"Now this is MY kind of BLOG!!!!!"
All I can say is I found him today and he’s going to THE VERDUGO BASH!!!
AHHH McBride!!!!!!!!!!
Now….we still got some guys to track down. We need everyone to PULL together Verdugo-style these last few weeks. We gotta close the deal and not give in. Don’t let any of these guys we’re trying to track down tell us NO!!! ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE THE LAST FEW WEEKS HERE IS NEEDED. Help us get every possible guy there to this BASH!
No is not an option!
Let’s GO!!!!!!!
AHHHH VERDUGO!!!!!!
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App
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IP
|
H
|
BB
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SO
|
ER
|
ERA
|
W
|
L
|
S
|
CG
|
|
|
Breckow
|
2
|
9.1
|
10
|
7
|
7
|
4
|
3.01
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Canale
|
11
|
29
|
32
|
31
|
24
|
16
|
3.86
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1
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
|
Chandler
|
5
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19.1
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17
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7
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15
|
4
|
1.45
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1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
Fernandez
|
10
|
32.2
|
25
|
27
|
30
|
9
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2.19
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2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
|
McBride
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8
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39.2
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37
|
18
|
20
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27
|
4.76
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4
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2
|
1
|
3
|
|
Rivera
|
2
|
9.1
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5
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2
|
9
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1
|
0.75
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1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
|
Rogers
|
2
|
10.2
|
15
|
6
|
6
|
10
|
6.56
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1
|
2
|
0
|
1
|
|
Forfeit
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0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Team
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46
|
155
|
149
|
107
|
112
|
77
|
3.47
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12
|
10
|
8
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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.
Now we traveled out to San Fernando High School for a Sunday Doubleheader. I’ll never forget the condition of the field when we arrived. It was the most brutal war zone I have ever seen. Not only had the field not been dragged……..I don’t think it had EVER been dragged. No chalk lines…..nothing.
I was greeted by a smiling old man who was (I guess) coaching the San Fernando team. From the looks of the field…I knew he HAD to be the coach (the dress-shoes he was wearing gave it away).
“Are you gonna drag the field?” I asked.
“No, no, no it’s good” he told me.
I saw a couple of guys from his team now trying to dig into the ground to find the anchors for the bases. I gotta give him credit…he DID have some bases.
“Look” I said, “I will personally drag the field.”
“No, no it’s good” he said.
I then tore three empty pages out of our scorebook and handed them to him.
He then looked at me as if to say “what the hell is this?”
“Really…..you’ve gone to alot of trouble this morning here I can see……..why don’t we just use THESE as the bases today?”
THAT……… pissed him off! But I didn’t care. And I think I made my point with that guy. Somebody was gonna get hurt with the field like that…………jeez.
I’m not real picky…but the condition of this field was the worst I had EVER seen in my life. And it was a decent facility. All it needed was to be taken care of. Incredible.
I hit everybody HIGH CHOPPERS during Pre-game so no one got hurt.
We took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning of the first game and they rolled an eight on us. We dropped the opener 9-3. We only had three hits in the first game. Frost hit a two-out triple in the second inning but we couldn’t bring him in. Vic had a two-RBI Double in the third, and an RBI triple in the fifth. Apart from that we didn’t really get anything going in that first game.
The San Fernando team was pretty loose, and had a good squad. They were having fun out there on the field. Some of you guys may remember they had a pitcher on the mound named “Bobby.” All I remember is pretty much the whole game I had to listen to their team saying “Hey Bobby”…..”Hey Bobby”….it actually was kind of funny. Well, it wasn’t THAT funny. The way I saw it I just lost a game to a guy who was not only wearing DRESS SHOES, he didn’t even have enough respect for the game to drag the ‘effin field!! Fucker……..yeah, I was pissed!
The second game was a different story. We took a 2-0 lead on them after two innings keyed by RBI singles by BullOxen and Vic. McBride started BOTH games of the doubleheader on the mound. San Fernando then scored five unearned runs against us in the bottom of the third to take a 5-2 lead.
Tex wasn’t at the field that day………YET. He said he had some sort of commitment he had to be at and told me he would get to the field around 3 PM. Sure enough…around 3:00, in rolls TEX. I immediately got him into the lineup. Tex then stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning with that bow-legged stance of his and promptly ROPED a two-RBI double up the gap in left-center. All of a sudden, we were right back in it.
The Verdugo attitude was starting to kick in. Guys were getting pissed. Canale had thrown a couple of great innings of relief and was getting tired. I was reluctant to give the ball to Hank, because he had thrown about 90 pitches the day before at Chaminade. Vic stepped up….he didn’t ask for the ball, he DEMANDED the ball.
I asked Vic when the last time it was he had pitched. “Back in Babe Ruth” was his answer. That was NOT the right answer………now I was getting sick to my stomach. It was then that Vic uttered the phrase the players kept telling me all year…….”Don’t worry Gee.”
Vic went out and threw two innings of no-hit ball. The problem was…..he walked SEVEN guys in those two innings. But only ONE guy scored….and we now trailed 6-4.
The Verdugo attitiude was now in full effect. I kept hearing guys saying shit like “C’mon! NOBODY sweeps Verdugo!”
All of a sudden we were TOTALLY into the game. Frost led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple. Hank laced a base hit and it was 6-5. We tried a hit and run with Canale but the shortstop made a great play to nip the Bull at first. Hank got wild-pitched to third. Up came Weapon. Weapon grounded out, but Hank scored. It was 6-6 and closing in on 100 degrees. I was starting to get really worried about Turner….he had caught every inning of both games. I’d tell Turner “Look we gotta get Rogers in there you’re gonna die back there.” Turner just kept saying to me “Don’t worry Gee I got it.”
This is the type of shit I’m talkin’ bout! Total Verdugo!
Hank was getting really worked up. All he said was “Gimme the ball.” I told him “hell no”…. he had just thrown 90 pitches the day before. So what does Hank say? “Don’t worry Gee.” So we sent him out to pitch the top of the seventh. And he fucking struck out the side!!!!!!! AHHHH Hank!!!!
We started a little one-out rally in the bottom of the seventh. Tex drew a walk, and Vic singled. The centerfielder misplayed the ball allowing Vic to get to second base, but we had to hold Martin at third. They intentionally walked Frost to load the bases. Then the fiery Hank came up and hit into an inning-ending double play! Fuck was Hank pissed!
After hitting into that double-play (a 5-2-3 Double-play where he was out at first by a half a step), I was no longer worried about Hank. He was pissed now, and he wanted this win.
So we sent Hank out to pitch the top of the eighth. And sure enough, three up, three down. Ahhhhh Hank!!!
Hank was just about as pumped as I’ve ever seen him. BullOxen led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk.
Weapon then stepped up and CRUSHED a 1-0 fastball over everyone’s heads…..
And we were DOGPILING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a win!!!!!!!!!! That ball Weapon hit was hit just as hard if not harder than the ball he hit at North Hollywood where he was robbed of a homerun. This one would have been an inside the park homer. So I guess Weap SHOULD HAVE had two homers in 1990 for Verdugo….he kind of got robbed twice.
Somehow……….we had found a way. Again. What a win!!!!!!!!!
That’s all I can really say………and I’m shaking my head and smiling as I write this (in a good way) WHAT A WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes it was hard….and it usually defied logic…..but now, when the guys were telling me “Don’t worry Gee”…I was actually starting to BELIEVE them.
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………
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!!!!!
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.
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……….
Some of you guys remember Brian McBride. He played one year for us…on our 1990 team. He led the team in wins that season with four and innings pitched with 39. He was a good kid. Never complained about anything. In fact..when we had two guys on our roster who wanted to wear number 14 on their jersey…McBride let the other guy ( a guy we called “White” Chandler) wear it and Brian wore jersey number 14 and a half!!! He was funny, well-mannered and a hard worker. He had already played for a Colt-League team for me in 1989 (a team that came within a dropped fly-ball of winning it all) and I never saw him lose his cool. That is, until our first meeting with our old friend……..FAT JODY. Thanks to McBride and a couple of other guys…..one of the greatest Legion rivalries of all-time was born.
This was a huge game for us. We came into the game 1-2, and were blown out of our previous game 13-2. We needed a win, and with our rag-tag group of guys going up against the mighty Notre Dame squad I would venture to say we were the underdogs going into this one. Hank started on the mound and gave us a great five innings…although we trailed 2-0 when he left.
In the top of the sixth, we rolled a three to take the lead. This game was turning into quite a chessmatch between Jody and I. They’d steal, and we’d pitchout. We’d steal, and they’d pitchout. Both teams were bunting, trying to move guys over, and playing for a run. Great calls by both coaches in first and third situations. It was taxing, but fun. A couple of times ‘Ol Jody looked over at our bench with that look of his that said…”Oh shit.” Yeah, he was worried.
I was happy with the way we were playing. The game was scheduled to go seven innings but darkness was setting in. McBride came in to relieve Hank in the bottom of the sixth. He shut them off. We didn’t score in the top of the seventh. All we needed was three outs for the upset. They scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh to force the game into extra innings.
It looked like there was enough light to start the eighth inning. As Brian walked from the mound towards our dugout after Notre Dame had scored and tied the game he walked right past fat Jody, who was doing his little dorky jog back to the first base dugout. That was when McBride exploded.
“Why don’t you shut your fucking mouth you fat piece of shit!!!!!!!!!!!” he screamed. McBride then took his glove and threw it about 20 feet into our dugout.
Jody stopped near home plate and looked at him as if to say “Who me?”
We had all figured it out by now, and Jody was BUSTED. He was talking to my pitcher when my pitcher was making his way back to the dugout. This shit had been going on for a couple of innings, and McBride put him in his place.
By now Mcbride was in our dugout kicking shit around, waving his arms, and screaming at Fat Jody. “What the fuck is your problem you fucking Bush-leaguer?”
The umpire came over. I just kind of sat there and watched everything that was happening. This was between McBride and Jody, as far as I was concerned. And the more information I gathered, it became clear Jody was out-of-line. McBride was yelling at the ump about whatever Jody had been saying to him and let the ump know he didn’t like it. The ump just kind of looked at Jody like “Are you doing this shit?”
Look…I coached alot of years and I said plenty of shit on my own….but I never got “weird” like that and singled a guy out like Jody was doing. At least everything I said was there for EVERYONE to hear…not some weird kind of “stalker” conversation between me and another guy that nobody else knew about. What Jody was doing was just flat-out WEIRD.
Jody never said another word in his defense. He knew he was busted. The game was called on account of darkness and the outcome of the game was going to be decided in three weeks when we were scheduled to play them again. We all left the field PISSED!!! I was proud of McBride. It was nice to see how underneath all of his pleasant demeanor there was a FIERCE competitor.
The next three weeks before we played those guys again it seemed like that was all we talked about. Those were the guys our Team wanted to beat. McBride’s outburst lit a fire for our ballclub that still burns to this very day. We never let anyone say ANYTHING to us after that single event. McBride set the tone, and I’ll bet to this very day ‘Ol Jody wishes he never said a word to that kid.
1990 was one of our finest hours as a Team. We played all 22 games ON THE ROAD that season. And we still finished 12-10. We lost one game in extra innings, and three games by a run. One team that went 15-7 reached the playoffs. That’s how close we came. Yes, we did a lot of damage in ’92 and ’93….going 38-5…but that 1990 Team may have been the greatest Team I ever coached. That was the Team that basically sent this message to everyone: If you’re playing Verdugo, then get ready for the dogfight of your life!!!
I believe that this was the turning point in the season for us. And we couldn’t wait to finish the game against Notre Dame in three weeks. We didn’t care about their players…it was all about beating Fat Jody from that point forward.
The next post is going to be fun…I already have the Title for it……I’m going to call it “‘The Double That Shook The Earth”……………
verdugo288 