Archive for the ‘1990’ Category

CHILI Mows ’em Down

Posted: April 22, 2011 in 1990, Big Breck, BullOxen, Chandler, Chili, Games, McBride, Rogers, Turner, Weapon
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Okay.  Let’s get back to what was happening in the 1990 Season.  We had just pulled off a miraculous victory against Quartz Hill and now we traveled out to North Hollywood High on a Sunday morning.  This was our first of two games that we were scheduled to play that day.  Our second game would be in the evening against Glendale.  We came in to this game at 3-3-1 and overall I was very happy with the way we were playing.  Alot of the guys came to the field that Sunday morning tired and about two skin shades darker (or redder in my case) than the day before after baking in the Quartz Hill sun for almost six hours….but by gametime, we were ready to go. 

Chili got the start on the mound and came within one pitch from throwing a perfect game!  He threw only 62 pitches, and gave up one base hit in the fifth inning.  This win put us over .500 for the first time of the season.  The Team had really come together at this point..and with Hank, BullOxen, McBride, Chili, Chandler, and Big Breck on the mound for us, I started to think that we could actually make a playoff run.  And so did the players….

Chili struck out eight guys and we won 10-0.  He also had two doubles at the plate. 

Vic had two hits, including an absolute SHOT that went for a ground rule double.  BullOxen doubled, and Robb Turner’s 2nd inning double drove in two runs for us. 

But the highlight of this game was a SHOT hit by The Weapon.  When we got to the field that morning we were eyeballing the homerun area in center field and right field.  Left field was wide open… there was no fence.  There was a locker room area in right-center that was considered a homerun if you hit the roof of that building.  There was a small area out there maybe five feet wide where there was no roof…and if you hit it in there the ball was still in play. 

As we have written in earlier posts…The Weapon was always looking to hurt the opponent, and he had a little flair for the dramatic as well.  Weap came up in the fourth inning with a couple of guys on base and hit a ball that (as soon as he hit it) EVERYONE in the park knew was GONE!!!  One of those balls where the outfielders kind of start to make a move on it and then just kind of stop and admire it as it leaves the facility……….

We were all admiring it…..Including The Weapon!!!  As soon as he hit it….he just flipped the bat towards our on-deck circle and he started WALKING….just like the guys on TV used to do!  It was an awesome sight!  However, there was just one problem…..it landed in that little five foot area that was STILL IN PLAY and rattled around in there and spit itself back onto the field.  SHIT!!  Although he had hit it beyond any boundary at the field that day for a homerun….Weap had the unfortunate luck of it landing in that little five-foot porch area….NO HOMERUN!!!

When it landed back on the field….Weapon was MAYBE halfway to first base and was still in his Homerun “walk.”  The centerfielder was now chasing it down and Weap was running full bore.  To this day I still don’t know HOW he turned that thing into a triple.  Talk about going zero-to sixty!  Weap did his signature pop-up head-first slide into third base………..even though there was no play at third.  I don’t know what was more awesome…the SHOT he hit or the fact that he turned it into a triple!

Most coaches would be all bent out of shape for a guy going into a homerun “walk” like that.  Not me.  I loved it!  I also loved the look on the faces of the North Hollywood players that basically said “Okay…we give up” after that play happened.  A couple of their guys just kind of looked at him and said “damn.” 

There was one other player for us who went into a homerun walk…but it happened in 1990 in a Connie Mack League game.  John Rogers did it.  He hit a mammoth SHOT to dead-center one night at Stengel Field…and went into his walk.  I’ll never forget the look on Rogers’ face when it STUCK in the top of the ivy.  And I’ll never forget looking over at him and laughing when they held him to a SINGLE on that BOMB he it!!!  But it was worth it….I used to let our players have that swagger….it’s risky, yes indeed….and if you let the players do that then you gotta take the bad with the good.  And like I’ve said before…I wouldn’t have changed a thing about how I let the players be themselves.

This was a great win.  And I was REALLY looking forward to our match in a few hours against Glendale.  Here’s what the Newspaper said about this win………

Have You Seen This Man???

Posted: April 22, 2011 in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, General
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I finally touched base last night with THE GENERAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  General confessed that (believe it or not) he STILL has not logged onto our BLOG here…but has promised to be making an appearance soon…signing in…and RSVP’ing for the Official Verdugo Bash!!!  The picture here was taken in 1993….and just a couple of hours before Thunder made his famous LEAP over the Crespi catcher for the walk-off, dogpile victory!!!!  Yes, even during the heat of a battle our players and coaches would have to stop for a moment and smile for the many camera-wielding fans who followed our every move back in those days!!!! 

The General told me to wish everyone well.  He also said that even to this very day….he still prefers the “Flatbill” look on his caps.  “Yeah,” he said….”there was just something about that flatbill I wore that just ANGERED our opponents…..so I stuck with it.”

So don’t even try to ask The General to “Hook that bill” at the Reunion……..”Old Flatbill” he shall remain!!!!!!

Softening in My Old Age????

Posted: April 18, 2011 in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, Bir-Dawg, Calf, Chandler, Evan, Hack, McBride, Moreno, Sammy, Turner, Vic, Yves
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You know, I’ve had all kinds of people who have known me through the years say that to me….”You must be softening a little in your old age.”  OUCH!!  That hurts!  Well, maybe I am A LITTLE….but I’m STILL GEE!!!  I mean, even when my wife tells me “You swear too much”…..I always tell her “The HELL I do!!!!”

Even HACK noticed it in an email he sent me.  We were talking about airfare to the Reunion.  I said something like “we’ll find a way to get you there.”  What did HACK say?  “You must be softening a little in your old age.  A more typical Verdugo response would have been ‘We’ll hi-jack a plane for you.'”

Yeah…I guess he’s right.  Maybe I am.  And I’ll try to keep all the sentimentality out of this Blog……at least until AFTER this post!!!  This story is for those of you out there who haven’t said the magic words….”I’m IN!!!”  Maybe you’re thinking…”why are we doing this?” or “what’s the point?” ……..well…..read this story and tell me what you think…..

I will never forget the image in my head of Bir-Dawg rounding first base with a clenched fist in the air as he hit a TITANIC three-run shot on a Sunday night game at Stengel Field against Notre Dame in 1993.  We trailed 7-0 and Bir-Dawgs blast made it 7-6.  I had been thrown out of the game and got to watch most of this one from the stands.  Let me tell you something……..that was THE GREATEST GAME Verdugo Hills ever played.  And I can’t wait to TELL YOU WHY it was the GREATEST GAME WE EVER PLAYED in a later post!!!  But let me tell you….Bir-Dawgs SHOT….and the vivid images I can still see of EVERY SINGLE PLAYER coming out of the dugout to mob him at home plate still, to this very day, raise the hairs on the back of my neck every single time I think about it.

I will never forget Robb Turner at bat in the bottom of the seventh inning against Notre Dame in 1992.  A game that we were trailing 6-0.  There were couple of guys on base.  Turner came to the plate FURIOUS.  He had been called out on strikes twice in that game on horrible calls.  We were down…and still talking shit!!  Turner was like a Bull in a China Shop at the plate.  Snorting, digging in….fouling shit off.  The count was 3-2.  He swung at everything.  He was NOT gonna let anyone call him out on strikes again that night.  He waited…he waited…fouled everything off he could…and then on the 13th PITCH of the at-bat he JACKED a ball that went at least 450 feet.  Think about that…the THIRTEENTH PITCH of the at-bat.  And as Turner rounded the bases….he verbally unloaded on everyone on the Notre Dame squad within earshot of him.  Yeah, “The Reverend” was screaming from his pulpit that night!!!!!!!!!

I will never forget a game in 1990 we lost 10-9.  We only had NINE GUYS at the game.  VIC couldn’t make it.  He had been telling me ALL WEEK he wouldn’t be able to make the game.  I tried like hell to get him there…but what could I say when he said “Gee, I gotta study for finals.”  This is what a great kid he was.  Forget about all the heroics he pulled off on the field for us.  He, like ALL Verdugo players…was a fucking GREAT KID.  And he told me “Gee, I gotta study for finals.”  And I accepted it.  Let me tell you this ….I will NEVER FORGET that in the second or third inning I looked over towards our dugout and THERE HE WAS putting on his cleats.  All he said was “I couldn’t let you guys down.”………..Let me tell you something people……I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT.  Not only did he show up, he drove himself out to Woodland Hills that day and found the field on his own………..

I will never forget that very same day we lost 10-9 in Woodland Hills finishing the game with only EIGHT Guys on the field.  Well, actually SEVEN and a HALF.  Our second baseman, Sammy was injured.  He couldn’t move one of his wrists.  Yet he stayed on the field.  And he was hurting BAD.  Here was a guy who never complained about anything so I knew that if he told me he was hurt he wasn’t kidding.  Yet he stayed on the field.  And on the final pitch of the game….when we had no one in right field…there he was….laying it all out for us (just like he always did)….DIVING for that ball that fell in to defeat us…risking even further injury.  Yeah, I will NEVER FORGET the effort he gave for us that day……and the effort WE ALL GAVE…even though we came up short.  Sammy was a total Verdugo Warrior!

I will never forget the charge we made in ’92 to finally clinch a playoff spot.  I think of TWO balls that were hit that final game where we clinched against Fat Bitch from Sun Valley…after he had vowed to dominate us the next time we played.  TWO balls that were hit that knocked him out of the game (in the third inning).  One was off the bat of CALF….and the other off the bat of YVES!!!!!  YVES hit one of the hardest balls we hit all-season off of that hard-throwing fatso.  I think that those TWO balls that were hit were the exclamation points that said “We’re IN” (the playoffs).   That’s right…I WILL NEVER FORGET.

I will never forget the game “White” Chandler threw against Burbank for our first win in 1990.  Chandler was emotional, hard-throwing and was coming off a not-so-great season at Burbank High.  But he did throw a gem in our season final at Burbank High…and I was wondering how long he could ride that wave.   As it turns out…he rode that wave quite a long time.  Because he was pretty much unbeatable the rest of his Legion/High School career.  Got drafted in the 49th round by the Royals.  I will never forget the front row seat I had to watch him develop into what he became.  I got to see him throw all of his emotions out the window and become one of the most poised pitchers I have ever seen……and “White”…if you’re out there reading this…..thanks.  I’ll NEVER forget.

I’ll never forget McBride.  How he lit a fire for our ballclub that will always burn with his profanity-laced tirade against Fat jody.  One of the defining moments of Verdugo-lore.  And by the way…he didn’t get thrown out of the game for all the four-letter words, either.  Throwing his glove into our dugout, kicking bats, batting helmets, waving his arms around and screaming.  We were lucky that day…the Ump was a reasonable guy….and he came to the conclusion that McBride was RIGHT.  Contrary to public opinion….it was VERDUGO who actually had the good kids…and we usually didn’t throw the first punch.  But if someone did, they found out in a hurry that getting into a game of BENCH JOCKEYING with us was not a very wise decision.  McBride wanted to wear number 14…..and so did “White” Chandler…so what did McBride do?  He wore number 14 and a HALF!!!  McBride…We’ll NEVER forget!!

I’ll never forget Yvan Moreno in the playoff game against Chatsworth in 1992.  The Umps had already thrown three guys out of the game.  Yet the Warriors from Verdugo stepped it up big time.  Lance Evans came off of the bench and PITCHED WITH A BROKEN ARM.  I will talk about that in greater detail in a later post.  But it was Moreno, the quiet kid, the guy who never said too much who came of age on this day.  We trailed 5-0…..then they threw three guys out of the game.  Yet in TRUE Verdugo-style..we rallied to take the lead 6-5.  When we took the lead…Moreno had made it to third base on a crazy play where he just flat-out took off on his own.  I was yelling “Get Back!!!”  but Moreno was possessed.  The throw beat him by ten feet and he just jarred the ball out of the third baseman’s glove when he came in HARD!!!!  Moreno was safe…the crowd was going wild and he was just feeding off of it.  I had never seen this kid show even a trace of emotion in two seasons with us.  Yet there he was …..standing on third base…staring down Chatsworth’s shit-talking POS third-baseman.  All of a sudden…the shit-talking third baseman didn’t have anything to say.  It was Moreno doing the talking….or the screaming I should say.  “Get the fuck away from Me!!!!!!  It’s 1-0 VERDUGO….get the fuck away from me I’m gonna stuff you in that trash can!!!!!!!!!!!”

That piece of shit third baseman didn’t just believe Moreno…he was CONVINCED.  He backed up close to the left field grass.  I will NEVER FORGET the way I felt at that exact moment.  Everything that I wanted to say myself was being said by my own players!!!!!!!  I didn’t have to say anything.  I will NEVER forget that moment……..and I just wanted to say to Yvan……Thanks!!!!!!!  And to all of you for the fight we gave them that day………….

Most of the guys I have mentioned here have not said the magic words “I’m IN”………

If what we did 20 years ago didn’t mean anything at the time I can see how it wouldn’t matter now.  But from the brief stories I have mentioned here (and I have plenty more) it is obvious that what we did way back then DID indeed mean something. 

I know this…I WILL NEVER FORGET.

And I know, you haven’t forgotten either……

I’ll see you guys at the Reunion.  And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this BLOG!!!!!

What Are All These Nicknames? (Part One)

Posted: April 9, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, General, Hank, Sammy, Spongy, Vic, Weapon
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There are plenty of folks out there who are “checking out” our Blog here (some on a daily basis) who know nothing about US or our PROGRAM.  We are now averaging about 50 hits every day and should go over 2,000 hits today or tomorrow.  So this story is to you strangers out there who have become fans over the last couple of months.  We, here at Verdugo Hills certainly can understand why you have become fans.  The only thing we DON’T understand here at Verdugo Headquarters is why we aren’t getting 50,000 hits every day!!!  Well, we’re sure it will happen soon enough!!  After all, we ARE The Kings of American Legion Baseball.  So we just wanted to send one very important message to all of you out there who love us as much as we love ourselves.  And the message is this:  “Get a Life!!!”

No…all kidding aside…..we are actually humbled that you “identify” with us…and I figured it would be only fitting to let you strangers out there know what all of these nicknames mean, and the jersey numbers they wore.  So hopefully, by the end of this post you will understand things a little better.   I will begin with “The Founding Fathers” of our four years of glory….the original members of the Motley-Crew, Rag-Tag Group called Verdugo Hills 1990!!!!!!!!!!!  The brilliant nicknames of 91-93 will be posted soon for all of you fans out there!!!

General:  We named him “General” after Gene Mauch.  Didn’t they call Gene Mauch “The Little General” or something like that?  Mauch was the former Manager of the Minnesota Twins and later the California Angels.  We first started calling him “The General”…then it kind of evolved into “General”….later, it became “Gen”….and even later, some other derivatives we CANNOT PRINT HERE!   ‘Ol General, yes-sir-ree….Number 49 on his jersey!!!

Hank:  His Real Name is Henry…but we also called him “Double-Ott” (his uniform Number was “00”).  The opposition had ALOT more nicknames for him than we ever did, and I certainly can’t PRINT any of them here.  Due to the things he did on the field and SAID on the field, he was for sure the most HATED player to ever wear a Verdugo Uniform, and I’m sure no one is prouder of that than ‘Ol Hank himself!!!

The Weapon:  For those of you who don’t know what a weapon is…..I don’t know what to tell you.  There are lots of different kinds of weapons.  This guy was not a tire that you light on fire and roll down the street at somebody…..no, no.  He wasn’t a broken bottle you drunkenly swing at someone when you’re in the middle of a bar room brawl.  No, this guy was a very sophisticated piece of human machinery that was designed to deliver the final knockout punch.  The bomb that WHEN it gets dropped on the opposition ENDS the war if you know what I mean.  Within a short time of “Weapon” delivering……. the opposition would quickly begin to hoist their tattered white flags!!!!!!!!!!  ‘Ol Weapon…Number 22!!!

BullOxen:  Well, we all know what a Bull is.  And an Oxen is slightly larger than a Bull.  Both are “pulling”  animals.  First, he was “Canale”….then for a short while he was “Bull”…but he was STILL GROWING you know?  After a while, he was bigger than a Bull.  We certainly couldn’t change the name…so we added “Oxen” to the end of it.  The two names MUST run together and the “O” in Oxen MUST be capitalized!  Got it?  BullOxen was a perfect name for this guy….because there were many games where he single-handedly “PULLED us through.”   BullOxen….Number 19!!!!

C’mon Vic!!:  This guy was such a great player that General and I came to the conclusion that there was really NOTHING we could teach him.  But we needed to say SOMETHING to him when he was out on the field, right?   We wanted everyone to believe we were actually COACHING HIM so we just kind of started saying “C’mon Vic!!!” every chance we could!!!  Sometimes I liked to fuck with the other coaches and say “this guy has never played Baseball before in his life until this season!”  They’d say “really?”…and I’d say “Oh yeah, he’s coming along just fine, but he’s still learning.”  Then, just before he’s step in the batter’s box I’d say something like “make sure you run to first after you hit it Vic!”……And ‘Ol Vic would give me that smile as if to say “shut the fuck up Gee!”  Yes-sir-ree….”C’mon Vic”….Number 28!!!!!  And once Vic was on base……you could hear ‘Ol General over in the first base coaching box saying something like “Allright now Vic…don’t forget to BREATHE!!!”  SEE??….we actually WERE coaching Vic!!!!

Spongy:  He had this thing going on with his hair that led everyone to name him “Spongy.”  Number 4!!!!!!  Before he played for us, everyone called him “Spongy.”  I always called him by his first or last name.  It’s hard to call a guy by his nickname when you didn’t have anything to do with the creation of it……..to me, he was “Martin”….to everyone else….he was Spongy!!!   To the opposition, he was a MAJOR pain-in-the-ass….because he was either reaching base, driving in runs, or scoring runs!!!  Update:  It has been brought to our attention by “Spongy” himself that his REAL nickname was TEX!!!  So for all of you true fans out there….we may call him “Spongy” on this Blog….or we may call him “TEX.”  Unfortunately we don’t have any footage of him at the plate with his signature, slightly bowlegged, wide-stance.  But we did find a picture of BullOxen with a towel on his head!   So anyone out there with any footage of ‘Ol TEX in his signature stance….please, please send it in to us!!!

Sammy:  This was his REAL first name.  But it stuck.  In fact, if you saw him walking down the street, probably the first name that would pop in your head would be “Sammy.”  You see, a guy named “Sam” is a slow guy who is a power hitter.  The name “Sam” wouldn’t have worked for Sammy.  Sammy was a quick guy.  Could steal a base for you.  Great speed.  Great Defense.  Great Hustle.  In fact, Sammy was FIFTH in the 20th District with 12 stolen bases!!   Sammy!!!  Number 2!!!!!!!

Part Two (and the other seven notorious nicknames from the 1990 squad) will be coming soon!!

1990: The BEST Outfield in the 20th District….

Posted: April 1, 2011 in 1990, Spongy, Vic, Weapon
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Before we go any further about our brilliant 1990 season….I need to take a timeout to point something out here.  Yeah, it was our first season…yeah, we played all of the games on the road….I can (and will, by the way) go on and on about what that Team did.  But once again, “The Numbers Just Don’t Lie.”  And when you take a close enough look at the numbers it all starts to paint a very clear picture…that we had the BEST outfield in the 20th District that year.

Damon “Spongy” Martin in left.  “C’mon Vic” Ramirez in Center.  And  “THE WEAPON” in right……is there anything else to say besides those three names?

Personally, I don’t think anything else needs to be said….but let me keep selling if you insist!

These three guys combined for 67 hits that season, 26 by Martin.  They stole 37 bases for us, 19 by Ramirez.  Let me put it to you this way…our 1991 TEAM stole only 20 bases (and still managed to go 13-9).  Martin led the DISTRICT…that’s right….THE DISTRICT in Doubles with 10.  Vic was second in the District with his 19 stolen bases.  Weapon led our Team in RBI with 16.  Add in the fact that these guys all had killer arms and played pretty much flawless defense, and could all pitch an inning or two here and there and not hurt you and…well, maybe you can see the picture that is emerging.

Martin hit .407.  Ramirez hit .390.  Although Weapon hit only .281 for us…he hit a HARD .281…..leading the Team in RBI.  Weapon was clutch.  Weapon was a presence on the field as well.  I would get so many people who would ask me “What’s the deal with #22 (Weapon) out there glove-flickin’ when he makes a play on a routine fly-ball?”  I’d just say…”Have you ever seen him drop one?”

Nothing looked cooler than a routine fly going Weap’s direction.  Balanced, behind the ball, both hands down around waist-high with palms down and parallel to the ground like a cat ready to pounce.  Then as the ball came down towards him, he’d get that left hand up just above his head and FLICK DOWN ON IT as he made the catch.  I remember a couple of times telling him to intentionally sand-bag it from right field during pre-game to actually ENCOURAGE the opposition to try and take an extra base on him……just so he could gun them down in the game!

People would ask me “Why do you let him glove-flick like that?”

I would just smile and say…”We actually ENCOURAGE him to do that!”

You’ve seen the “pop-up slide” haven’t you?  Sure, we all have.  Well, sliding conventionally (feet first) was just not in The Weapon’s arsenal.  It was always full-tilt with Weapon.  Head first all the way…every time.  He even was the first guy I ever saw who did a “pop-up slide”….HEAD FIRST.  Most guys when they go in head-first stay down for a while after the slide…….With Weap?  Hell no!…he just popped right out of it!  If you blinked your eyes you just might miss it.

If this team had been a pro club where the players were getting paid…we would have PAID Weapon to do exactly what he did for us.  Weap was always looking to hurt the opposition.  The deep SHOT blasted over everyone’s head…the diving catch…gunning down runners from right…some kind of play where the other team just kind of says…”fuck…did you see what that guy just did?”  There’s only one word to describe Weapon’s style of play…ELECTRIFYING.

“Spongy” Martin…who was given this nickname because the guys thought his hair kind of looked like a sponge was just as fun to watch.  The place-kicker for the High School football team.  I can guarantee you he didn’t hit .407 for his High School team that season…but he did for us.  Wide stance at the plate, kind of crouched over, short, abrupt swing….high stirrup socks…he just had that old-school ballplayer look that said SCRAPPY.  And everytime I turned around…there he was again standing on second base after another double.  And this guy was CLUTCH.  Nothing fazed this kid.  I never saw him once get rattled……

Everybody loved Spongy, players and coaches…….he was a great acquisition for our Ballclub.  He was second on the team in hits that season with 26.  Led the District in Doubles with 10.  Second on the Team in runs scored with 16.  Was seventh in The Distict with 11 stolen bases….yeah, he could run, too.  His slugging percentage led our Team at .609 and he only struck out five times the entire season.  Add in some brilliant defense for us…a few runners he gunned down from left….. and maybe this picture I’ve been trying to paint from the beginning of this story is starting to make sense….but I’m STILL not done!!  Please….allow me to keep selling!

And finally….Vic Ramirez.  I would love to just stop right there.  Just the name should be enough for those of you who knew him.  But I can’t stop here….I’m trying to build a case here, you know?

Ramirez had just finished a great season at Glendale College.  And somehow he ended up playing for us!   He could hit, run, throw, hit for power, hit for average, and was a LEFTY!!!  He was second in The District in Stolen Bases with 19 (still a Verdugo record).  Second in The District in Triples with three.  He led our Team in On-Base Percentage at .549….Runs with 18…..Times Reached Base with 45……and Runs with 18.  He was second on The Team in RBI with 15.  He was a human highlight film. 

You know…two-thirds of the earth is covered by water, the other third is covered by Vic Ramirez.  That’s how much ground he covered in the outfield for us.  Having Weap and Spongy out there probably made it a little easier on Vic….but let me tell you something….this guy could fucking motor!!!

Vic was a quiet leader for us.  It is only fitting that he drove in the tying run…and SCORED the winning run in our first victory against Burbank.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg.  He was instrumental in showing our younger guys the ropes……ask some of our Rookies we had that year like Robb Turner what is was like to watch Vic Ramirez play the game of Baseball.  Let me tell you…it was something special to see……….

Vic was also one of two guys we had who made the All-Star Team that year. 

Yeah…..The Numbers Don’t Lie…..and I’m going to say this right here and now….Verdugo Hills Post 288 had THE BEST 1-2-3 punch in the outfield of any team in the 20th District in 1990.  Bar NONE!!!   These guys were Total Warriors!!  They had the numbers…they hit for power…they hit for average…they electrified….they hustled…they scraped up their bodies…they took extra bases…they stole bases….they were CLUTCH….they crashed into fences….they stole games from and broke the hearts of the opposition……they gunned baserunners down from the outfield….they got their uniforms dirty……they did WHATEVER IT TOOK……..VERDUGO-STYLE!!! 

And you know what?  That’s pretty much what the WHOLE TEAM did that year!!!!!!!!!!   So go ahead…line up every starting outfield in the 20th District in 1990….go ahead.  And, soon enough – you’ll see the exact picture I’ve been painting from the beginning of this Post.  And we all know how  “The Numbers Just Don’t Lie”……….

When you’re painting a picture like the one I’m painting here…there are only three colors you can use – Martin, Ramirez and Anderson! 

Yes-sir-ree………….our 1990 Outfield……….THE BEST in the 20th District that Season.  BAR NONE………..

Willie Rivera!!!!!!

Posted: March 25, 2011 in 1990, 1991, Chili
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We called him “Chili.”  He could do it ALL.  I found him on Facebook.  Willie was one of the “Founding Fathers” for us who endured the 22 game road-trip in 1990 and also played with us in 1991.  He pitched masterfully for us both seasons.   I sent him a message.  And he’s coming to the Verdugo Hills Reunion!!  And he’s gonna help us find Chandler……..

It was great hearing his voice.  He REMEMBERS!!!!  Every name I mentioned from the 1990-91 teams he REMEMBERED!!!  He was a great player, a great teammate….he’s FIRED UP for the VERDUGO REUNION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Willie!!  We look forward to seeing you there!!!

BELIEVE IT Gentlemen…..this thing is coming together!!!!!!!!!

“Hey 2-3 Your BARN’S ON FIRE!!!”

Posted: March 21, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Chili, Games, Rags/Trash Talk, Rogers, Sammy, Spongy
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So we picked up our first win against Burbank after losing a heartbreaker in the Season’s Opener to Panorama City.  Then we got blown-out by Glendale 13-2, and had played Notre Dame to a 3-3 tie.  The following week we traveled for our first time up into Antelope Valley where we split a double-header with another team that ultimately reached the playoffs:  Lancaster.  I wasn’t happy we split.  I felt we were better than they were.  We should have swept ’em.

Remember, the 1990 Team played ALL 22 games that season ON THE ROAD.  And the weekend of June 16th and 17th we had THREE games to play in two days.  A Saturday trip to Quartz Hill, a Sunday trip to North Hollywood, and another game against the Glendale team Sunday night at Stengel Field.  We came into that weekend 2-3-1, but the TIE game was the Notre Dame game that would ultimately be decided in a couple of weeks.  This was a huge weekend for us, to say the least.

The Saturday game against Quartz Hill was one of the greatest dogfights in our history.  It was over 100 degrees that day.  There were 368 pitches thrown in that game.  Six pitching changes.  A wind that got as high as 40 MPH.  A FIRE broke out in the middle of the game.  Yes, a FIRE broke out in the middle of the game.  The lead exchanged hands six times.  We made 10 errors that game.  They stole 15 bases off of us.  We turned three double plays that day…one was a 5-2-5-4 DP….one of the craziest plays I’ve ever seen.  But somehow we just kept battling.  We pounded out 18 hits and in the end prevailed 13-12 in extra innings.  Oh, and by the way…..the game lasted FIVE hours and 45 minutes.   Although we made the drive all the way up there….we were the home team that day and DOGPILED again on someone else’s field. 

It started out simple enough.  I’m out there hitting pre-game drill.  Canale is shagging for me while I hit to the outfielders.  There was a plastic/rubber lid about five feet behind the mound that was about a foot wide and two feet long.  It was there to cover up the water tap so the grounds crew could water down the field.  But the damn thing wouldn’t sit flush.  Canale was trying to fix it so no one would trip over it.  He’d step on the left side of it…and the right side would pop up.  He’d step on the right side of it…and the left side of it would pop up.   He tried a few times to fix it and then we heard a couple of guys from their bench say “Just leave it alone!”…….

Canale was a rookie….he was sixteen years old.  And he had a chaw going.  It was our seventh game.  And you know what he did?  He looked right into their dugout and said to all of ’em “Fuck You!!!”

I loved it!  I’m thinking………..”we’re gonna be just fine today”……….

But this was the amazing thing about the 1990 Team.  They would always quickly acclimate themselves to wherever they were playing.  This was a world up here in the Antelope Valley that most of us didn’t even know existed.  I mean, this was a 150 mile round-trip into the middle of NOWHERE.  Just about every field we went to that year none of our guys had ever even SEEN, let alone play on.  And some of the time, the fields were not very well maintained by the opposing team’s coaching staff.  Some of the conditions were brutal.  But to the great Warriors we had playing for us…it didn’t matter.  That Team was truly a bunch of animals who had been let out of their cages (as Nance said)…………and we were ALWAYS looking for an opportunity to “mark our territory.” 

Quartz Hill had a great team that season…finishing 19-4 and reaching the Playoffs.  And we dogpiled right there on their field.  I remember late in the game as I was walking off the field from the third base coaching box towards our dugout on the first base side their Head Coach said to me “where are you guys from?”……

He didn’t ask that question to me trying to find out where we were from geographically…..he KNEW where we came from.  He wasn’t expecting the kind of dogfight we put him through that day.  The way he asked me was almost in disbelief……maybe he thought we were something “otherwordly”…or “from hell”…….I don’t know what he was thinking.  I just kept on walking.  I didn’t answer him.  I just kept walking towards the dugout.  Cold-eyed stare.  Never even LOOKED at him.  That was kind of my way of saying to him “No matter how hard you hit us….we’re gonna keep getting up….and when the dust settles….we’re gonna be the ones standing.”

And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened.  We trailed 9-8 going into the bottom of the seventh.  Sammy Vaquera had a clutch base hit to tie it 9-9.  Damon Martin came up with two out.  And promptly BOMBED a two-run shot to left.  As soon as Damon hit that thing I was barking at it to “GET OUTTA HERE!!”  I left the third base box and was on the outfield grass talking to that thing when it finally cleared the fence.  Fuck I was FIRED UP!!!

They took a 12-11 lead into the bottom of the ninth.  Vic Ramirez walked and stole second.  Again, Martin came up and delivered a CLUTCH base-hit to bring in Vic.  That tied it up and sent the game into extra innings.

Canale went out to the mound and threw one of the most impressive innings he had thrown all season.  And they had their 2-3-4 holes in their lineup coming up.  It was exactly the type of thing I knew he was capable of.  He struck out their leadoff hitter on three pitches.  He snapped off the nastiest curveball I may have ever seen for strike one…..threw him a fork-pitch that dropped about a foot and a half for a called strike two…….and then just flat out threw it right by the guy for the called third strike.  He walked the next guy on four pitches….retired their clean-up hitter on a 4-3 groundout…and blew a fastball for strike three to another one of their big guns to end the top of the tenth. 

Chili Rivera led off the bottom of the tenth for us with a hard hit double up the gap in left center.  It was Chili’s fourth hit of the game.  John Rogers came up and blasted a 2-1 fastball over their right fielders head and we were dogpiling again!!!  It was Rogers’ third double of the game.  I remember lumbering down the third base line following Chili towards home plate.  Chili ran out to congratulate Rogers with everyone else.  I just kept going towards our dugout.  I tried to do one of those “forward-roll” front flips and ate shit.  But it didn’t matter.  I lied there on the ground on my back…..looking up into the smoke-filled sky…..two arms extended up towards that sky with clenched fists and thinking to myself “this is gonna be a fun ride home!”

As the game had gone on we realized which one of the Quartz Hill guys had yelled at Canale to “Leave it alone!!” when Josh was trying to fix that rubber lid before the game.  In 1990 he was still “Canale”…he didn’t become “BullOxen” until 1991.  Well, it was number 23 who had said it.  He was one of the two guys Canale mowed down on strikes in the tenth inning.  Canale…being Canale….couldn’t resist saying to the guy “Hey 2-3 your BARN’S ON FIRE” when that fire broke out in the middle of the game.

It was time to drive back down the hill.  We left a trail of carnage that day and it was only fitting that as we drove home….and looked back…the skies of Antelope Valley were blackened with smoke.

Exorcising The Demons…….Our First Win

Posted: March 13, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Chandler, Chili, Games, Hank, Spongy, Vic
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Sounds pretty heavy.  “Exorcising the Demons.”  Well, to me …it was.  That’s about the only way I could describe it.  I mentioned in my last post that I was a paid assistant coach at Burbank High in 1990.  You know, when I got that job it was one of the proudest moments in my Baseball life.  My friend, Dave Johnson had been hired for the Head Coaching position after a lengthy and bitter interviewing process.  There were ALOT of people that wanted that job, but Dave got it.  We were both hired as walk-on coaches who were not members of the faculty.  We were really, really excited about working there.  Little did we know about the scumbags that were lurking in the shadows, lying in wait, seeking out every opportunity to undermine and discredit us behind our backs. 

While my Grandfather Harry Leroy Magee had taught me the love of the game….Coach Johnson TAUGHT ME THE GAME.  Working with him that one season was an incredible opportunity to watch one of the greatest coaches I have ever been around in action.  He had hired me to assist him, and he probably knew that about the only thing I brought to the table was fire, and a love of the game.  But he brought me on board, and like I said before…we were REALLY excited about working with the players.

Unfortunately, there were SEVERAL people who were extremely bitter about us getting hired.  Two of them, one guy who called himself “Pops” and another guy I’ll just call “Weasel” did everything they could that first season we had there to make our lives miserable.  They knew all of the players and really went to some mind-boggling lengths to get the players to turn on us.  But there’s an old saying….Good ALWAYS triumphs over evil.  And that’s exactly what happened.

Out first season at Burbank was a disaster.  We went 3-12.  BUT….. by the end of the season, the UNDERCLASSMEN were on our side.  Halfway through the year we pretty much wrote off the seniors on that team.  So Dave and I were worried about what would happen during summer-league.  We REALLY didn’t want those two guys undoing all we had done with the players that season.  One summer with those two guys would have wrecked everything we had tried to accomplish.  That’s why in the summer of 1990…I coached TWO TEAMS.  We put together another Team in Connie Mack League that had players from both CV and Burbank.  All we knew is that we DID NOT want those two guys talking to our kids, and if I had to coach TWO Teams that summer to protect our guys from being poisoned by them…then so be it.

While I might not have contributed much to the Burbank Program, you gotta give me credit for ONE THING.  Being a HUMAN SHIELD between our players at Burbank and Pops/Weasel.

I really had NO IDEA that I would end up getting hired at CV in 1991.  But the summer of 1990 was instrumental for the Burbank program.  Why?  Because we shielded our players from Pops and Weasel and those players got to hang around some of the kids up here from La Crescenta.  I’ll tell you…WINNING and the way you carry yourself is contagious.  And after Jason Chandler and Chili Rivera had spent most of the summer around our Legion Team…I began to see a BIG difference in the way they carried themselves.  They evolved into WINNERS.  Chandler and Rivera were NEVER losers….they were ALWAYS awesome in my mind…..but after our disatrous first season at Burbank a change in scenery was needed, and THE PLAYERS of Verdugo Post 288 seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.   I personally CANNOT take any credit for it, but it was a wonderful thing to see everyone from both schools get along so well.

Yes, I went on to get hired at CV in 1991 and we had a pretty good season and made the playoffs.  But you know what happened in Burbank?  They WON the League TITLE OUTRIGHT.  You know who was in their League?  HART.  Yes, that’s right………..HART.  The accomplishments of the 1991 Burbank High School Baseball Team are absolutely incredible.  Coach Johnson did a masterful job, and I was happy for him and REALLY proud of the kids over there.  Chandler and Rivera dominated that season.  Awesome!! 

Our 1990 Legion Team lost the first game in our history to a team from Panorama City that ultimately went 18-5 and made the playoffs.  We took a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning….they tied us and we ended up losing in the 10th inning 6-4.  I thought we had played a great game.  Certainly we had played well enough to win.  I was wondering how our Ballclub would respond to such a devastating defeat.  Alot of teams would have just thrown in the towel right there……..but not Verdugo.

So now here we were…the Verdugo Hills American Legion Team…playing the SECOND GAME of our existence.  And guess who we were playing?  That’s right…Burbank.  And guess who I was coaching against?  That’s right…Pops and Weasel.  Plus several of the guys I had coached that season at Burbank High were on that team.  Most of them were seniors who had graduated, the guys who we had pretty much written off as insubordinates.   Coach Johnson and I pretty much had realized that any instructions we tried to give these guys in particular was like asking them to eat a plate full of HAIR.  They all had “season tickets” in the second-guessing section, if you know what I mean.   So there was plenty of bitterness going into this game. 

Pretty much EVERYBODY on the other side of the Diamond that day HATED ME or RESENTED ME.  And they knew I was going TOTALLY out of my way to keep Chandler and Rivera away from them.  And the coaches of the Burbank team now were going to get their chance to teach me a lesson.  They had fantasized their whole lives about coaching the kids at that school….and myself and Coach Johnson had “taken” that from them.  I could hear their petty comments from the moment I arrived at the field…………

So you know who I gave the ball to that day?  Jason Chandler.  The hot-headed and wild-throwing Chandler.  And you know what he did?  He beat ’em.  We never led until the FINAL PITCH of the game.  And we had our first dogpile.  And we dogpiled right on THEIR field…..right in front of the guys who HATED ME.

They threw Mark/Mike? Rossiter at us that day.  Probably the best local pitcher that was drafted in 1991.  Canale came up in the second inning.  My old third baseman Jeremy Sparks and I were making a little small talk with each other in the early part of the game.  When Canale came up I told Sparks “See this guy here?  He’s only a sophmore”….

Sparks, being the arrogant guy he is who had the listening skills of Helen Keller then said as Rossiter dealt to Canale “Hey what do you say FROSH?”

Canale then hit a ball then went about 450 feet.  It was great to watch one of those bitches from the Burbank team who never listened to a word from myself or Coach Johnson have to go and fetch that ball.   We all know about BullOxen’s lack of speed.  It would have been a home run if there was a FENCE there but Canale ended up with a triple.  He scored on a wild pitch.

Chandler kept his poise the entire game.  He threw only 99 pitches.  His only walk was a hit-batter.  Was it an intentional DOSE?  I’ll never say……….

All I know was that when we rallied to win in the bottom-of-the-seventh inning……when that ball Martin hit fell in….I had to hold back tears.  The newspaper didn’t get all of the facts straight…the guy who got his glove on it and dropped it was one of my former players at Burbank high who we threw off of the Team for failing to call/show at a carwash fund-raiser we had.  That made it even SWEETER.  Yeah, we kind of burst their bubble(s) that day…..I guess you could say “‘Pop’ goes the ‘Weasel'” after this win………….

Yeah…we exorcized the demons that day.  And we had our first win.  If you’d like to read the story in the papers Click Here

The Collective CHIP on our 1990 Shoulders….

Posted: March 8, 2011 in 1990, Behind the Scenes, BullOxen, Chandler, Chili, Frost, Hank, McBride, Rogers, Sammy, Spongy, Turner, Vic, Weapon
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When we started this thing in 1990 I went in to the Post and somehow got them to sponsor our Team…something Verdugo Hills Post 288 had not done in about 30 years.  For more info on how that came about read my earlier Post titled “From $1000.00 to a Team Bus?”  While I was excited to have been “hired” to coach Post 288 (for no pay)…….I had just ONE PROBLEM.  I didn’t have any players……

I had just finished up my first year as a PAID coach at Burbank High.  So I was planning on taking a couple of pitchers with me from that school……our tough little right-hander Chili Rivera and left-hander Jason “White” Chandler.  But that’s really all I had.  I knew some of the kids from CV and had coached many of them in Colt League in ’88 and ’89.  Alot of those guys had already verbally committed to joining us but I still had many slots on the Roster to fill. 

So I started picking the brain of one of the players from my 1989 Colt Team..John Rogers.  Rogers was smart, funny, and most importantly…he could SELL.  In reality, Rogers was the GM for our Team the first year of our existence.  He kind of bridged the gap with a lot of these players we wanted to recruit for the Team and he really opened up the lines of communication with these players.  Rogers had already played for me for a couple of years and had a feel for how I liked to run a program and I think he did an unbelieveable job SELLING this to the players who ultimately ended up on our Roster.  But being the new guy, I still had ALOT of selling of my own to do.

Glendale had a powerful program going on, and I am sure many of the guys who played with us that first year (if given the choice) would have played for them instead of us.  But there was something going on behind the scenes that worked in our favor.  Glendale was trying to recruit the guys who ended up on our Roster as “Filler” players.  They wanted them on their team, but they wouldn’t make any commitments to these players as to how much (or little) playing time they were going to get. 

Most of our guys probably felt (and rightfully so) that they could be STARTING for the Glendale team.  As I spoke more and more with these players that we ended up with, I realized that they were pretty pissed about the whole thing.  This kind of worked to our advantage.  And in the end, they decided that PLAYING for us was better than SITTING for anybody.  I started to realize that this was a great group of guys….they all kind of had a CHIP on their shoulders and wanted to prove Glendale (and the rest of the world) that they were WRONG.  And I think that our guys more than accomplished this.

Glendale wanted all of the BIG NAME players.  The marquee players, if you will.  Hell, I’ve always said just give me nine guys who want to play hard and I’ll do fine with whoever it is.  Even if we play the entire season ON THE ROAD like we did. 

One of those Marquee players was Vic Ramirez.  The Glendale team was trying to get me to sign off on a waiver sheet and effectively “release” Vic over to them.  I had two words for the Glendale team when that was proposed to me…..those two words were “Hell NO.”  It looked like Vic might not even play that season at all.  But thanks to Hank, BullOxen, and some of the other guys doing a little behind the scenes “selling” Vic ended up playing for us and having a great season. This is the reason the Glendale team had it in for us and wouldn’t let us use Stengel Field at all in our first season.  And I’ll bet you if they did acquire Vic from us they would have won the District.  So Glendale may have ruined our plans of having a home field…but we ruined their season……….

You know what I say?  Canale is a marquee player.  Damon Martin is a marquee player. Weapon is a marquee player.  Hank is a marquee player.  Rogers is a marquee player.  Same with the pitchers we brought over from Burbank.  And the guys we filled out our Roster with were great players, too.  At least this is how I SAW IT.  And as far as I’m concerned, I SAW IT and the guys running the Glendale program missed it.  This is why Verdugo Hills had the greatest players….we had the guys who had HEART.  We had the guys who ate, lived and breathed the game.  So from our inception we had this great group of kids who felt they had kind of been OVERLOOKED.  They had a nice, big, fat CHIP on their shoulders.  And over the next several posts…I’m gonna tell you all about it!  I’m getting fired up right now just writing about it!!

It kind of goes without saying the chip I had on MY SHOULDER.  It was the perfect union…a coach who wanted to prove he could win at this level and a bunch of players who felt like they had been overlooked and wanted to prove that they could PLAY at this level.  Well, I think we proved our critics WRONG by the end of that first season.  Take a look at the stats from the 1990 Team when I post them here and try to tell me these guys were not players.  Canale as a 16 year-old made the ALL-STAR TEAM.  He had 88 Plate Appearances that season…..and he struck out ONE time!!!  

Yeah…..we all had a one big, fat, CHIP on our shoulder.  And I frickin’ LOVED IT.  While the rest of the league certainly didn’t label us as the new bully in the block…. I will say this….after just a few games they all were paying VERY CLOSE attention to US……….and there was a LOT of whispering going on behind the scenes about this New Team in the 20th District called Verdugo Hills……a Motley Crew of no-names who didn’t back down to ANYBODY.

 

Impromptu Bullpen Session

Posted: March 3, 2011 in 1990, Behind the Scenes, Chandler, General, No Way!
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I am going to write a story (probably in the next post) about one of the greatest games we ever played.  It was in our first season, The 1990 Team.  We beat Quartz Hill that day 13-12.  The game lasted FIVE HOURS and 45 minutes.  Add in an hour and a half drive EACH way and, well, you just might understand why General and I stopped off at the store to pick up a six-pack.  And NO…we were not drinking in the car.  Let me put it to you this way…..it was so frickin’ hot that day that the TIPS OF MY EARS had blisters on them for about a week from the sunburn!!!

General was driving and we decided to go down Angeles Crest on the way home.  There were three players who were in the back of Generals truck.  Ironically, they were all pitchers.  General’s truck had one of those cool sliding windows so we opened it up and were talking to the pitchers as we drove.  We were all laughing about how we had just ruined Quartz Hills’ day.  We got about half-way down the Crest and General needed to “go.”  So we pulled over on the side of the road, got out, and looked for a place to “go.”  Everybody got out of the Truck and was kind of milling around.  I took the opportunity to crack a beer.  Damn it tasted good after that long day!

I looked over off of the side of the road and saw a road sign.  One of those yellow signs that gives instructions to the drivers coming down the road. I can’t remember what the hell it said but it quickly evolved from a sign into a TARGET.  It was in a weird spot.  You could barely see it from the road.  It was about 10 feet BELOW us on the roadside.

“Hey I bet you guys I can hit that sign before you do”  I said to the pitchers.

“You’re on” one of them said.

These guys then started picking up these small rocks and throwing them at this sign that was about 45-50 feet away.  Remember, it was 45-50 feet away…but it was below us.

None of them hit it.  Everybody was missing above it.

“Stop!” I said.  “You guys aren’t throwing the right sized rocks.  Now before we start this competition let me check something out.”

The pitchers watched as I climbed down the embankment with a beer in my left hand, and a BIG BOULDER in my right hand.  I got up to about 10 feet from that sign and totally unloaded on it with that boulder.  CLANG!!!!!!  It sounded so awesome…it echoed out in the middle of nowhere.

Everybody was busting up.  “I win!” I announced.

“Bullshit!” they said.  “You cheated.” 

“Well, all I said was I was gonna hit it before you did….and that’s exactly what I did.  If you want to believe my bullshit about how I’m gonna ‘check something out’ on that sign just so I can walk up to it like that and unload on it…….then that’s on you!” 

We all got a kick out of the noise that sign made when we hit it and soon enough it turned into quite a competition.  Guys were cheating…everything….it was beautiful.

Then we moved back to about 50 feet.  Guys kept throwing OVER it.  They were missing high with everything…..kinda like what gets a pitcher in trouble in games….missing HIGH, getting the ball up in the strike zone.

So I started coaching ’em right there.  “Split your hands quicker!”….CLANG!!……….”Get that thing out in front of you!”….CLANG!!!……”shorten your stride up a little!”………….CLANG!!!………..”There it is!!!”

These guys started bringing the ball down and beating the shit out of that sign.  They dented the crap out of it.  Every time someone would nail it we would start busting up.  It was so loud!!  CLANG!!!  CLANG!!!  Echoing through the canyon!!!  Big dents in that sign…paint coming off of it.  They were getting it.  By the time we were ready to leave that sign was only held up by one screw.  It was just dangling there…dented….most of the paint gone…………swinging in the wind.

“C’mon Gee….let’s knock it all the way off!!!!!!” 

“No…we gotta get outta here.”  I said.

Then a car drives by.  This guy pulls over and sees these kids throwing boulders at a sign….and me standing there drinking a BEER!!

“What the %$#$ are you doing?”  He asked.

“We’re working on our control.”  I said……..pointing to the destroyed sign.

The guy just shook his head and drove off.  We started laughing again.

“C’mon Gee, let’s knock it all the way off.”  The pitchers kept asking.

“No….we gotta get outta here……besides, that wouldn’t be very considerate of us to do that now would it?”  I smilingly asked them.

They got the joke……….

Coaching pitchers is a LOT easier when all you got laying around is some boulders and a metal sign…………..

I can’t remember which three pitchers were there that day with us.  I know for sure that one of them was Chandler.  Maybe you guys can help me out with who the other two guys were………….

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