verdugo288

There was a whirlwind of attention we were getting as things began to open up for us. The phone was a-ringing at The Dome!!!! Reporters, Legion Members, guys I used to coach with, guys I used to coach AGAINST, and a lot of old friends that had been reading about the noise we were making in the 20th District.

Shit, the way things were rolling for us I was actually surprised I hadn’t already received a congratulatory phone call from ‘Old-Man George Bush himself !!!!

I was making a lot of out-bound calls as well. I’ll get to the out-bound calls in a bit. I’d walk into some of the local watering holes where I’d enjoy a few tall cool ones at and everybody knew we were on a roll.

You gotta remember that starting at least a couple of months before the season I was getting regular visits at The Dome from Canale, Turner, and Evans. Once or twice a week consistently. We all threw ideas around and those three guys kept telling me “don’t worry Gee, we got this.”

As a manager…you gotta love that. Your three grizzled vets making an appearance between games and letting it be known we weren’t gonna back down…..And that this year we were gonna FINISH.

Hank, Weapon, and General were there, too….just about everyday as the four of us spent “countless hours” pouring over scouting reports and reviewing plenty of video footage of our upcoming opponents as we sipped Coca-Colas and Dr. Peppers!!!!

I was also (as I always did) making monthly appearances at The Legion Hall. You know…the guys that stuck their necks out for us and threw a lotta money around so we could play.

At this stage in ’91….we were 8-3. That’s a pretty solid start. But we finished 13-10. Obviously we didn’t finish.

But this year at The Hall the old men were on fire! Dave Haskell (The Father of Verdugo Hills in my book) had everybody at the post in a frenzy. He had been to a few games and was loving what he saw!

Ken Zuetell…huge fan!

Art Napiwocki….huge fan and supporter!

And how could we ever forget JESS ROGERS!!!!

Rogers was the current commander at Post 288. They vote in a new guy every year. Jess had a lot to do with our success in ’92.

Unwavering in his support, unbending in his loyalty….this was the guy (if you don’t remember) who we actually let INTO our dugout and make snow-cones for everybody on those scorching days!!!

He made the hot dogs between the double header against Glendale.

He didn’t care. Whatever you guys needed he was there. He always called me “Magee”….

“Magee? Should I bring water? Can I make snow-cones? Are we gonna beat these guys today? Who are we gonna have pitch today?”

A little crazy…a little bent…but totally Verdugo! I spent many hours on the phone with Jess during our four year reign….along with Haskell. Both of those guys totally loved us!!!!

Yeah Jess was a little off….but who wouldn’t be when more than a few times he was the only guy left fighting in his infantry when he served in WW2. He had some horrific stories he told me through the years of what he experienced and what he lived through fighting for America. And he never spared any of the gory details.

He even had a fur hat from WW2 he took from a dead Russian Soldier that he still occasionally wore. He said he hated to take it…but he needed it ….”it was cold when I came across it”

I know these games here are great memories that we all shared on the field amongst ourselves…and no one can ever take those great memories away from us.

But the names of the guys I’ve already mentioned here….as well as Charlie Prescott…were instrumental for us. And I know I don’t want to ever forget these guys, and I hope you guys don’t forget them either.

Remember too we were doing this with a small roster. Only 14 guys. All throughout the year I had to stay ahead of what was happening with everybody. Calling guys all season long and finding out the days I had everybody We needed at each game.

It was tough. It got dicey at times. Moreno and Fielder had football commitments. Cowsill had basketball commitments. A lot of guys had “partying” commitments ….right?

Even Parque needed to set some time aside to work on his trumpet riffs ….right?

Anyways, once I figured that out….I then started calling the opposing coaches…..

It usually went something like this:

Magee: Hey coach…this is Magee from Verdugo…you know that game we are scheduled to play at Glendale High on (whatever the date was)….uhhhh…..yeah….we’re gonna have to reschedule that for a Thursday or Friday ….

Opposing Coach: what? You’re fucking kidding me!

Magee: yeah man I can’t believe it!!!! I just got a call from some guy at the City of Glendale and THEY told me that THEY are gonna be fixing some irrigation on the field that day….I know it’s short notice but there’s nothing I can do man….dang….I hate it when THEY do this. Can you believe this shit? So what do you wanna do Thursday or Friday?

When in doubt….blame it on “THEY” right?

I still think I was a pretty nice guy about everything. I gave them options, right? Did you want to play us on THIS DATE when I have all my horses or THAT DATE when I have all my horses? Those are your options…..Which would you prefer?

🙂

So behind the scenes I was pulling strings and changing dates. Lying, bullshitting, anything under the sun to play whoever we had to play when WE were ready….not when THEY were. I would frame my sales pitch as “there’s nothing I can do about it” and I never had any problem getting my way.

I gotta say…I didn’t do much of that in ’90 or ’91….and I could have. I just didn’t know. I had to learn through experience. But I got pretty fucking good at it I must say 🙂

So we got another game coming up against Mel and his North Hollywood Team.

Mel and I spoke on the phone all season long. We spoke as well after he got launched on Sunday against us. I never even mentioned anything or complained about his pitchers throwing at our guys. Yeah….they did. But I know this for sure….they did that on their own and that wasn’t coming from Mel. No way.

Like I said I didn’t mention anything. But eventually Mel did. I sat there on the phone and let him get it off his chest…just like any good friend would, right?

He went on and on about it for five minutes or so. I just sat there smiling and listened. Finally when it was my turn to speak all I said was this….

“Mel….what you did yesterday? It was ‘illegal as hell'”

For the first time in three years….I had finally made Mel Swerdling laugh!!!!