verdugo288

What a perfect nickname. Thunder. Dave Fielder. Here’s yet another guy from Verdugo’s staggering rookie Class-of -’92 that just stepped in…and stepped up.

We knew he was going to be a player for us before the season began. It was just how good was he going to be? Let’s just say his bat and his glove and his arm (and his attitude) were his bolts of lightning….and we all know what happens right after lightning strikes right?

THUNDER….

Yeah….THUNDER.

He blew down NINE guys who tried running on him from behind the plate in ’92 during the regular season. Nobody ran on us anyways in ’92 (we only gave up 22 stolen bases during the regular season…think about that statistic) but usually early in the game a team would test the waters against us.

And Thunder’s message was “don’t even try”….

And usually after he blew a guy down who tried….they didn’t try again that day. Well….everybody but Sun Valley. Those guys just never learned.

When Evans went down with his injury the question was “who’s gonna hit in the three-hole?”

As we came down the stretch and played in all those big games we won, Dave Fielder became that guy. And a rookie…no less. A sixteen-year old rookie hitting in the three hole and putting up the numbers Thunder posted for us was reminiscent of what Canale did for us in ’90 as a rookie hitting in the four-hole the entire season.

And again….he did these numbers with everyone throwing their top dog against us.

His numbers didn’t drop off either when he took over the number three hole. He was the guy. He could hit for average, he could hit for power and could drive the ball up either gap ….and he had the speed.

Let’s face it everybody….you just don’t come across a catcher with the kind of speed this guy brought to the table.

I don’t want to downplay what he did for us defensively. You can’t. If you would have given me a choice of ALL the catchers available in the entire 20th district to put on my roster….any age as well ….this would have been the guy I would have picked. Absolutely no doubt about that at all.

The way he handled our pitchers. His arm. His toughness back there taking a beating. His personality. Yelling at guys on defense “hey get over there!” and directing traffic. This guy wasn’t shy. The ridiculously incredible athletic plays this guy could make defensively was something to behold.

To be honest, I expected him to do great things for us defensively in ’92. And that he did.

But I’ve said before I never expected any of our rookies to dominate at the plate. The pitching at this level is tough. But once a guy figures out how to handle things at this level….the sky is the limit.

That’s why I say it was his production offensively that was striking…that really stood out by the time the dust had settled.

Dave was 21 for 62 on the regular season….a .339 average. And then he went 6 for 14 in the playoffs. Yeah ….on the year he hit .355. Canale hit .360 for us his rookie year in 1990 and played in the All-Star game.

He came straight out of the gate and hit safely in the first six games of the year.

He was 2nd on the team in doubles with six during the regular season. But by the time the playoffs were over with …he actually tied with Robb Turner for the team lead with eight.

And you gotta know coming in that by the time the season was over that Thunder would lead the team in doses taken. He ended up tying for the team lead with Canale with three.

He was six-for-six stealing bases….third on the team behind Hack (with 9) and Gabe (with 7)

He lined out six times in ’92. He tied for the team lead in sacrifices with four. All four of them sacrifice flies. All of ’em deep enough to get us a run.

He not only hit the ball for us ….he hit the ball with authority.

Let’s just say when thunder “struck”….there was a certain finality to it.

I remember the double he hit against Notre Dame when we beat them the first time 5-1 at their yard. It cleared the bases and turned a 1-0 game into 3-0. It was late in the game. An absolutely CLUTCH shot up the gap into right-center. That one broke it open in my book.

That’s FINALITY.

The double he hit in game one of the sweep against Glendale didn’t score us any runs…but it would have cleared the bases anyways had Taormina not let Cowsill’s single go under his glove and roll all the way to the wall. An absolute shot that sent a message.

FINALITY.

The triple he hit in game 2 of that double header was really the ball we hit that day that literally broke their back, their will, and their spirit. It short-hopped the wall in left field.

FINALITY.

He absolutely gunned down a foolish Sun Valley base runner who tried to steal third against us with the game on the line in the top-of-the-ninth against Sun Valley when we were clinging to an 11-10 lead. Fucking CLUTCH again.

FINALITY.

The absolute SHOT he hit against fat bitch from Sun Valley….that sent him packing again and knocked him out of the game in our 7-3 playoff-clinching victory….

FINALITY.

The double he hit in the bottom-of-the 8th against Crespi in the playoffs ….the biggest game of the year….the one we let get away from us….scored a run to make it 6-5 Verdugo.

This one should have been FINALITY.

It was Dave Fielder’s double that day that finally gave us the lead and put us in position to where if we just got three outs before they scored a run….then we were automatically in the Championship Game of the double-elimination Tournament.

We would have automatically realized a dream….to play at Jackie Robinson Stadium in the next tournament. Even if we lost the 20th District Tournament. Yes….the winner of the 20th District Tournament and the runner-up advance to the next round.

Yeah….that’s how fucking HUGE that double was that he hit.

One could argue that that was the most CLUTCH at-bat we had the entire season. And he delivered. Again….one of our rookies had delivered.

We lost that game. It hurt. It hurt BAD. But I vividly remember after it was over telling him how FUCKING CLUTCH that double was.

Thunder got moved around quite a bit defensively for us before Evans got hurt. And just like Haggs….he never bitched about it. It was just like with Haggs at shortstop….when Lance got hurt….both Haggs and Thunder got to play where they belonged.

And boy did those two guys thrive when they got to play where they were supposed to be playing.

Fielder continued to dominate in ’93 and we will of course talk about that as well in coming posts when we get to ’93.

Between just Haggs and Fielder….a normal coach would be done by now bragging about his rookies!

Hell, a normal coach would be happy to brag about one of his rookies….

But no….we got more….we were blessed…we still got Bir, Vo, and Calf to talk about!!!!

Thunder….

Dave Fielder….

Another absolute monster of a rookie.

Thunder? What a season!!!!

As I mentioned earlier…before I start writing about the playoffs I’m going to write a feature on each guy on our Roster. I also mentioned I was going to start with the rookies.

I’m starting with Haggs. Kirk Hagge. “Haggs” (as we knew him) pulled off a feat that needs to be mentioned up-front and center right here and right now:

Haggs never missed a Verdugo game in ’92….nor did he miss a game in ’93. I can effectively say this: Kirk Hagge loved Verdugo. I know all you guys loved Verdugo….but Haggs was the Lou Gehrig iron man. He holds the All-time Verdugo record for consecutive games played for us with 50….(playoffs included)

The Team disbanded in 1994. There’s no doubt in my mind had we played that season he would have been at every game as well.

Yeah….even after he got drafted. I’d have told Sparky Anderson from The Detroit Tigers that he could kiss my ass before we released Haggs to play Pro Ball !!!!

Damn straight!!!!

He was a dominant player in the league in ’93. But it was ’92…as a rookie….where he established himself as a force.

Who knows what he would have done in ’94?

But what he did for us in 1992 was what he brought to the table for us defensively. He was a rookie in ’92. I never expect our rookies to be dominant at the plate in their first season. But Haggs performed very well for us offensively ….hitting .292 in his first year in a Verdugo uniform.

He was 3rd on the Team in runs scored with 20. He tied for 4th on the team in hits with 21. He was 5th on the Team in RBI with 13. He tied for the team lead in sacrifices with four. He was 3rd on the team in walks with 13. He went deep against North Hollywood. These are strong numbers for a rookie….and he did this with the opposition throwing their best guy against us all season long.

When Evans was with us we moved Kirk around defensively. Haggs saw extensive time behind the plate the first half of the season….starting ten games for us behind the plate in ’92.

He took an absolute beating behind the plate blocking pitches. I can’t even imagine what it would be like having to catch Josh Canale.

He played at second base…first base…and saw some time at shortstop when Evans pitched.

This guy was a shortstop. He never complained when we moved him around. He played wherever we asked him to play and played his ass off for us. Yeah….he was a total fucking warrior for Verdugo.

When Lance went down he was back where he belonged all along…at shortstop.

He stepped right in and made play after play after play after play for us. He could go to his left…his right….he could come get the big high chopper and make a strong throw across his body while on the run.

Great arm. Could throw guys out with authority going to his right from the hole. He always….and I mean always ….gave it up.

His uniform was always dirty. Loved to dive. Could get horizontal. Great footwork around the bag turning two. You never had to ask this guy or remind him to focus. He wanted the ball hit his way.

I know this may be controversial to say this but I’m gonna say it right here and right now. No slight to Lance here at all either….but we were a better Team defensively when Haggs was at shortstop for us.

He was instrumental for what we did after Evans got hurt. We were 10-2 during the regular season with Lance at shortstop. We were 10-1 with Haggs in there. All those games coming down the stretch were fucking huge. And he kept delivering….game after game after game.

We never missed a beat when he took over at shortstop. In fact, one could argue we picked it up a notch or two. This guy was what we call a gamer.

He made the final assist for us defensively FIVE TIMES. Getting that tough final out to seal a victory. In both victories against Sun Valley. One against Notre Dame. Big games. Huge games. Games that were on the line….and he makes the play to end it. Game over.

These are the kinds of plays that just don’t show up in the box score. But these are also the kinds of plays that I ….as a coach….will never forget.

Not only did he do all this for us defensively….but he made it look easy.

I wrote a story before on this blog how prior to the 1992 season ground balls hit at our shortstops were always a little bit of an adventure. The General and I had coached together several seasons prior to Verdugo Hills in Colt League.

We always had that problem back in those days too. It got to the point that when a ground ball was hit to one of our shortstops we would just kinda close our eyes and….hope.

I’ve said it before on this blog and I’ll say it again right now. When Kirk Hagge took over for Verdugo Hills at shortstop in 1992…I never had to worry ever again about what would happen when a ground ball was hit to my shortstop.

Haggs set the standard around the league as to what you want your shortstop to be in 1992. And he did it in his rookie season.

I remember vividly all the final assists he made for us at shortstop. I remember the collision at the plate in the Glendale game where he somehow not only scored…(a fucking HUGE RUN that made it 5-3) but also got up off the ground and kept playing that day and lived to tell about it. I think he broke his nose on that play.

I remember him lighting-up fat-bitch from Sun Valley (in both games) and as a rookie just barking right back at his fat-ass when we knocked him out of the game both times. I remember vividly that game at Stengel the usually quiet and reserved Haggs getting pretty fucking annoyed with that guy and being ready to duke it out with him if that’s what it came down to.

How can you not love seeing that as a coach? From a rookie no less….Huh?

Yeah….he was a thug out there for us, too.

I remember the umpire pinching us brutally at Stengel Field against Woodland Hills West on Fathers’s day ’92. A game we won 8-3. Haggs and Canale organized a little “pitchout” to bring the umpire into line. Haggs vacated…and Canale fired a bullet right into the umpires chest protector.

Yeah….he could dole out a little justice, too.

He kept a straight face through the whole thing while I was helping the umpire to his feet and giving him some water. I mean, after all….we knew that play was just a matter of the pitcher and catcher getting a little crossed-up on signs….right?

Yeah….he could sell, too.

I also remember the kind words Haggs has spoken to me throughout the years long after Verdugo had disbanded. About our team. And about how much he loved it.

We’re gonna get to 1993 soon and talk even more about what Haggs did for us and what he meant to our Program. There’s a lot to talk about.

But 92? This guy was absolutely instrumental and CLUTCH for us in every way!

Haggs? Thanks for 1992 !!!!

You’ve all heard me say through the years that Verdugo had the greatest players who played in the greatest games!

I will always say that. You’ve also heard me refer to wanting to play games when “all our horses are there”

Why? We had the best horses. It sounds impersonal yeah I know. But I make that analogy for a reason.

People always said I ran a loose ship. I did. But when we needed to pull everyone together we always did that too. Because we had the best horses.

But what’s a good horse?

There’s only one way to find out. You gotta let ’em run! You gotta have a loose enough ship to trust your horses….let ’em run wild.

Let ’em run!

If the horse comes back to the barn it’s a good horse. If it doesn’t come back you didn’t need that horse.

I am proud of this blog and proud of all you guys. You were the horses that kept coming back to the barn. And 28 years later you guys are still coming back here.

It means a lot to me.

I’ll be getting back to it here shortly. I still got a lot to say and a boatload of stories to write.

I’m proud of all you guys. I’m proud the barn is still here and that everybody at some point finds their way back here.

Verdugo!!!!

We had four rookies in 1992. You say “all right now wait a minute here Gee….what about Calf? All you’ve been doing is raving about Vo, Fielder, Bir and Haggs!”

It’s true. And I’m gonna rave about all five of these dudes. But Calf wasn’t technically a “rookie” in ’92. He was 14 years old! Calf wouldn’t have even been a rookie for us until the ’94 season!

All said and done….playoffs included….Calf was 10 for 32 at the plate for us in ’92 (.313)….

Yeah…he hit .313 for us. He was 8-28 in the regular season (.286) and went 2-4 for us (.500) in the playoffs.

He’s in a different category. We’ll talk about that later. Maybe we put him in the “freak (?)” category….and when I say “freak”….I mean that in the very best of ways.

I’ve got nothing but good things to say about all five of these guys. These guys were monumental to our success. They ALL stepped up big time for us!

But what I’m Tawkin’ ’bout today is the four rookies we had in 1992. You know? The “traditional rookie” ….a 16-year old about to play his first year in Legion with a total of three years of eligibility.

No doubt about it at all….Verdugo had the best four rookies of 1992.

The two “original” rookies from 1990 were Turner and Bull Oxen. I still say if they had a “rookie-of-the-year” in Legion (which they should have had) I could have made one hell of a case when all the coaches would have gathered around to vote on it that it should have gone to Canale in 1990.

The “rookies” we had in 1991 were Workman, Cowsill, and Yves. Dang.

So that’s what we’re talking about here. The 16-year olds. And I’ve got so much to say that I can’t put it all into one story.

I’m gonna cover all of these guys individually with stories and go over what they did for us. I will do the same for every member of the Team before I start writing about the playoffs.

But I’m starting with the rookies of ’92.

And I’m starting with the two guys who handled the catching duties for us….a couple of fucking warriors that went by the names of Thunder and Haggs!!!!

It might take a while….but everybody deserves what’s about to be said and quite frankly….it needs to be said. I’m still going through the videos (a couple hours a day) and will get the appropriate highlights embedded into the games I’ve already written about.

This WordPress blog is pretty cool. It keeps track of everything. Stats…how many hits we get…etc. I’m talking everything!

I’ve probably written enough on here to cover a 500-600 page book at this point. Maybe more….who knows? After all that writing….I had still only used up 2% of the storage I have available here. I’ve added a few videos and it quickly jumped to 7%. And these were all short video clips.

So clearly I’m going to have to either buy more storage here or at some point create a website and transfer it all over there. I think having a website at some point would be pretty cool. We can really give this thing a much better look if and when I do that. And that way I can pay upfront for 20-30 years of hosting so it’s always there.

This blog has a very small audience. I started this thing ten years ago and I do want to finish it. For me….so I chronicle this whole thing. I don’t know of any coaches who have ever taken on something like this. To write about every single game in a Team’s history plus all the stuff that went on behind the scenes.

And also I want to finish this for the players. The further in time we move away from 1990-93 the more cool this thing becomes. At least to me it does.

We really turned up the dial the last couple of seasons. That was always the goal to me. To dominate.

Many coaches went into the season with this kind of vibe: “yeah we want to get the players some experience and work on their mechanics and blah blah blah blah blah.”

Fuck that.

I was there for one thing and one thing only. To fucking battle. And I wanted you guys to battle too. The Verdugo Legion Program was really about one thing and one thing only…..

To compete….

At the very least….I wanted to create the greatest group of battlers of all time. You guys already had that within you.

I wanted to create an environment where everyone could just be themselves and battle. I wanted us to truly have a sense of that it was us against the world.

And let’s face it….those last two seasons everybody was comin’ after us. And whoever came at us….we just kept throwin’ ’em to the ground.

And that’s why I’m still inspired to write about all this stuff.

So Stay tuned!!!!

Here’s an early photo of Gee himself ….probably 1962 or 1963. Where was the photograph taken?

Where else?

Verdugo!!!!

Thats right. Here we see Gee explaining to his Mom that one day he’s going to have his own baseball team and that it would be called Verdugo!!!! I had been staking out territories for weeks if I remember correctly.

I looked around Verdugo Park when we arrived and shortly thereafter came to the conclusion that this was going to be the future home field of Verdugo.

I was pretty fired up when I found this place. Stengel Field was there and I thought this would be a great spot for our Team to BBQ some hot dogs after sweeping Glendale.

As you can see in the picture I was ready to get started immediately. I was ready to start recruiting the players, and lining everything up. I had uniforms to design and lots of phone calls to make!

But ohhhh no….

While my Mom admittedly was impressed with my “vision” she brought down the hammer pretty quick….

“That sounds really great and everything”…..she told me “but we need to go home now….so you’re going to have to wait about 30 years for this big dream of yours to come true”

You may or may not be able to hear it all….so headphones or earbuds.

Last game of the season. Newhall-Saugus (a team we were 5-0 career against and all five games were played at THEIR YARD)

Anyways….Hack on the mound in relief as we cling to a 4-3 lead.

He hits one of their batters with a pitch….

And just LISTEN to the barrage of verbal abuse from the Verdugo fans when he throws his bat ….all enraged he got hit with a pitch!!!

So brutal he looked back at them and acknowledged!!!!

Our fans totally OWNED this guy!!!!

Verdugo!!!!

The Greatest Players who played in the greatest games!!!!

And the greatest fans EVER!!!!

I wanted the world to see front and center what a well-coached and disciplined team we had….and that’s why I’m sharing this clip here.

Everybody knows when the third out was recorded when Verdugo was on the field that all of our players (being well-coached and disciplined) would hustle off the field….regardless of the score.

I’m proud to say I personally instilled this discipline in our players and you can see it on full-display right here. I think back fondly on the long and tireless workouts we had at our dozens of team practices at our team-facility in Long Beach working on this very thing.

Yes-sir-ree!!!!

Ok…well…truth be told maybe I’m exaggerating shit a little bit here.

What actually happened here was this….

We had clinched the playoffs the night before. I’m assuming most of the players and coaches had hangovers….I know I did.

One of the Mom’s brought some donuts before the game which was huge. Those were long gone before the game even started.

This game was a hot miserable day. The goal was to end it in seven innings on the ten run mercy rule and get outta there. (We ten-ran ’em in the 8th)….

What happened here was old Jess Rogers showed up with his sno-cone factory right in the Verdugo dugout. I remember this.

The problem was ….most of the guys were out on the field. As Jess set-up I have to admit myself and the other coaches and a couple of reserves were in the dugout rubbing our hands together! While you fools were all out standing in the sun!!!

We’re in the dugout hanging out in the shade and surrounding that sno-cone factory as we all waved to you guys on the field from the dugout!

Nobody in the field was saying anything but all you guys were just looking at us as if to say “ahhhh hell no!”

He made the first few and we were really letting you guys in the field know how excellent and refreshing they were!

All of a sudden we started getting pretty quick and pantherike on the field. Turner making a leaping catch on a groundball trying to turn the double play to get himself a sno-cone!

We were in the dugout rubbing it in! Enjoying those sno-cones keeping ’em all to ourselves. Normally we would go out and argue that call at first for the inning-ending double play!

Not today!

We were really loving those fresh cherry flavored sno-cones! And we had ’em all to ourselves!!!!

Even the General said out to you guys in the field “yeah he was safe at first!” To keep you guys out on the field as long as possible while we were holding those sno-cones up high between bites so you all could see ’em!

Really hamming it up…

Toasting each other before biting into it….the whole shot!!!!

“Oh man that is goooooooooood…..ahhhhhhhh” I would say after biting into it!!!

“Best sno-cone I think I’ve ever had General” The Weapon would say

“Ahhhh hell yeah” Henry would pipe-in!!!!

Finally…..we got out of the inning.

Look at you guys hustle off the field!!!

You know how I love talking about the diving, hustling, swarming Verdugo Defense!!!!

Even when we’re hitting….our swarming defense is on full display!!!!

When we’re hitting? Absolutely!!!! Just take a look at this here:

I rest my case!!!!

I’m transferring six hours of video footage of the ’92 Team to CD/DVD.

I will have the CD tomorrow.

Expect to see snippets of a lot of the stuff I’ve written about on here soon.

I will back-embed highlights to games I’ve already written about.

Mrs. Brancheau filmed all of this stuff. She gave me the tape at the end of the season.

Most of the footage is from the second half of the season. Starting around the games against North Hollywood. And all of the playoffs. It’s about six hours of footage.

Thank you Mrs. Brancheau….

I want you all to have a copy of this footage. If you want one…text me and I will forward it to you in the post.

If you don’t have my phone number….make a comment here in any of the posts. Include your email address in your comment. I will ERASE your email address and the comment too if you wish BEFORE they are visible to anyone on the web.

I have set comments here so that none appear publicly until I approve them. So if you send your email I can retrieve your email without it being visible to anyone and then erase your contact info and the entire comment if you wish.

I encourage everyone out there reading this stuff to comment!!!!

Let us know you’re out there!!!!

We all may have lost contact with one another and by posting a comment here it doesn’t mean we’re all going to be best-friends-forever.

It just means that like me….and a lot of others….you remember.

I’ve written about all of this stuff. Well, now you’re gonna get to see it.

I look at the scorebook today and all I see is 5-3….6-3…4-3….F7 etc…

Once in a while Nancy would write in “nice”….or “great play”

But when we see “5-3” in the scorebook, it doesn’t really tell us much. Was it a high-chopper? A bullet he backhanded and threw the guy out at first from his knees?

This is why this footage is priceless.

You’re gonna get to see some great stuff as long as the guy transferring it from video to CD doesn’t destroy the tape.

He’s been warned today that he will be hanged publicly if anything happens to it.

🙂

So let’s all keep our fingers crossed!!!!

Make some comments!!!!

You guys were never shy about ragging or speaking up 28 years ago…

So let’s GO!!!!

In an earlier post….I admitted to cheating by throwing Wiley Jackson 15 innings over a four day time frame. Those days were Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

He threw on a Wednesday….and again on a Saturday.

And I do specifically remember not calling that game into the papers so nobody could track his innings.

But I still have the 1992 Rule Book.

I realize now why I didn’t call it in. The rule was 12 innings in three days…..not 12 innings for the week.

But the rule is vague. If a guy pitches on a Wednesday….like Wiley did….do they count Wednesday as a day?

If that’s how they count it…then there is no violation. Wiley got the last out around 8pm on Wednesday night in that Palmdale game.

I would have argued that he pitched on Wednesday, and then didn’t pitch on Thursday or Friday. So for those three days he was kosher.

Or I could have argued that he didn’t pitch on Thursday…..or Friday….and then pitched on Saturday. So for those three days he was kosher.

But what if they counted it by hours instead of days?

When Wiley finished the win on Saturday against Panorama City….it was around 2pm.

72 hours hadn’t passed by the time he won again on Saturday. So technically they could have tried to nail us on it. But again, the rule book says “days”….not “hours”….

So I covered his tracks on innings pitched.

It only says three days in the rulebook. And it doesn’t say if the first day is counted in the “three-day” rule.

So I think we were clean.

This is what I was concerned about and why I didn’t call it in to the papers.

It could have gone either way. Definitely a grey-area.

I could have argued it if they came at us.

I would have liked my chances. I could always sell. But I “think” we were clean on that one….

I’ve included a pic of the actual rule.

You think about it….that’s a hell of a lot of innings they let guys throw if you wanted them to.

The rule now in Legion Baseball is based on a combination of innings and pitch counts.

The rule today (in the year 2020) is 105 pitches per day max….plus a cap on innings that is much more in-line with modern-day baseball.