verdugo288

And once again…..they’ve done it!

That’s right.  We rolled into North Hollywood, punished them with another mercy-rule victory, and picked up our TWELFTH win of the year….assuring us a winning record.  This bumped us to 12-9, and for another couple of days we were still mathematically in the Playoff hunt.  That is, until we read the newspapers and learned that Newhall-Saugus had won their 15th game.  That ended any chances of us sneaking into that Big Party they call “The Playoffs.”

John Rogers picked up the win on the mound.  He threw a five-inning shutout. 

North Hollywood had a rough season.  They walked six guys, commited seven errors..and we racked up eight hits in the victory.  I remember doing the stats after this game and seeing that even if we got shut down in our last game…we were still going to hit .300 as a Team.  Pretty impressive.  Both times we played these guys we beat ’em 10-0.

I was extremely happy we had guaranteed a winning season with this win.  I was beaming.  We had fought hard all season.  The pitchers were tired.  It was pretty much against all odds, but once again……..they’ve done it!!!

Bull picked up two hits this game, Martin two hits, Vic doubled, Weap doubled, Turner singled…..and you guessed it…..HANK even chipped in to keep his end-of-the-season tear alive.  What a finish by Hank!!

Our last game was going to be against Sun Valley.  They had sewn up a playoff spot, but we all wanted to try and take them out and finish the year on a high note.  BullOxen was going to get the start.  I couldn’t wait………..

Now I’m down at Stengel Field.  “Hey wait a minute!” you say….”you said the next game was at North Hollywood High.”  That’s right!  I did.  And….it WAS scheduled to be the NEXT game.  I was down at Stengel Field coaching the OTHER Team I had that summer.  A Connie Mack Team comprised of players from CV and Burbank High.  We put this Team together to keep the rat-weasel from the Burbank Legion Team from coaching any of our underclassmen who would be returning to play for us the next season at Burbank High.  Except for ONE GUY.  Yeah, there was ONE GUY who was an underclassman who we let play on that Burbank Legion Team.  His name?  Jeff Kadis. 

Kadis was kind of “on the fence” about our Burbank High School Program.  He ultimately became LOYAL….but he was (I must admit) the LAST of the underclassmen we had to give their unbending loyalty to myself and Coach Johnson (The Head Coach).  So that summer Kadis played for ME on the Connie Mack Team and also played for the rat weasel on the Burbank Legion Team.  But deep down he was a good guy.  And at the field this night at Stengel…he pulled off one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a pregame drill.

Anyways…I’m talking to Kadis before the game.  “Hey how’s your Legion Team doing?” I asked him (like I even cared).  I was just making a little “small talk” with him.

“Yeah” we had a game last night.

“Did you win?”

“Yeah….we won on a forfeit” he said.

“Who was the other team” I asked.

He sat there for about ten seconds and then he says…”YOU!!”

I went WILD.  We didn’t have any god-damned game scheduled against Burbank.  Not for another week I told him.

“Bullshit” he said…..”The umps were there and everything.”

Soon enough I put two and two together.  That FUCKING LITTLE RAT WEASEL.  That fucking little rat weasel who refused to sign Chandler and Chili over to us was pulling some more SHIT!!!

I went straight to the payphone at Stengel.  I called the League Supervisor.  Got him on the phone.  And went WILD.

As I was walking to the payphone…I’m thinking…”Does it EVER stop with this guy?”

After about ten minutes of going off…..the Commissioner realized that the rat weasel had taken it upon himself to “reschedule” the Verdugo-Burbank game…….AND NOT TELL VERDUGO about it!!!

It was an easy fix.

“He’s been pulling this kind of shit all summer long”……..the commissioner said……..”this time I’m gonna make him pay.”

The final verdict:  FORFEIT.

AGAINST BURBANK!!!!!!

The winner?  VERDUGO!!!!!!!!

Why?

For trying to pull shit on Verdugo!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!!!

This post is NO joke.  This coach actually tried to pull this shit off and thought he was gonna get away with it.  I enjoyed every minute of returning to the field..hitting pregame…and telling Kadis….”yeah, it WAS a forfeit……….AND I WON!!!”

Kadis was a little bit overweight.  He was usually lethargic during day games.  And since most Baseball games are played during the daytime….well, I guess you could say Kadis was “lethargic.”  But on this night game at Stengel….he was ON FIRE!  Was it the cool weather?  What was it?  I’m telling you, he was ON FIRE!

I even told him…”Dude, you’re ACTIVE tonight.  I’ve never seen you this ACTIVE.”  Kadis was usually a catcher or first baseman….and he was ALWAYS begging to pitch.

I stuck him in left.  Kadis was crow-hoppin’….putting on a clinic out there during pre-game.  I couldn’t believe the way he was hustling that night.

“Now I know what you’re capable of”….you dogged it the whole season”….. I told him….”and Coach Johnson’s gonna hear about this!”

Don’t get me wrong.  I was elated!  Kadis was ALIVE!!!  I was loving it!!!

At least until we started making throws from the outfield to third base.  Our opponents had gathered just outside the third base dugout at Stengel and their coach was going over something with his players while we hit pre-game.  The coach had his back to the field.

I hit it to Kadis…..”Three” we yelled.  Kadis came up with it cleanly……put on a textbook crow-hop….and promptly FIRED one to the third baseman….about fifteen feet OVER HIS HEAD.

Everybody in the park saw it coming…..except the coach…he had his back turned to the field.

RIGHT IN THE BACK OF HIS HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kadis and I were “Bro’s” after that one………

Every time I saw Kadis from that night forward…I couldn’t stop laughing.

Finally, after all of the B.S……..Kadis and I were Bro’s.  And Kadis (who was kind of a Babe Ruth look-alike) hit a titanic BLAST deep into the wash at Stengel that night.  DAMN he was ACTIVE that night!!!!!! 

Yes-sir-ree…..but all that mattered to me was the fact that Verdugo had officially swept Burbank that season……no matter what the rat weasel tried to do.  Hey rat weasel…THANKS for the FREEBIE!!!!!!!  And thanks for pushing us to 11-9 on the year!!!  AHHHHHHHH Verdugo!!!!

I said it in an earlier post and I’ll say it again……….Good ALWAYS triumphs over evil!!!!!!!!!!

Time for a little double-header action against a team called “Valley ET.”  The “ET” stood for Encino-Tarzana.  They were having a rough year.  The kind of year everyone had predicted US to have.  But Verdugo always “beats the spread”…in Vegas, or anywhere else for that matter.  And if there WAS a line in Vegas for this game…it was nice to be FINALLY playing a couple of games where we were actually FAVORED to win.

By this time of the year, the Team and I had an interesting relationship going on.  It was an “open door” policy…everyone could kind of speak their mind.  Guys knew I didn’t take myself TOO seriously, they knew all I cared about was kicking as much ass as we could.  So it worked.  I was about 12-14 years older than the players.  Not old enough to be looked at like a parent…too old to be looked at like an older brother.  I don’t really know what I was.  But it must have been fun for onlookers to watch us “go back and forth” on certain things.  We’d argue, rag on each other…it was all good. 

The cool thing was this…I can’t even tell you how many people came up to me that season and told me how hard you guys played.  And that’s about ALL I cared about.  People telling me I had the “Team from Hell”….or “it’s like a mix of the WWF and Baseball”…..one guy told me “no brick wall is thick enough for those guys to run through.”  Yeah, that was cool.  It was parents, coaches, umpires, everybody.  They always had something to say about Verdugo Hills.  Sometimes the things they said weren’t real nice, either.  But make no mistake about this….we had carved out quite a name for ourselves that first season.

McBride started the first game of the twin bill.  All I told him before the game was “just pitch the whole game!”

Hey, what else could I say?  McBride would always battle for us….so I started pushing the envelope with him as much as I could.  There’s an old saying…”when you get a good horse, YOU RIDE IT.”  I’d make sure there were plenty of people listening when I’d say to him “anything short of a complete-game-victory is unacceptable.”

McBride just laughed.  He knew I was toying with him. But that’s exactly what he did in the opening game. We won 5-3.

We made the most of four hits in the win.  Hank singled to lead off the third inning.  Sammy singled him to third and ‘Ol Hank scored on Vic’s sacrifice fly to give us a 1-0 lead.   

In the fifth, Hank led off again with a base-hit and stole second.  He moved to third on a wild-pitch and Sammy squeezed him in.  One of their infielders threw the ball into the right field corner on Sammy’s bunt and he ended up at third on the play.  Vic and Tex drew walks………and BullOxen came up and broke the game open with a three RBI double. 5-0 just like that.

McBride threw a great game…walking three and striking out three.  They mounted a little threat in the bottom of the sixth, but Vic made a diving catch in center and back-picked to first base to double-off a runner who had wandered too far towards second.  And of course…Hank was rubbing it in all the way!  We were back on track.

The second game we had BIG BRECK.  Big Breck had gotten out of some kind of Basketball commitment he had and got the start.  Big Breck’s numbers?  Five Innings…three hits…three walks…a tight little shutout.  We win 11-0.  Mercy Rule.  AHHH Big Breck!!!  Big Breck was locked in with Basketball the rest of the season so it was his last appearance for us that season.  But it gave Hank and Bull some rest.

I gotta say this.  HANK had really caught fire at the plate.  He was on a 7-12 tear over the last four games.  Hank hit .339 in the summer of 1990.  Yeah, some of those were chinkers, some were dunkers….some were “routine” ground balls that ended up being base hits when one of the middle infielders would vacate when we’d hit and run….but .339 is .339.  Who would have thought ‘Ol Hank with that sweepin’ swing of his would hit .339?  Great job HANK!

Hank was three for three in the second game, Rogers doubled in two runs, and we had base hits by Tex, Bull, Frost, and Turner.

Shit…Hank was hitting the ball so well I hit him in the three hole…….BOTH GAMES! 

Even better…we were back over .500 at 10-9.  Most importantly, we got through both games and didn’t have to pitch Hank or Bull.  Now it was time for another little trip to North Hollywood High.  The “Traveling Salesmen” were back on a roll….riding high….having fun….and closing deals!!!

It was difficult to get ready for our next ballgame.  We were kind of looking in the rear view mirror going into this one.  We definitely had a little emotional letdown after the tough loss to Woodland Hills East.  So we took our ten-man show out to Valley College for a game against Encino-Crespi.  On the mound for Crespi?  Jeff Suppan.  We all are aware today of Suppan’s brilliant High School career at Crespi High.  But this was just his beginning.  He was coming off his Freshman season (where he played all season for the varsity), but was still technically a ninth-grader when we faced him.

Has was only 15 years old.  And he beat us. 

He had a great curveball and he threw strikes.  But make no mistake about this……BullOxen had a nastier curveball than Jeff Suppan.

It wasn’t like he was untouchable or anything.  Both teams had six hits.  He only struck out six guys.  The difference in this game was our pitching staff walking eight guys.  In fact…Crespi had scored SIX times on us by the third inning….on ONE HIT.

This loss dropped us to 8-9.  So what does Verdugo do when our record drops to 8-9?  Well….we rattle off FOUR wins in a row to get back in the Playoff hunt.  I’ll be covering those four wins as well.

Vic tripled, Martin and Weap doubled, and Frost, BullOxen, and Rogers all singled.  Rogers drove in two runs and Vic had an RBI as well.

I don’t know if I would have predicted Suppan to make it to the Big Leagues after watching this game.  Over the years, we got to see a few other guys who also made it.  Randy Wolf, Brad Fulmer, Russ Ortiz to name a few.  That’s what was so great about Legion Ball.  It really WAS (in the early to mid 1990’s) the best summer-league Baseball competition out there.  All the scouts were there, and it gave the kids some great exposure for Professional or even College Baseball. 

Sure, we ALWAYS wanted to win.  And I was certainly trying from the first game I managed to build the most feared Team in the 20th District.  And ultimately, we did that. But at the very least…I was also there to make sure OUR GUYS got as much exposure as we could possibly get.  That’s why I always got the stats called in to the Newspapers.  And it definitely paid off.  The Scouts started coming around to watch us in ’91.  Once we started really kicking some ass….there was pretty much at least ONE scout at every game we played from the middle of the ’92 season forward.

Yeah….”Soup” beat us.  But if you were to sit him down today and ask him if he remembers a Team from his Legion Ball days called Verdugo Hills, I’m sure he would be able to tell you EXACTLY who we were.  The Verdugo-Crespi “rivalry” continued on in ’92 and ’93.  I liked their program.  I liked their coach.  And I liked their kids.  The coach and I never got into it too much.  But there was a respect we had for one another.  And when we went toe-to-toe on the field, Coach Muckey and I were both looking to kick each others’ ass.  I have to say, overall…..he was a good guy.  And he’s probably about the ONLY guy I coached against in that League that I would say that about.

Now…let’s talk about these FOUR IN A ROW we rattled off!!!!!!!

Ahhhh Verdugo!

Today was an historic date in Baseball History.  Mark it on your calendars!  Yes-sir-ree…….OUR BLOG here is now an official member (or should I say “an illustrious” member?) of Baseball’s 3,000 Hit Club!  That’s right!  3,000 hits already on our little Blog.  AHHHHHHHH Verdugo!!!

I will not rest until we have broken Pete Rose’s record of 4,256 hits.  We should eclipse this mark BEFORE THE BASH if we continue at this pace!

So I want to take a quick timeout and give a heartfelt thanks to all the fans of our blog.  For never “pitching around us” or intentionally walking us.  You just keep throwing it down the middle…we’ll rock it up the gap, and say “FETCH” while you go and chase it!!!

AHHHHH!!!!!

So now VERDUGO can be mentioned in the same sentence as guys like Aaron, Clemente, Rose, Yount, Carew, Yastrzemski (yes I spelled it right), Biggio, and even ‘Ol Ty Cobb!!!!   Actually, it doesn’t surprise me a bit!!!!  When we break Rose’s record (who was a lazy-ass player compared to US), these guys will be lucky to be mentioned in the same sentence as VERDUGO!!

Shit…it took most of these slackers 20 YEARS to do what we’ve done in just a few short months here with this BLOG!!!!

So get ready to start sending out a few links to this blog to everyone you know!  Mark my words…Rose’s record will be SHATTERED by VERDUGO!!!!

AHHHHH Verdugo!!!!

Rose and the rest of these chumps have been “beating themselves in the chest” because they picked up a couple hundred hits in a season.  Shit….we damn near do that in ONE DAY sometimes.

So crack a brew…we’ve already passed Clemente, Kaline, and Boggs!!!

VERDUGO……The KINGS OF (pretty much) EVERTHING ON EARTH!!!!!!!!

AHHHH!!!!!!!

Yeah, I want to write about this next game against Woodland Hills East.  But “Before we go any further” I just want to point a few things out.  We started this season with eighteen guys on the Roster.  We were now down to eleven.  But it was eleven guys you could count on.  Eleven guys who ate, lived, and breathed what we were doing. 

We had those Cleveland Indian “Battle Caps” that we wore.  By this time of the season, they were no longer Navy Blue and Red.  First off, it was the cheapest hat money could buy.  But we wore them proudly.  We were all kind of embarrassed about those caps in the beginning but as time went on they became a part of who we were.  We called them “Battle Caps” because they had developed a little “character.”  These hats had been right there with us in some of the greatest battles of all time.  These hats were now kind of light blue and pink from getting sun-baked.  They had bands of white around them from sweat.  Nobody washed them.  They were absolutely filthy.  Guys had written inspirational things under the bills of those caps as the season progressed.  Now, those messages were all smudged up, an unintelligible mess that only the author could recognize…….

Our shirts were cheap T-Shirts with silk-screened numbers on the back.   We were about as rag-tag as it got.  But I’ve never wore a uniform prouder.  A shoe-string budget would have been a step-up for us.  We didn’t even have a fungo until the ’92 season.  No oranges.  No Gatorade Cooler.  Hell no…we lived off of adrenaline!!!!  There were water fountains, and we would bring “some” water to the games….but not like the Glory Years.  This is the kind of shit that pulled everyone together. 

I lived to do the stats after the games.  I loved calling in the stats to the papers.  Players would call up and vent after a loss. 

Yeah, we were down to eleven……but it didn’t matter. 

I didn’t realize it at the time but we were creating something here.  I didn’t know exactly what it was, but whatever it was…it was a Good Thing.

We pretty much played the last 14 games with eleven guys.  Here are their names:  Hank, Weapon, Rogers, Canale, Martin, McBride, Turner, Vaquera, Yoder, Vic, Frost.  Big Breck kept in contact with us, but had basketball commitments.  No, Big Breck never quit.  So it was eleven PLUS Big Breck.

I’m proud of these guys.  I also know Chandler and Chili would have been there for us as well……….

So before we go any further, I just wanted to mention those caps, those uniforms (that most guys never even washed when they came to the yard), the holes in the knees of our pants, the belts that were falling apart, and everything else. 

At the beginning of the season we had the uniforms that I didn’t want to wear.  By the end of the season, because of what we had created and accomplished….I had a uniform I didn’t want to take off!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah…this was The Big Day indeed.  It was Saturday, June 30th, 1990.  And I was going to get married this day at 5:00 PM.  You think that stopped me from managing a Verdugo game?  HELL NO!!!!!  The game was scheduled to start at 10:00 AM….and I was nervous as hell anyways.  At the very least, I figured it would kind of take my mind off of everything.  As long as the game DIDN’T go into extra innings……

The problem was…..the umpires were about an hour and a half late!

The game was over at Poly High against Sun Valley.  Sun Valley had a good record, a good ballclub, and they ultimately reached the playoffs .  But that still didn’t stop myself and the rest of the Verdugo crew from wanting to go out and ruin Sun Valley’s day!!!  Actually, we were all talking about the wedding before the game.  I got to admit I was “moved” by how the guys were vowing to play their best for me that day.  And that they did!  And the way we played that day meant a lot to me.  We came up short, but we played one hell of a great game (again).

Like I said in an earlier post, BullOxen was really starting to find his groove on the mound.  Bull got the start.  And he threw a great five innings.  Bull kept ’em off-balance that day with that nasty yellow hammer of his, and we played some great defense. 

We pulled off a great play in a first-and-third situation in the first inning where we caught one of their runners leaning a little too far off third base.  We made a great sale on the play, Canale intercepted the “throwdown” to second, and back-picked to third to end one of their threats. 

We turned a double play in the second inning.  We trailed going into the bottom of the fifth 2-0, but we weren’t giving anything away. 

Hank drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the fifth and stole second.  Rogers came up and ripped a base hit to left to score Hank.  The left-fielder misplayed the ball and Rogers wound up at second base.  Turner then bunted Rogers over to third, and Sammy squeezed him in.  Clutch inning.  Great execution.  Tie game now.

Hank came in to relieve Bull and threw four great innings.  He gave up three hits and an earned run.  He picked off two guys.  They took the lead on us in the top of the ninth on a clean base hit.  We gave up three runs and they were all earned.  We certainly pitched and played defense that day well enough to win.  

However, at the plate we struggled.  Sun Valley threw that Fat Bitch at us.  To read more about him check out my earlier post “Fat Bitch Gets His Bra Knocked Off…Twice.”

I still don’t know how this guy shut us down.  We only had three hits.  He only struck out two guys.  It wasn’t like he was dominating us or anything but for some reason we just couldn’t hit this guy.

We started a rally in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t close the deal.  It was another tough loss.  But we gave another playoff team another great fight.  When we left the field that day, we had their respect.  The final score: 3-2.

So here we were with this depleted pitching staff that was STILL giving us great innings…even in the biggest of games, and the biggest of days.  I want to thank everyone for the effort you guys gave that day.

It seemed like everyone was more down about the loss than I was.  I can honestly say that The Team really DID want to win one for ‘Ol Gee that day.  I couldn’t be down about the loss.  It was (again) the gutsy effort we gave on the field that meant so much to me.  Here we were short-handed after losing a couple of players from the Roster but we were as united as ever.  We left everything we had on the field that day.  And I appreciated it.

This dropped us to 7-7…….

You know, when you get married, you get all kinds of gifts from people.  All kinds of well-wishes from everyone.  Do you know what was the BEST GIFT I received on the day I got married?  The GREAT GAME you guys played for me that day.  And I mean that.  Thanks…..

I had a great Ceremony later that day and Hank, Weapon and General were all there to see it.

Most people I tell this story to say “What?……….You coached a game on the DAY YOU GOT MARRIED?”

“Damn right I did……….it wasn’t just a GAME……….it was VERDUGO!”

Most people can’t even believe it. 

And for those of you reading this who don’t believe it….here’s what the L.A. Times said about it……….

Yes-sir-ree.  If you want to know what happened on this great day in Verdugo-lore please read my earlier post Titled “The Double That Shook The Earth.”

It was truly another defining moment for our ballclub.  Even though they beat us in the second game that day, let’s face it…we STOLE that first game.  And we left the yard that day with a 7-6 record….and still very much in the Playoff picture.

AHHHHHH Verdugo!!!!!!!!!!

I think today would be a great opportunity to take a few minutes and reflect on the Verdugo Hills Players and Coaches who were wounded in battle.  Those who gave everything for our cause.  Lance Evans….coming of the bench in a playoff game, pitching with a broken arm, and even roping a one-handed base hit!

Haggs on 4th of July ’92 when we swept Glendale….damn near breaking his neck sliding into home plate headfirst.  Evans also broke his arm in the first game of the twin bill that day.

Sammy Vaquera refusing to come out of the game against Woodland Hills East in 1990 with a severly sprained wrist. 

BullOxen finishing off Woodland Hills West (“Father’s day with Ron Cey”) after getting stung by a bee in the sixth inning while he was on the mound

Gee injured doing a forward flip after a six-hour marathon game in Quartz Hill (1990) during DOGPILE!!

Hank unable to talk after screaming “FUCK YEAH!!!…That’s 7-5, now let’s make it 8-5 in another 10 minutes!” at Notre Dame.

Gee injures left arm in third base coaching box in 2nd game of 93 season from “over-wind-milling” in 23 runners across the plate that game!

Turner unable to walk twice in the 1990 season after catching BOTH games of double-headers!!!!

Weapon bruising his ego after hitting an absolute SHOT at North Hollywood that landed in a small little ten-foot by ten-foot compartment that was STILL IN PLAY.  Weap’s homerun “walk” was interrupted with this bullshit and he had to settle for only a triple.

All the injuries that took place in 1990 when we were DOGPILING!!!

All of the self-inflicted injuries that took place “off the field” from TOO much partying.  And all of the guys who showed up at the field with one hell of a hangover!!!!!

Let’s not forget the sacrifices made on July 4th 1992 when Turner and Canale pulled into the parking lot at Stengel Field in Glendale for that storied Double-Header Sweep we pulled off against the Glendale Team.  Turner arrived that morning wearing nothing but a pair of Levi’s…and when he opened the door to get out of the car a couple of empty beer cans fell out on the ground!  Ahhhh!!!!!!!

To all of the guys who BURNED THEIR BODIES WITH CIGARS!!!!!!!!!!

To all of the Warriors who played for us all of those years…the ripped up knees and elbows, the pulled muscles, the bumps, the bruises, the catchers who took a beating behind the plate blocking shit and making great picks……WE SALUTE YOU!!!!!!!!!

Yes-sir-ree…….take a little time today and REMEMBER the sacrifices made by the Warriors who donned our uniform!   The beer-drinkingest, hell-raisingest cast of characters ever assembled……….VERDUGO!!!!!!!!!!!

Add in a few of your own…I can’t count them all here!!!!

AHHHHHHHHHH  VERDUGO!!!!!!!!!!