some guy stole the ball ….went down court….spun….threw some wild pass to some other dude ….he tripped….flipped it over to some other guy who got his shot blocked….then some dude came in from outta nowhere and dunked….bringing the house down!!!!!

All I knew while I was watching ….was yeah…that was a great broken play….but certainly nothing a coach could be taking credit for…

Until John Lucas roared it out!!!

Almost like he was in pain as he screamed out the words.

The cameras right on him as he said it….

All he said was “now that’s what I’m tawkin’ ’bout!!!!”

I looked at the TV screen….in awe….my mouth open. I will never know if what he did was total stupidity or sheer brilliance.

But if you ever wanna get into an opposing coaches head…..that’s exactly what you would say.

And that’s where I got it from!!!!

I took ownership of it….but let’s give credit where credit is due….coach Lucas gave me those magical words!!!!

And I used those words when you guys were on the field….or at the plate…every chance I had!!!!

Thanks coach Lucas!!!!

Already did a story on it here https://verdugo288.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/now-thats-what-im-talkin-about/