Archive for the ‘Frost’ Category

1990 STATS

Posted: June 13, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Chili, Frost, Hank, Rogers, Sammy, Spongy, Turner, Vic, Weapon
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1990 was a pretty damn good year.  I like what we pulled off.  I really enjoyed pulling the strings from the third base coaching box with this group because we had a lot of speed on this Team.  Straight steals, hit-and-runs, delayed steals….taking an extra base….it all added up.  Rogers hit .246, but he led the Team in stings (eight), sacrifices (six), and was right near the top in RBI.  Rogers’ six sacrifices were an all-time Verdugo record.  Rogers also played EVERY position on the diamond for us that season!  Hank had 21 hits….20 of them singles!  Martin led in average, slugging percentage and doubles, Weap and Canale led in RBI.  Canale, a 16 year old in his rookie season led Verdugo with 27 hits!  Canale struck out only ONE TIME!….an all-time contact percentage record that was never broken.  And Martin’s 10 doubles was another Verdugo record that was never broken.  Same with VIC’s 19 stolen bases…no one ever broke that record either. Vic also set an all-time record for walks in one season (18).  Vic also led the squad that year in runs (18), triples (three), on-base percentage (.549), and times reached base (45).  Sammy was one of two players we ever had in our history to steal more than 10 bases in one season (12) and NOT get caught stealing.  Yep…12 for 12!  Turner may have only hit .178…but he was 5th in on-base percentage.  Turner also was second on the Team in walks with 15, and fourth on the Team in runs scored with 13.  As you can also see….Chili had a great year for us at the plate.  He had four doubles in nine games.  And then there’s Frost.  He didn’t play any ball his senior year in High School and look at what he did.  I looked back in the scorebook and he started the season one for 12!  So he had a nice year for us as well once he got back into the swing of things. 

Our .865 contact-percentage as a Team in 1990 was also a record that was never broken.  1990 Also hit the most triples we ever had in a season with 11…..a record that was TIED by the ’91 Team.

Check out the Original Verdugo numbers…..pretty impressive indeed!  Ahhh Original Verdugo Team!!!!

“The Saugus 500″……..(Part Three)

Posted: May 31, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Frost, McBride, Vic, Weapon
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I tweaked the schedule so that there were no games played while I honeymooned.  I returned a week later, and now we had some BIG games to play.  We were at the point now where we couldn’t lose anymore games if we wanted a shot at the Playoffs.  But with Verdugo….you never know.  We still hadn’t really “got hot” and rattled off three or four wins in a row so if anything…we were due. 

If they had camera crews following around teams back in those days and televising the action, Verdugo would have definitely stolen the spotlight from some of the powerhouse teams around the League.  Why?  Because damn near every time we played, we put on a great show.  And today was no exception. 

We rolled out to Saugus to play the Newhall-Saugus team.  For more information on the crazy shit that went down on our ride out that day…..please read my earlier posts “The Saugus 500…Parts One and Two.”

Newhall-Saugus was on track to take the last playoff spot so I told everyone “we gotta beat these guys.”

“Don’t worry Gee”………..was all I heard.

“We can’t lose any more games”………I said.

“Don’t worry Gee”………

God I loved this Team!

Depleted pitching staff?  No problem!  McBride goes ALL THE WAY in a nine-inning game.  We win!!

Facing Erik Hiljus the Big Hard-throwing early-round draft pick?  No problem!  We lit him up!

Vic drew four walks, stole three bases and scored three runs.

Frost singled and scored twice.

Tex went three-for-four with two doubles and three RBI.

BullOxen Two hits and Two RBI.

Weapon Two hits and Two RBI.

McBride threw 134 pitches and went all the way for the win.  It was a little shaky…but we pulled off another upset.

One thing I will never forget is the absolute SHOT one of the Newhall-Saugus players BOMBED for a homerun in the first inning off of McBride.  This ball was probably the longest homerun I had ever seen hit in a Legion game.  Of course, in 1991 we saw BullOxen hit one that we measured after the game at an estimated 510 feet (when it landed)…..but the ball this guy hit was probably just as far.  It was hard to tell.  There was that Big Blue Fence at Saugus High.  Bull’s was hit at an open field up in LittleRock.  Plus, Bull’s shot rolled at least another 50 feet in some pretty deep grass.  So it’s hard to say which ball went further………..

This was one of those homeruns where the dugout gets real quiet.  Usually, when we’d give up a homerun I’d never look at anyone in the dugout.  I’d have to kind of put on my pokerface and pretend that it “didn’t hurt.”  You know, just kind of keep looking out at the field and say nothing.  No change in expression, that kind of thing.  Stoneface it, if you will.  As a manager you have to do shit like that, you know.  Even if it DOES hurt.

But within a short time of this ball landing (about 30 seconds later), I couldn’t keep a straight face.  I had to kind of shake my head at first.  Then I kind of looked at people in the dugout with a little peripheral vision…just to see their reaction.  Next thing you know I was making eye-contact with guys in the dugout and kind of saying “Fuck, did you see that SHOT?”

Then it escalated even further.  Everybody in the dugout was now talking about that ball he hit and laughing about it.  Then we looked out at the field.  I could see from the dugout that some of our guys in the field were kind of looking at each other like “Fuck…did you see that?”

Finally, we looked at McBride.  He couldn’t hold it in either….he started laughing too!!!!!

It didn’t matter…we all just kind of admired it.  Guys in our dugout were needling McBride about it the rest of the game.  We all had a good laugh about it.  That SHOT that kid hit was no fluke.  He led the District that summer in home runs with (I think) seven.  Usually I would read the papers and follow the stats around the League so I at least had SOME clue as to who was putting up the big numbers, and at least try to warn the pitchers.  But I didn’t do my homework on this guy.  Somehow he came in under the radar.  Well, after that SHOT he hit we knew EXACTLY who he was…..and pitched him very carefully the rest of the day.  He also doubled and singled before the game was over, but he didn’t tag us again like that first at-bat of his.

This was another clutch victory for Verdugo.  We were still “alive” mathematically in the playoff hunt at 8-7.  I don’t know what was more fun on this day in Verdugo-lore…..  beating up Newhall-Saugus like we did or the rides to and from the game. 

McBride chucking nine innings like that when we needed it was CLUTCH.  But we still had another HUGE game coming up the next day (Sunday) against Woodland Hills East.  If ever there was a game that should have been caught on film it would be the game that we were about to play.  Woodand Hills East was 15-1 or something like that.  We needed one more miracle……….and little did I know that I was about to experience one of my proudest moments EVER as a coach.

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.

 

The Double That Shook The Earth…..

Posted: February 27, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Frost, Games, Hank, McBride, Rogers, Weapon
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It was June 27, 1990.  We traveled out to Notre Dame high school on a Wednesday afternoon to pick up where we had left off three weeks earlier, bad blood and all.  The game we had started three weeks ago was tied 3-3, and called off due to darkness.  So the plan today was to finish the first game, and then play another seven inning game before it got dark.  So it was “Kind of” a doubleheader.  In the back of our minds we were all thinking about what went down between Fat Jody and McBride.  I am sure that all of the parents of both teams had heard about the drama….because by the time we got this thing started, the stands were FULL on both sides of the diamond.  It had the atmosphere of a playoff game.  So I was looking forward to see how we handled the spotlight that day.

We had played well over the last few weeks since McBride went off on Jody and came into the game with a 6-5 record.  All I knew was we needed to win ONE of these games…I didn’t want to drive home with a 6-7 record if they swept us.  So this was another huge game for us.

Finally, the game started.  Both teams went quietly in the eighth inning.  And I don’t even have to tell you who was pitching for us……….. 

Weapon came up in the top of the ninth inning and grounded out.  Up came Bull Oxen.  Walk.  Up came Hank.  Walk.  Rogers flew out to the center.  Two down.

Cal Frost stepped up.  Frost looked at strike one.  The next pitch he drilled a two-iron over the shortstop’s head and up the left-center gap.  I knew Bull would score from second but I wanted to make sure Hank got in from first.  And Hank was all over it.  Hank was moving so fast he almost caught up to Bull.  I was halfway down the line windmilling when I realized there wasn’t even going to be a play at the plate.  Frost’s double had cleared the bases and given us a 5-3 lead.

When Hank stepped on the plate he damn near split it in half.  I don’t think I had ever seen Hank this fired up and emotional as he got.  And no one…and I mean NO ONE wants to win more than Hank.  When Hank scored he continued to sprint towards the chain link fence on the first base side.  He leaped in the air about three feet and his momentum carried him right into the fence, where he clung to it…Spiderman-style.

As he was up in the air, clinging to that fence,  he started shaking it with his hands and feet.  He made sure every single person in the Notre Dame stands was watching him while he shook the fence and yelled out “Fuck Yeah!!!!!!” for about 10 seconds.  They were shocked!  Every mouth in that stands dropped about a foot!  And ‘Ol Hank was up there giving it to ’em….I think he made eye-contact with every last one of ’em!!!

Our dugout and fans were making a lot of noise.  Their side was silent.  Normally, an outburst like that was crazy…..the outcome of the game had not yet been determined…..and we STILL needed three outs to win…..but that’s what we all were FEELING at that moment.  So I let ’em go.  I didn’t say anything.  I just squinted my eyes and looked straight at Fat Jody.  He looked away when he caught my squinting eyes………..

Then I looked around for McBride.  He was sitting down and just STARING at the field.  Yeah, he had that look in his eye.  I knew he was gonna finish ’em off.

But Hank wasn’t done.  When Hank came down from the fence….he started yelling “Fuck Yeah!!!  That’s 7-5, now let’s make it 8-5 in another 10 minutes!!!”

He was predicting the WIN!!!   We still needed three outs but Hank had just moved us up in the standings from 6-5 to 7-5..and was even talking about 8-5!!!

I loved it!!  Mcbride’s outburst three weeks earlier had pulled us together.  And Hank took us out on a limb.  And we were about to find out if we could trash talk and back it up. 

McBride was a little too pumped and walked their leadoff hitter in the bottom of the ninth.  The next hitter laced a single to left, but the runner who moved to second on the base-hit took too big of a turn towards third.  Damon Martin, our left fielder…fired the ball to the cutoff man Frost, and Frosty back-picked to second where BullOxen made a great play tagging out the runner.  That broke their backs.  And Hank was over there at first base (right in front of their dugout) barking “Fuck Yeah!!” again.

The next hitter popped out.  One out to go.

McBride was totally pumped!  He was overthrowing.  He walked their cleanup hitter on four pitches.  Turner went out to the mound and calmed him down.

Runners at first and second…two out.  And McBride STRIKES OUT their other big gun Lou Tapia LOOKING!!!!

Done!  We walked the Walk!!  No crazy celebration when it ended.  Yeah, David had kind of beaten Goliath but I liked the way we handled ourselves when it ended.  You could sense that our guys were figuring out just what we were capable of.  And we proved we could play with anybody that day.  And yeah…as Hank predicted….we were now 7-5. 

We had woken up a sleeping giant with that win.  Notre Dame had a lot of talent on that team and they beat our asses pretty good the second game that day.  But it didn’t matter.  We STOLE a game from them with nothing more than will, resolve, grit, and determination.  

And you know what’s really cool?  Notre Dame missed the Playoffs that year by ONE GAME.

You think ‘Ol Fat Jody spent a little time over the winter thinking about THIS ONE????????? 

Yes-sir-ree….’Ol Cal Frost’s double……..The Double that SHOOK THE EARTH.  The Double that was one of the greatest DEFINING  moments of our four years of Glory.  The Rock in our sling that SLAYED Goliath……….

“The Saugus 500″…part one

Posted: December 26, 2010 in 1990, Behind the Scenes, Frost, Games, General, No Way!
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Out in the City of Saugus, California there is a racetrack.  I think they call it the “Saugus Speedway.”  While we were scheduled to play a baseball game in Saugus that day, the game  we played became a mere footnote to a much more monumental event.  An unplanned event of epic proportions.   An event where there was much more at stake than the outcome of a baseball game.  An event where winning was all that mattered.  An event where everyone DECLARED themselves the be the winner, yet no winner was ever officially DECLARED.  An event that to this day (20 years later) is still surrounded by a cloud of controversy.  An event we appropriately named “The Saugus 500.”

It was 1990, our first season, and we were playing a game that hot summer day against a team called Newhall-Saugus.  We had a ritual before every road game.  All of the players and coaches would meet at the same local park in our neighborhood and I would pass out hand-written directions to all of those who were driving.  That day we had about six cars loaded with players and coaches.  One of the kids named “Frost” showed up driving in his step-dad’s Maserati.  He said, “Don’t worry about the directions everybody,  just follow me.”  Like an idiot…I said “okay.”  He then grabbed ALL of the directions I had written out, stuck them in his pocket, hopped in his car and ripped out of the parking lot, leaving us all behind.   

Thanks to Frost, we now had NO directions to the field and he was about a quarter mile down the road.  Going about 60 in a 35.  “Shit!” I said……”Get in your cars and follow his ass!”

People were diving into their cars.  Scrambling!  All I know is that if we lost him, we didn’t know where the hell the field was.  We were a little late as it was, so we all had no choice but to put the pedal to the metal and catch Frost.  Shit I was pissed.  We left a trail of rubber when we left the parking lot.  General was driving.  A couple of the other cars got a little sideways leaving the parking lot.  We ripped to the freeway and we could barely see a speeding car off in the distance that looked like a dot.  I pointed, squinted my eyes and said to General………….”Frost!!!………..get him!!!!”

General did a brilliant job of closing the gap on Frost and all of the other cars were right behind us.  I realized about five miles down the freeway that this was turning into a frickin’ race!!  Everybody was going about 100 mph.  One car would pull up alongside another…the guys in that car would flip-off the guys in the other car.  People were rolling down their windows and yelling shit at each other, making faces and shit.  One of the guys in one car threw something at one of the other cars.  He missed.  Now everybody was laughing.  I hate going fast!!!…..but everybody was determined to win the race.  It was insane!  I asked myself  “What am I doing here?”

Frost knew it was a race now but had a little advantage…he knew where the field was, and he was driving a Maserati.  He signaled to get off at a couple of off-ramps….we got behind him and signaled to get off as well.  Then at the last second he ripped back onto the freeway.  He ‘s toying with us!!  “Fucker!”………I yelled….. “Catch him General!”  Then all of a sudden General says “I think I know where we are…..the field is gonna be on the next off-ramp.”

We had actually pulled ahead of him, then Frost made a crazy move to take the lead as we got off the freeway but he screwed up and got in the wrong lane.  Some of the cars had followed Frost, and some had followed General.  Now we had six cars all stuck at a RED LIGHT….guys flipping each other off….revving their motors.  The chess game began.  Everybody was boxed in.  Frost was ahead of us, but he was in the left lane and pinned in.   We were in the right lane.  Somebody had to make a move.  We had JUST enough room to make something happen.  I said “Do it Gen”………..laughing all the way General drove right up the curb and onto the sidewalk,  just missing a bus bench by less than a foot and a light pole by the same margin.  We had made a clean right turn and escaped the traffic-jam!  We rolled down our windows and started waving goodbye to all the losers that were stuck at that red light!  We saw their faces…they were pissed!  

One of the players in our car yelled “There it is!”   The field was in sight.  General gunned it and we were the first to enter the parking lot.  Then we looked behind….”Oh Shit…it’s Frost!…here he comes!”  And he was bringing it in that Maserati.  And the cars behind Frost were right on him.  Bad news.  The parking lot was totally DIRT!!!  Every car came flying into that parking lot!!  Dust was flying  everywhere….cars were driving in circles , doing brodies.  It looked like a mushroom cloud.  General brought it to a stop.  I got out and quickly drew a line in the dirt behind us.  All of the cars came to skidding halts.  Half a mile away it probably looked like a fire had started.   

“We won!” I yelled.

“Bullshit” said the guys from one of the other cars.

I pointed to the line I had drawn in the dirt.  Smiling, I said “we crossed the finish line!….we win!!!”

“Bullshit!!” another group of guys said..”we saw you draw that line!”

“Bullshit that line was already there”………I said.

“No way!!!” said some of the guys from another car.

Everybody was yelling at each other at this point.   I yelled “Allright quit fucking around we got a game to play….and me and The General won!  And Frost what the hell are you thinking!?!?!?”

We all started getting our gear out of the cars.  Everybody was silent for about a minute.  Then as we’re all walking towards the field Hank pipes up “That’s bullshit driving up the sidewalk General!”

Now everybody started arguing again.  Everybody was saying that they won now.  We didn’t know how to get onto the field.  Gates were locked.  It was starting to get a little heated.  Each driver of each car was telling everybody else why THEY had won the race.  Hank started saying “we’ve done it….we’ve won the Saugus 500!”  We all got ready to hop the left field fence to get onto the field.  This was no chain link fence. It was solid wood, we couldn’t see what was on the other side. Guys were throwing their bags and equipment over the fence.  We all scaled it pretty fast.  By the time we got over the fence and onto the field there was just one problem:  Our opponents were all sitting in left field with their coaches going through stretching exercises.  Half the shit we had thrown over the fence almost hit one of their players or coaches.

We didn’t care.  We just kept on arguing about who had won “The Saugus 500.”   We didn’t even acknowledge their presence.  We just grabbed our stuff off the ground and walked right through their stretching-session and continued over to our dugout arguing all the way. While I kind of wondered what the boys from Newhall-Saugus were thinking at this point…..the beauty of it was I DIDN’T CARE.

……….to be continued