Archive for the ‘Calf’ Category

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!!!!!

“Nance”…………

Posted: February 23, 2011 in Behind the Scenes, BullOxen, Calf
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Her name was Nancy.  We all called her “Nance.”  She was a mother to all of us.  Nothing got by Nance.  She knew what was going on at ALL times.  Yet she never said a word.  She knew about all of the hell-raising we were doing…..but she just kind of looked the other way.  You know, the original coaching staff was General and I.  But every year, even as the coaching staff was growing, we had an invisible coach.  One extra coach who nobody knew about.  Someone who wanted to win as much as we did.  Someone who probably knew the game more than we did.  Someone who did more behind the scenes for this Team than we could ever report in this Blog.  It was Nance.  She understood that “Boys will be Boys” and I think that’s why we all loved her.  If we got too out of line she would just kind of give us that look.  And then, when we got the message she was sending us with that look….she would always smile.

Even the day after we clinched our first playoff spot….when everyone was hungover and walking around the field with open flesh wounds from “Gar-burns” all she said was “Kelly, did you boys burn yourselves with cigars last night?”  I just kind of looked at her…guilty as hell…as if to say “what can I say?”

Nobody kept a scorebook like Nance.  I first met Nancy at the second game of our Team’s history in 1990 when we were playing Burbank.  We got everything ready, had the pre-game drill, and I was holding the scorebook when the game started.  I was going to keep score.  She looked at me and said “you want me to do that for you?”  I was happy she offered.  I just was wondering what she was going to write down in the book.  Being the idiot that I was….I figured she didn’t know what she was doing.  Well…we won the game…and it was a big win.  I went to look at the book after the game and it was the most MASTERFUL scorekeeping I had ever seen.  The kind of thing that could bring a tear to your eye.  I was humbled.  And then when I got to talking with her I realized this woman knew the game better than I did.  When BullOxen told me that his mother was his hitting coach…..I never tried to give him ANY advice as a hitter.  His swing was in good hands………..Bull used to say “nobody knows my swing better than my mom.”

And she was the coolest.  Smoking cigs….talking baseball.  What could be better than that?  I’ve been looking at the books for the last couple of weeks and I now know how lucky we were to have Nance on our side.  Perfect Books.  You see….she would even write in comments about what happened in the game if there was room in the scorebook.  Like when Fielder leaped over the catcher at Crespi…Nance wrote in “somehow he scored – caught in rundown – overthrow at third – jumped over catcher.”

Or when there was a bad call…Nance wouldn’t write in “Bad Call” in the book.  She would abbreviate it.  She would abbreviate it to “BFC.”  I’m sure you readers out there know what the ‘F” means.  Of course she would write that in ONLY if the call went against us.  “T7″…..”MB6″….”MT4″…”RUN T7″……….pitch count at the bottom…..everything a manager could dream of was right there in the book.  Here I am almost 20 years later…and thanks to Nance…I can open the scorebooks and can literally watch the game all over again.  Incredible. 

BullOxen and Calf are lucky to have such a great mom.  And I’m lucky she didn’t kill me for all the hell I raised……or take my job as Manager of The Team.  And we’re all lucky she took such great care of us.  Thank you Nance for all you did FOR ALL OF US.  And FROM ALL OF US………if we never said it to you…we can all say it now….We love you!!!!!!!!!

BullOxen Tells No Lies………

Posted: February 19, 2011 in 1992, BullOxen, Calf, Hack, Uncategorized
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BullOxen made a comment on one of the stories about a week ago and also shared a story about how he had worn a wet towel under his Verdugo cap on a 100 degree day.  For those of you who think we’re just making this stuff up…..I strongly encourage you to read his comment………and then tell me what you think of this picture!!!!!!!!!!!!  This awesome picture was sent in to me from Hack Workman up in Portland!!!!!!!  CLUTCH JOB HACK!!!!!!!!!!!  Click image to slightly enlarge!!!!!!!!!