verdugo288

It was a Senior Babe Ruth game back in the summer of ’77. Another big game for the young Gee. This one at Stengel Field.

Gangly, slow….sloth-like, but the big red-headed kid could hit. From either side of the plate!!!! And he could fire the ball. Pitcher, corner-infielder, and to top it all off he could roam that tundra!!!!

Gee could do it all…or so he thought!!!!

Our big catcher Ray Augustines didn’t show up at the game. Our Manager was standing outside the first base dugout while we sat in it and he was saying “we got a problem here…now who’s gonna catch?”

Nobody was stepping up. I had never been behind the plate my entire life.

Being the idiot I’ve always been I knew what I had to do. And without hesitation, I squinted my eyes, looked bravely to the horizon, and said “gimme the fucking gear!” To a rousing ovation from the dugout.

Keep in mind gentleman that I wasn’t just going behind the plate….but I was going behind the plate….at Stengel.

Bad move.

It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I caught one-inning. There may have been a couple of passed-balls. I’m not so sure. Personally, I think they were wild-pitches!!!!

The other team didn’t score that inning. A guy did reach base after these passed balls and he easily stole second base off me. Fucker….

I don’t think the mask came off the entire inning!!!!

I even went out to the mound to calm the pitcher down….regarding the horse-shit job I was doing back there!!!!

But make no mistake about it….Gee was battling!!!! I remember looking up at my dad in the stands at one point and he was just kinda shaking his head.

Definitely a “supportive” head shake….but nonetheless a head shake.

We finished the inning and I was pulled from catching and moved to third base the coach and I agreed to give one of the rookies a shot behind the plate. I figured it was the least I could do.

Truth be told….all I wanted as soon as that inning began was to get the hell outta there.

I volunteered to do it because “the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few”

Right? I was taking one for the team volunteering to go back there!

I was “relieved” of my catching duties because “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”

In other words, get that fucking guy outta there cause he’s killing us!!!!

And while it was certainly total stupidity courageous to bark out the words “gimme the fucking gear”….Clearly….I was out of my element.

Even during the warm-up pitches before that inning began….the umpire was saying “oh shit you better not get me hurt”

I’m like “what?”

He’s like “you’ve never caught a single game in your life have ya boy?”

Let’s just say that after that one inning….I had a greater appreciation for catchers that I still carry with me today.

And we’re about to talk about a couple of total fucking WARRIORS who handled that for us in ’92.

So stay tuned gentlemen….

Here’s a couple of pictures of the guy I will always refer to as “The Father of Verdugo Hills”

He was mighty proud of us for all four years. But ’92 and ’93 Haskell was just “in his glory” with how well we did.

I will run a detailed story on him at some point. But I think of him often. Our Team ended after the 1993 season, but Haskell and I remained very good friends until he passed away in 2003. He played football for USC (back in the 1930’s) and had season tickets and we always went to at least one game together every year.

I still have the dozens of hand-written letters he sent to me before the advent of email and the internet.

He got us the money we needed from The Legion Post that enabled us to play. He was the first guy at the Legion Post in 1990 to slap a hundred dollar bill down on the podium and say “I think it’s time our Post puts our money where our mouths are….and with this (slams down a $100 bill on the podium) let’s see if you ladies can match it”

By doing that he was saying to the Legion Members “yeah we’ll use some of the money from the Post, but this here is coming out of my wallet” and he challenged a room with 30-40 guys to step up.

To make a long story short….they did.

One picture here we see him as ‘Ol Dave Haskell…..the other shot (he was born in 1918) had to be taken some time before 1940.

Thanks ‘Old Dave for your kindness, your generosity, your guidance, and your support!!!!

We had a lot to be proud of going into the playoffs.

Nobody would have predicted before the season that we would end up in this position. Nobody. Well….except Canale, Turner, and Evans. They did. Even I was a skeptic.

20 wins. Second best record in the District. Some respect was there and some fear of us was there, too. But those who thought we might be one of the two teams to advance from the eight-team double-elimination tournament we were about to play in were definitely in the minority.

We came within one out of advancing. We defeated the number-one seed, Notre Dame. That was the only playoff loss they endured.

It was huge defeating them. Not only in the scheme of the playoffs….but it meant we took two out of three from them in ’92.

Notre Dame handled a lotta things in ’92. But they couldn’t handle Verdugo.

And again….we did it without being at full strength. And yeah, in the arms department….we may have looked to be strong, but actually….we were staggering.

Evans was still out. Healing….but still out. But we had a bigger problem. Something we didn’t know about until after the season.

Canale’s arm was shot.

I tried and I think I did a good job of getting him at least seven days rest between appearances on the mound. And I did, sometimes even nine days. But I pushed it with his pitch counts. There’s No doubt about that at all. That’s all on me.

He told me this week that during the second half of ’92….he could barely lift his arm a week after an appearance on the hill.

He never said anything about it during the season. Even after he beat Newhall-Saugus in our opening playoff game. He told me after the ’92 season he felt something pop during that game.

He had won our opening playoff game probably with a partially torn rotator cuff. And it may have been completely destroyed during that game.

I also want to say that during the game he pitched …yeah okay he walked the first four guys he faced….But he settled down and at one point in that game retired 21 hitters in a row. With a partially or totally destroyed rotator cuff …..and he did it in a playoff game.

I think about that today and it really magnifies what all you guys did out there. We left everything we had out there on the field. Some guys even left their arms out there for Verdugo.

I’m going to get to that in more detail probably in the next post. What each individual player did to get us where we were. The beatings we all took. Especially our catchers. The tough play. The way we pushed back.

The precedent that our veterans set on the field for the younger players. The younger players started to see that attitude and drive and not backing down to anyone was a part of the deal.

It was contagious. I’ve always felt that what you bring to the field is contagious.

And our veterans cultivated that with the younger players. Our rookies were probably the best in the 20th District already (Fielder, Vo, Hagge, and Bir).

What a rookie class….and I will talk about that in a future post you better believe it.

Those rookies we had could play. They were already tough guys. It wasn’t very long into the ’92 campaign that all four of them turned into thugs.

That’s what made this team staggering.

Our will and intestinal fortitude was tested all season long. We came up short, but I say we answered the call.

So I want to make a footnote of this here. By the time we reached the playoffs….Josh’s arm was shot. He was done. And he still threw a complete-game victory for us.

I know we had a great team. But I don’t know how much farther we could have gone with him out of the rotation, and maybe even completely off the field.

I will say here publicly. I believe I at the very least contributed to his injury. It’s something I’ll always feel I had something to do with it. I was the manager.

I’m glad Josh and I spoke this last week about it. We never really had that conversation. It was something that always ate at me. I think it was good for both of us to finally have that talk.

Let’s face it, too….Josh even said to me in a text this week he would’ve “chopped my fookin’ legs off” if I tried to take him off the hill. We know there was no quit in him.

But still….I’ll always think that I had a lot to do with, and maybe even be fully responsible for his injury.

I’m glad I’m doing this blog here 28 years later. I’ve had some great conversations and texting sessions with many of our great former players and coaches.

I’ve admitted to cheating by throwing Jackson for 15 innings in three days.

This is cleansing getting all this off my chest. Right?

Remember the Star Trek movie where Spock died for the entire crew? What did he say before he died?

“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few….or….the one.”

Spock was all about logic right?

That show was wayyyyy in the future.

Maybe Spock in his infinite wisdom was referring to Verdugo when he said that.

Because you guys all took bullets for each other. All of you did.

It’s 28 years later. I’ve found that yeah we’ve all changed a little bit…but at the same time nothing has really changed.

I’m still moved by what we did that ’92 season.

In many ways we were a surprise around the League. But I also felt we did that year what we were always capable of doing. It was always there within us….it was my job as a manager to draw that out of you guys. Or to stay out of the way and let it happen.

I think I’m guilty of the latter rather than the former….but at least I was bright enough to stay out of the way and “just let ’em play”….

Nobody would have predicted that we would have done in ’92 what we did in ’92.

Nobody would have predicted it.

The dominating tradition we built in ’92 continued in 1993.

93? It was more of the same. Everybody knew by then we would be dominant. Many thought the 93 team could possibly run the table, at least in the regular season.

And that team almost did. In 93 we lost two games in the regular season by a total of two runs. Both games ending with furious Verdugo rallies. Both games we had the bases loaded at the end of the games when they stopped us.

But 92? Nobody would have predicted it.

And we were about to show the League and the world in our first-ever playoff performance….that maybe they should have.

Absolutely staggering….

Correction: Robb Turner had 95 plate appearances ….not 75

I’m tired. I’ve shattered my previous record for most posts in a month. I think this is the 42nd for May. And this month isn’t over yet…and I’ve got more to do.

I’ll get started on the playoffs soon. Maybe tomorrow or the next day.

You basketball fans out there may remember John Lucas. Played in the NBA up until 1990? Had a great career as well.

Anyways he was going to be the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in the 92-93 season. I’m not sure he had been hired there yet.

I watched a lot of TV back then and sometime in May or June they had some feature on this guy that he was going to be some hot-shot coach in The NBA and blah blah blah.

I was a Laker fan of course so I checked this thing out on TV.

I’m thinking “oh you guys have something you think is gonna stop my Lakers? Pffffft”

They had the camera on him on the sidelines….some game was going on. Crowd was there and the whole ball of wax. It wasn’t an NBA game.

But they were building some case about how great he was going to be.

Some guy stole the ball ….went down court….spun….threw some wild pass to some other dude ….he tripped….flipped it over to some other guy who got his shot blocked….then some dude came in from outta nowhere and dunked….bringing the house down!!!!!

All I knew while I was watching ….was yeah…that was a great broken play….but certainly nothing a coach could be taking credit for…

Until John Lucas roared it out!!!

Almost like he was in pain as he screamed out the words.

The cameras right on him as he said it….

All he said was “now that’s what I’m tawkin’ ’bout!!!!”

I looked at the TV screen….in awe….my mouth open. I will never know if what he did was total stupidity or sheer brilliance.

But if you ever wanna get into an opposing coaches head…..that’s exactly what you would say.

And that’s where I got it from!!!!

I took ownership of it….but let’s give credit where credit is due….coach Lucas gave me those magical words!!!!

And I used those words when you guys were on the field….or at the plate…every chance I had!!!!

Thanks coach Lucas!!!!

Already did a story on it here https://verdugo288.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/now-thats-what-im-talkin-about/

I tried like hell. I had to pick my spots, because this was our third season and I already had a relationship with the many reporters out there that were covering our games.

Steve Elling at the LA Times. Eric Sondheimer at The Daily News. Alex Leon, Keith Lair and Don Emmons at The Glendale News Press and Foothill Leader just to name a few.

They already knew me and had I interjected the phrase “quick ….panther-like” during an interview they may have thought I lost my mind.

I did try a few times to get myself quoted in the papers as saying that about you guys ….usually when some new guy was interviewing me I’d never seen before….but none of these guys had taken the bait.

I think all you guys would have gotten a kick out of seeing that in the papers. Myself included.

It just wasn’t happening….

But I was determined to get it in there….

……somehow.

Read about how I made a last-ditch effort in the win against Newhall-Saugus to get one of those damn papers to print “quick….panther-like” in one of the stories about us.

This was about the only thing that didn’t go our way in ’92.

Like I say though……I tried like hell. And as you’ll see….so did THE GENERAL!!!!

Just read this one again….it’s at the bottom of the story.

https://verdugo288.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/verdugo-4-newhall_saugus-3-20-3/

I answered the phone. Sometime during the week after we swept Glendale and beat Sun Valley the first time. And this was the days before caller ID.

It was Mel.

And that’s exactly what he said at the beginning of the phone call. He said it in his New York, Mafia-style, pseudo tough-guy, rat-like voice.

“What about this kid Moreno?”

“What about him? I asked?”

“Well….everybody’s looking into this. You sure he lives in La Crescenta?”

“Who’s everybody Mel”

“Well….ME….I’m looking into it”

“Maybe you should have looked into that last year Mel….this is his SECOND year with us in case you didn’t already know”

“You didn’t include his school’s enrollment on your Form-1”

“I don’t have to include his enrollment Mel…I didn’t recruit any new players this year from Maranatha”

And that is the rule…by the way.

“Maranatha’s not an adjacent school to Crescenta Valley!”

“It doesn’t have to be….at least according to your rule book…and furthermore…there are three other kids from Maranatha who live in La Crescenta and played on the baseball team at Maranatha High who I opted to not put on my roster to protect Moreno’s eligibility!”

Checkmate.

The rule book was vague. But also clear. They did have a rule in their rule book that said he could play for us.

What they didn’t have in the rule book was a rule saying he couldn’t play for us.

This wasn’t an issue regarding Ivan’s age.

The enrollment numbers at Maranatha were small…but would have put us over the limit….making our team….and our season…”illegal as hell”

The rule….however….stated that I didn’t have to include Maranatha’s enrollment if I didn’t recruit any new players from Maranatha High. The rule book made no differentiation regarding adjacent or non-adjacent schools.

So I didn’t include it. And in the end ….I was right. And Moreno was determined to be Legal….our Team legal….and on to the playoffs we went….clean as a whistle.

But Mel didn’t make the ruling. And I knew it wasn’t going to be his call.

Swerdling was a good guy I think at heart. He was overseeing way too many teams. He was (at times) bumbling, forgetful, he wavered, he waffled….and him and I had many shouting matches through the years.

I think we committed the sin of dominating in the 20th District. The status quo wasn’t happy about it. There were probably a bunch of coaches that put Mel up to this.

I think that’s why he dragged it on for a few weeks. Even Mel knew I was right…he didn’t want to tell the posse that was out to get us I was right….so he tried to bully me into removing Ivan from our roster voluntarily so as not to lose face with his cronies.

It got annoying. The more he harped about it the more fun I had toying with Mel.

“I can’t believe you’d try and do something like this to a straight-A student who aspires to be a brain-surgeon someday Mel”

Or….

“You’re messing with a kid who already has established a non-profit organization to feed-the-hungry all over the world?…really Mel?”

Or…..

“This kid is also entrepreneurial. He owns several businesses and even has come to several Post 288 meetings at the Legion Hall and volunteered to wash all the cars of the former vets Mel”

It was hard not laughing at some of the bullshit I was making up about “The Golden Child” but I was trying to at least have some fun with this until somebody above Mel ruled on the legality of my team

And here’s the funny part. Prior to the season we turn in all the paperwork and Swerdling and another guy above him would “sign-off” on our paperwork before the season even began.

“Mel….you’ve already signed off on my team. We’re clean. Are you telling me you made a mistake?”

“Listen here Magee I don’t make any mistakes but…..”

“He’s untouchable Mel. Back off”

I was poking the proverbial hornet’s nest and having some fun with it.

I was right and knew I was. I stood firm. He tried to shove me around and make threats so I would voluntarily remove a guy from my team who was totally legal.

I stood firm.

He didn’t like that.

A guy in area six went through everything prior to the playoffs and determined we were totally kosher. It wasn’t even an issue.

Yeah….Ivan Moreno was “the Golden Child” during that three-week controversy going on behind the scenes as we made the drive to 20 wins!!!

Later in the season Mel would get officially introduced to Ivan himself. One of the funniest moments in Verdugo History!!!!

Mel had already seen Ivan twice….in the two games earlier in the season where we dominated his hapless North Hollywood Team.

But Mel was (like I said) bumbling and forgetful.

That was yet another Verdugo win in ’92.

Can’t wait to tell that story when Ivan got introduced to Mel !!!!

This picture was taken of Bull Oxen in right field. I don’t know if this happened at the Newhall-Saugus game or not. I think this was against Lancaster North. Newhall had a blue fence but it was SOLID WOOD and painted a deeper shade of blue AND had the yellow home-run line painted at the top of it.

Anyways, the umpire was giving Canale a hard time for wearing that towel on his head under his cap. Trying to make him remove it. Kasey was catching at the time …I’m looking at the scorebook and they only time he caught for us was game 2 of the doubleheader against Lancaster North.

It’s a pretty funny story how The Calf talked the umpire into letting his brother keep that towel on his head!!!!

20!!!!