verdugo288

This was the weekend that was about to define us. A Saturday twin-bill against Glendale at Stengel, a nine-inning Sunday night game against Sun Valley, and Fat Jody on Wednesday.

We had juggled the pitchers so we had Bull in game one against Glendale. My plan was to go with Hack in game two regardless of what happened in game one. I felt that the hitters from Glendale/Hoover may have seen Hack in some Babe Ruth Tournament games in the past (?) but apart from that they probably hadn’t seen much of him since he was at Saint Francis.

I didn’t want to give Spiro the opportunity to get in Lance’s head either while he pitched for us. Not that anyone could get in his head….but if anyone could….it would be Spiro. Spiro had a way with words didn’t he?

Evans would get the ball Sunday night against Sun Valley….and the Fat Jody game could have been a committee or Cowsill or even Vo….who knows? It’s one of those bridges you cross when you get there.

What mattered now is Glendale. Coming into this one Glendale was 9-3 and we were 10-2.

And the build-up to this one was pretty heavy….at least until everybody finally got to the field. Many players from both teams ran into one another at a party the night before this game. Some “good-natured” trash-talk exchanged from what I heard.

Hopefully you guys out there reading this will pitch-in on your recollections of this weekend….

Both teams seemed confident that they were going to ruin the other teams’ Fourth-of-July….

Canale and Turner arrived in style. Turner getting out of the car bare-footed and wearing only a pair of Levi’s.

A beer can fell out of the car landing near Turner’s feet.

Just looking at these two guys …. I could FEEL their hangovers. I didn’t have to say anything.

They both started saying as they smiled “Don’t worry Gee ….we got this”

Whew….

But ya know around this time some guys from Glendale were arriving as well. They weren’t moving too quick either.

I was like….”okay they’ve been partying too”

I got out on the field and who is gonna do the field prep? I saw Spiro and Marcel standing around and we just kinda all pitched in. Players, coaches.

I remember standing around the mound for a bit while somebody was raking it.

Not much was said. Spiro was chattering away…..doing some comedy radio play-by-play calling a horse race he had recently seen that had a few people chuckling.

I didn’t wait for anyone to tell us what dugout was for who. We just laid our stuff down on the first base side. I actually WANTED that dugout. I honestly didn’t give a shit.

Slowly but surely….one-by-one ….everyone from both sides arrived. No trash talking …pretty laid back. We went through our rituals and they went through theirs.

We had all FOURTEEN of our guys there. One of our guys was 14 years old! I was counting the Glendale bodies….they had all Eighteen there.

BIG GAME? you better believe it! Nice crowd on hand too for this one.

But remember ….Verdugo? Yeah ….they’re good….but they never won the BIG GAMES…..

Right?

The umpires arrived….Marcel and I swapped our line-up cards….made a couple of small jokes and said our “good-lucks” to one-another, and before we knew it….it was time to play ball.

The North Hollywood game was really the last complete game Lance played for us.

I’m looking at the scorebook and his last six games with us he was 12-23 at the plate with four home runs and 15 RBI.

He was on an absolute TEAR.

Rightfully he made the All-Star Team. Even though he missed the last 11 games of the regular season for us…..he still led the team in RBI with 21, and in home runs…with four.

Even with his cast on…..after his injury against Glendale…..He was at every game. We all awaited his return. It almost happened. And “kinda did” in the playoff game against Chatsworth.

We all just wanted to see him back again without the cast…..

There were many “moving” events in this season. As a coach you see them. Younger guys coming of age….guys you never thought would see step-up who step up. This season was absolutely FILLED with them. I try to point out as many as I can.

I witnessed maybe more things like that just in this one season that many coaches witness in their entire career(s)….

I can’t pick any one that was “the greatest” because there were so many. And it wouldn’t be fair. All those moments are special.

But I’ll never forget Lance Evans. He pitched in a playoff game with a cast wrapped around his left arm. Bare-handing the return throw from our catcher.

It was National League rules in the playoffs. He had to hit for himself.

It was a little rickety at first. Swinging with one arm….he grounded into a fielders choice….

He came up a second time and drew a walk….

His final at-bat for Verdugo….this guy stroked a line drive base-hit to right field IN A PLAYOFF GAME AGAINST A VERY GOOD PITCHER while holding the bat in only his right hand.

If that doesn’t get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up….I don’t know what else could….

To Lance?

Thank you for what you did for us in a Verdugo Uniform. On the field…and on the sidelines.

Most of the bad blood I was worried about was gone by the time we met on the field. I went over to their side before the game and greeted a happy and smiling Mel as we exchanged lineup cards.

“How are ya today Magee?” He asked as he shook my hand

“Guarded in my optimism coach…I’m just hoping we can get through this one without you trying something …..ILLEGAL AS HELL”

That broke the ice and we had a good laugh and I even spoke to a few of their players and swapped some smiles with them. I think everything was pretty much chilled out.

Sometimes you have to do that as a coach. Try to smooth the waters with the other side…..other times as a coach you let the water boil. It just depends on the situation.

As I said a few posts ago….I wasn’t too worried about these guys. Our team was angry enough. If we were playing Jody I would have been throwing gas on that fire. Different situation here. I actually did try to chill things down before the game with everybody from both sides.

The only thing though that still hadn’t chilled out was …..the Verdugo BATS!!!!

Workman led off with a single.

Turner doubled him to third.

Evans picked up an infield single that loaded the bases.

Canale doubled in two.

Fielder squeezed in Evans making it 3-0.

Hagge came up and went DEEEEEP….a two run shot.

It’s 5-0 Verdugo after six batters…..

It ended after six innings due to the mercy rule: Verdugo 14 North Hollywood 4

We never trailed in this one…..

Josh Canale may have Picked up an infield single with his blazing speed to end our scoreless second inning.

Maybe. I can only go by what the scorebook says. And Nancy was handling it that day. And I have always trusted her judgement. All it says is “6-3″…..but written across the top in capital letters she did add in the letters “BFC”….

I will leave it up to you, the reader of this post ….to interpret what exactly that acronym just might stand for ….

Dave Fielder walked and scored for us in the second inning. He also mowed down another guy trying to steal on him at third back in the first inning.

Lance Evans went yard again. His fourth of the season in the fourth inning.

This is the only time I’ve ever seen “ejected” in our scorebook when I just can’t remember what happened. Thunder was launched in the bottom of the fourth. We were on the field. Something went down…I can’t remember. Anybody remember ? Thunder?

All I know is this….anytime a Verdugo player or coach gets ejected …..Verdugo is always justified in their actions!!!! We really need no explanations!!!!

Vo threw a great game. Giving up three hits and only ONE earned run. 97 pitches. It was Vo’s fourth victory of the season for us.

Leading 7-3 in the top of the fifth…Brendan Cowsill led-off with a walk and eventually scored on Ivan Moreno’s base hit. Moreno eventually scored on Robb Turners groundout, making it 9-3 Verdugo.

The top of the sixth we continued to dominate. Lance Evans drove home two runs and Bull followed up with a double of his own that drove in two more.

Evans led the offense with three hits and three RBI and Bull doubled twice and drove in four.

Yves Brancheau rounded out the offense with a base hit as well.

I cannot remember either what field this game was played at. It was a very cool field. We had never played there before and never did again. Mel arranged for the field as this was their “home game” against us….but it was not played at North Hollywood High.

I will eventually remember and try to update here when I do.

We didn’t sweep Lancaster-North as I had hoped….but we swept North Hollywood as I anticipated so we came through this “four-game mini-season at 3-1.

I really wanted to go into the double-header against Glendale at 11-1….

But 10-2 ???

I was happy.

Blazing Speed!!!!

There was a whirlwind of attention we were getting as things began to open up for us. The phone was a-ringing at The Dome!!!! Reporters, Legion Members, guys I used to coach with, guys I used to coach AGAINST, and a lot of old friends that had been reading about the noise we were making in the 20th District.

Shit, the way things were rolling for us I was actually surprised I hadn’t already received a congratulatory phone call from ‘Old-Man George Bush himself !!!!

I was making a lot of out-bound calls as well. I’ll get to the out-bound calls in a bit. I’d walk into some of the local watering holes where I’d enjoy a few tall cool ones at and everybody knew we were on a roll.

You gotta remember that starting at least a couple of months before the season I was getting regular visits at The Dome from Canale, Turner, and Evans. Once or twice a week consistently. We all threw ideas around and those three guys kept telling me “don’t worry Gee, we got this.”

As a manager…you gotta love that. Your three grizzled vets making an appearance between games and letting it be known we weren’t gonna back down…..And that this year we were gonna FINISH.

Hank, Weapon, and General were there, too….just about everyday as the four of us spent “countless hours” pouring over scouting reports and reviewing plenty of video footage of our upcoming opponents as we sipped Coca-Colas and Dr. Peppers!!!!

I was also (as I always did) making monthly appearances at The Legion Hall. You know…the guys that stuck their necks out for us and threw a lotta money around so we could play.

At this stage in ’91….we were 8-3. That’s a pretty solid start. But we finished 13-10. Obviously we didn’t finish.

But this year at The Hall the old men were on fire! Dave Haskell (The Father of Verdugo Hills in my book) had everybody at the post in a frenzy. He had been to a few games and was loving what he saw!

Ken Zuetell…huge fan!

Art Napiwocki….huge fan and supporter!

And how could we ever forget JESS ROGERS!!!!

Rogers was the current commander at Post 288. They vote in a new guy every year. Jess had a lot to do with our success in ’92.

Unwavering in his support, unbending in his loyalty….this was the guy (if you don’t remember) who we actually let INTO our dugout and make snow-cones for everybody on those scorching days!!!

He made the hot dogs between the double header against Glendale.

He didn’t care. Whatever you guys needed he was there. He always called me “Magee”….

“Magee? Should I bring water? Can I make snow-cones? Are we gonna beat these guys today? Who are we gonna have pitch today?”

A little crazy…a little bent…but totally Verdugo! I spent many hours on the phone with Jess during our four year reign….along with Haskell. Both of those guys totally loved us!!!!

Yeah Jess was a little off….but who wouldn’t be when more than a few times he was the only guy left fighting in his infantry when he served in WW2. He had some horrific stories he told me through the years of what he experienced and what he lived through fighting for America. And he never spared any of the gory details.

He even had a fur hat from WW2 he took from a dead Russian Soldier that he still occasionally wore. He said he hated to take it…but he needed it ….”it was cold when I came across it”

I know these games here are great memories that we all shared on the field amongst ourselves…and no one can ever take those great memories away from us.

But the names of the guys I’ve already mentioned here….as well as Charlie Prescott…were instrumental for us. And I know I don’t want to ever forget these guys, and I hope you guys don’t forget them either.

Remember too we were doing this with a small roster. Only 14 guys. All throughout the year I had to stay ahead of what was happening with everybody. Calling guys all season long and finding out the days I had everybody We needed at each game.

It was tough. It got dicey at times. Moreno and Fielder had football commitments. Cowsill had basketball commitments. A lot of guys had “partying” commitments ….right?

Even Parque needed to set some time aside to work on his trumpet riffs ….right?

Anyways, once I figured that out….I then started calling the opposing coaches…..

It usually went something like this:

Magee: Hey coach…this is Magee from Verdugo…you know that game we are scheduled to play at Glendale High on (whatever the date was)….uhhhh…..yeah….we’re gonna have to reschedule that for a Thursday or Friday ….

Opposing Coach: what? You’re fucking kidding me!

Magee: yeah man I can’t believe it!!!! I just got a call from some guy at the City of Glendale and THEY told me that THEY are gonna be fixing some irrigation on the field that day….I know it’s short notice but there’s nothing I can do man….dang….I hate it when THEY do this. Can you believe this shit? So what do you wanna do Thursday or Friday?

When in doubt….blame it on “THEY” right?

I still think I was a pretty nice guy about everything. I gave them options, right? Did you want to play us on THIS DATE when I have all my horses or THAT DATE when I have all my horses? Those are your options…..Which would you prefer?

🙂

So behind the scenes I was pulling strings and changing dates. Lying, bullshitting, anything under the sun to play whoever we had to play when WE were ready….not when THEY were. I would frame my sales pitch as “there’s nothing I can do about it” and I never had any problem getting my way.

I gotta say…I didn’t do much of that in ’90 or ’91….and I could have. I just didn’t know. I had to learn through experience. But I got pretty fucking good at it I must say 🙂

So we got another game coming up against Mel and his North Hollywood Team.

Mel and I spoke on the phone all season long. We spoke as well after he got launched on Sunday against us. I never even mentioned anything or complained about his pitchers throwing at our guys. Yeah….they did. But I know this for sure….they did that on their own and that wasn’t coming from Mel. No way.

Like I said I didn’t mention anything. But eventually Mel did. I sat there on the phone and let him get it off his chest…just like any good friend would, right?

He went on and on about it for five minutes or so. I just sat there smiling and listened. Finally when it was my turn to speak all I said was this….

“Mel….what you did yesterday? It was ‘illegal as hell'”

For the first time in three years….I had finally made Mel Swerdling laugh!!!!

Sunday morning late June. Beautiful Day for some baseball at Glendale High!!!!

Everybody knows Verdugo had the greatest raggers to ever don a uniform. We would deal ’em out….and the opposition would take it. Well….up to a certain point.

There’s an old saying “you live by the sword and you die by it too”….or something like that.

We also knew that if we were dealing out the brutal rags….then it may put a bullseye on some of our guys. And when you’re playing Legion ball….some of these pitchers around the League aren’t very shy about firing at some hitters….and today? Yeah ….they retaliated.

Did we complain about it? HELL NO!!!!

By the time we took our third beaning of the day….it was the UMPIRE who had had enough! The umpire stopped the game in the sixth inning and started jawing with Mel Swerdling….the North Hollywood manager and Commissioner of the 20th District. (Is that a conflict of interests?)

Anyways, Mel came out of the dugout firing at the ump in that New York mafia-style rat voice of his. “You think we’re intentionally throwing at them?” He yelled trying to act all….thug-like?

The umpire wasn’t in the mood and LAUNCHED old Mel. Mel had no other coaches with him that day. Game over!

Final score Verdugo 14 North Hollywood 6

Here’s the funny part. At the time of the ejection the inning wasn’t even over….and we had already sent 13 guys to the plate!

The first NINE guys that stepped to the plate for us in the bottom-of-the-sixth all reach base and scored! And we still weren’t done by the time the ump ran Mel.

But when Josh Canale took his SECOND beaning of the inning the umpire had seen enough.

Canale may be the only guy in 20th District history ever to accomplish such a feat!

Hell, I hadn’t seen such blatant dosing of our hitters since….since….uhhh….Canale got beaned against Crespi!!!!

Wiley Jackson took the other dose. Wiley had back-picked from right field to first base after one of their hitters tagged a base hit and took a little too big of a turn. The baserunner ended up in a rundown between first and second where we nailed his sorry ass and ended a big inning they were rolling on us. They didn’t like that….

Yeah….we may have talked a little trash about that play after it happened. Especially once we knew they didn’t like it!

North Hollywood had their rabbit-ears out all day. Their ears provided the heat for the Verdugo rags that are literally “heat-seeking missles!” And dang were our missles hitting their targets! Every.Single.Time.

It never mattered what the score was either. When the rags started raining down we were DOWN 6-1. In fact….we trailed 6-5 going into the bottom-of-the-sixth when we erupted.

We knew even when we were down 6-1 that it was just a matter of time before we got to them.

Hack Workman pitched the win. He went “all-the-way” striking out six, and giving up six hits. Of the six runs they scored against us, only two were earned.

BIG GAME at the plate today for Robb Turner. Doubling home Hack in the first-inning and getting us on the board after Hack had led-off with a double of his own.

Robb also singled in the second….and his three-run HOMER in the fourth-inning got us back in the game, cutting into their 6-2 lead making it 6-5.

Hack doubled and singled and scored three runs.

Lance Evans ripped a couple of base-hits and drove in two.

Bull Oxen singled and scored a run

Dan Bir stepped up to the plate in our big sixth-inning and rocked a two-RBI double!

Wiley drove in two as well in the sixth with a base hit.

Yves singled and scored a run for us….

Haggs picked up an RBI and Gabe scored twice and stole a base.

I’m taking a picture of the scorebook so you can see what happened in the sixth…dang!!!!

On one hand I was loving the rivalry and bad blood that was brewing with North-Hollywood….on the other hand I knew that bad blood was gonna spill over into the next game we played against them coming up in three days.

More bad blood….

More guys coming at us!!!

But that’s what ya want? Right?

Look….Yeah …okay ….I get it. It doesn’t look too good with ‘Ol Gee calling these dudes out having illegal players 28 years after the fact! But I’m sticking to my guns!!!!

By the time I’m done with this blog I will have written in detail about all 94 games we played in our history. This will be the only one where ‘Ol Gee makes any accusations of this nature.

I called out Palmdale in ’91 and my suspicions were spot-on. And we won that game on a forfeit. This one probably would have ended the same…..

It definitely would have if they had smart phones back when we were playing!!!!

So…..after 28 years I’ve come to the conclusion that they (Lancaster-North) indeed were “illegal as hell” and shall make no further comment on this game.

I accept the defeat. But I still say they were “illegal as hell” …..

Now all we need is Yul Brynner to walk in and say “so it shall be written….so it shall be done”

Saturday Double-header in Rosamond, CA. Remember we just beat Woodland Hills West on Sunday night so we came into this one with six days rest. We had a game against “somebody” scheduled during the week (I can’t remember who it was against) and I pushed it back which is why we had so much time off.

We only had eleven guys with us on this trip so I’m sure I requested to everybody to please not get launched.

Coming into this game Lancaster North had won maybe one game? They may have even been winless. Expansion team. I remember downloading a huge scouting report off the Verdugo mainframe we had housed over in The General’s garage….we sat in his driveway for about three hours while that mainframe cooked-up the scouting report on these guys.

Finally the printer spit it out.

All the scouting report said was “yeah they suck”

Well that was good to know. Made the drive up a lot easier.

We pounded out 12 hits in the opener with a 13-7 win. It was nice to have Yves Brancheau back with us. Before the season began he had some kind of trip planned with his family and we knew he was going to miss quite a few games in the first half of the season. Yves picked up two hits on the day for us.

Lance Evans homered, doubled, singled and drove in five runs.

Hack Workman scored four runs on the day….his only hit was a three-run shot deep into the weeds for another Verdugo round-tripper in the fifth inning.

We actually trailed 6-5 after four innings. So Hack’s bomb made it 8-6 Verdugo, and we never looked back.

Bull Oxen picked up three hits and two RBI.

Additional hits by Robb Turner, Kirk Hagge, and Brendan Cowsill rounded it out for us offensively.

These dudes were tough to shake. They kept coming at us and they swung the bats very well for a team that was 0-8 or 1-7 coming in. They had some corn-fed big dudes playing for them, too.

The home runs we hit? I remember their pitchers doing a double-take on Evans and Workman when they both went DEEP. As if their guy on the mound was like “wtf? Nobody goes yard on me!”

This isn’t the type of reaction you would expect from a pitcher on an 0-8 team. Let’s face it….that pitching staff had been chuckin’ duckin’ and suckin’ all season-long. I read some of the scores about how bad these guys were getting their asses kicked in the LA Times where you could read the scores of all the games.

They were almost as brutal as “Little Rock” in 1991…

It wasn’t adding up in my book.

I’m sorry but I just didn’t see these guys as an 0-8 team or whatever they were. These dudes were actually pretty damn good. Hmmmmm….my wheels were turning and eyes were squinting as I watched these guys all day. I think you guys know what I’m getting at here.

That’s right. RINGERS….

We’ll never know. Their coach may not have known much….but interacting with him I got the impression that if he wanted to cheat, he would have known what he was doing.

We won a game in ’91 that we actually lost on the field. On a forfeit. I had to officially protest the game. It was against Palmdale. We dominated them early in the year at home and went up to Palmdale and they beat us 4-1. Problem was…it didn’t even look like the same team. They had a couple guys out there that looked like they were about 30 years old.

I caught his ass. That coach for Palmdale was a fool. I saved the lineup card he gave me and read the names off on it over the phone to Mel Swerdling the League Commissioner.

The whole team was illegal. This coach for Palmdale wrote the REAL NAMES of his illegal players that day on the lineup card he gave me.

I can say this….if I ever tried to pull something like that….I wouldn’t hand out the REAL names of my illegal players. I would write down names that were on my official roster that I turned into the league before the season started.

I remember reading the names to Mel over the phone and after about three names he stopped me and said…”he’s illegal as hell !!!!” He’s illegal as hell !!!!”

I can’t tell you how many times I heard Mel say “he’s illegal as hell” regarding all kinds of different players around the league and the widespread cheating that was going down. Especially up in the Antelope Valley.

Hey I tried it once too! We used Weapon in a game against Chatsworth in ’91 when Weap was 19 and actually coaching with us. Totally ineligible. Totally illegal. As Mel would have said “he’s illegal as hell”

We had no choice. We had nine guys at the game and Weapon was the ninth guy!

But did I tell the opposing coach at Chatworth that “Scott Anderson” was hitting in the five-hole for us that day?

HELL NO….the Weapon was “John Workman” that day!

Yeah I tried it….it didn’t matter…. they kicked our asses anyways but that’s a different story.

But did they catch us? HELL NO!!!!

So maybe this guy had some corn-fed ringers in there. We’ll never know.

We beat ’em in the first game….

The second game?

Well…”on any given Sunday” I type-in as I shake my head. Yeah….we got beat.

Made the drive home a lot lousier….

Anyways, in this game….Brendan Cowsill picked up the win. He threw the first four innings and Bull came in on six days rest and threw 40 pitches over the final three innings. This was Josh’s last appearance for us on the mound until the Glendale doubleheader a week away.

These dudes were actually hitting the ball and even scored off Bull. Shit…they scored six off Brendan and they came out hitting some fricken’ ropes early on. I’m talking two-irons!!!!

I’m sorry….but an 0-8 team just doesn’t do shit like that. Not against the kind of pitching we had. Nope. There’s just no way.

Again….we’ll never know.

That coach they had would have known what to do with phony players and names…that much I gathered.

I remember on the drive home all of this sinking in. That yeah….probably ringers….and yeah….there’s no way I’d be able to prove it.

I can’t remember if I even brought it to Mel’s attention. It was a long trip…a shitty day….it was about 100 degrees up there.

But on a humorous note….you’ve never LIVED until you’ve heard Mel Swerdling say the words “he’s illegal as hell !!!!”

I wasn’t sure if I should be pissed we didn’t sweep them or happy that we didn’t get swept. By the time I got home I was comfortable that WE had stolen a game from them….not the other way around.

Yes-sir-ree Legion is a lot like the NFL…..”on any given Sunday” right?

And to top it all off…..they pulled this shit against us on a Saturday!!!!

“Lancaster-North?” …

The best 0-8 team I’ve ever seen in my life!!!!

Ok gentleman now that I’ve said my peace about Verdugo and how we handled the BIG GAMES….let’s take a sneak preview here about what was coming up.

We had a double-header next in Rosamond, CA. Notice how I noted the “CA”….

That’s because this field was so far away we may as well have been playing in Arizona or Nevada…..

It was about an 80 mile trip….EACH WAY.

I was concerned….

Then we had two games against North Hollywood on the schedule. Not a double-header, but back-to-back. I wasn’t too worried about these guys. In fact, the Commissioner of the League, Mel Swerdling actually managed that team.

Mel was quite a character. I could go on and on about my dealings with him and someday will on this blog.

In a nutshell….Mel and I had some shouting matches with each other over the phone through the years (and even face-to-face) and then in 1993…he made me (and he gave me this Title) the “Mini Commissioner of the 20th District”

Yeah we kinda loved and hated each other. But it’s true. And in the 1993 pre-season managers meeting….he announced and introduced me as “The Mini Commissioner of the 20th District” to all the coaches and I went to the podium and addressed everyone at the meeting from the podium. Laying out about a five minute speech for all the coaches. You gotta know Ol Fat Jody was hating that!!!!

From 1990 to pretty much being 2nd in command…..not too bad!!!!

But it was what was up on our schedule AFTER these four games that was going to be the test.

Double Header versus Glendale. (Tough team we had never beat)

Sun Valley for nine innings at Stengel. (Tough team we had never beat)

Notre Dame weekday game at their yard (huge rivalry)

Burbank nine inning Saturday game on the road (they had already beat us this season)

Notre Dame again at their yard weekday game (huge rivalry)

Lancaster South (who we beat earlier this year in our second game) but still a ROAD GAME IN LANCASTER.

Sun Valley weekday game at Glendale High

This was going to be the test gentleman. And even after this stretch….we still would have have the final three games of the season to play!!!

You can start to see that a 23 game season is long enough to wear you down…but short enough to make every game a BIG GAME.

I just kinda kept telling myself when I looked at the road ahead we had ….”on any given Sunday……”

So in the next four games versus Lancaster North and North Hollywood…..I felt we needed to sweep these games. Sweep them and remain focused and stay in the moment and not get caught looking ahead to that vicious stretch of the schedule we had coming up.

I figured ok if we can sweep the next four games…then we can head into that Fourth of July double-header against Glendale at 11-1. That was the plan….and the other plan was to juggle the pitching staff so Bull would get the ball in the first game of that twin bill.

Even though that first game of the double-header against Glendale was going to be at around 11am on a Saturday morning (bringing the hangover-factor majorly into play) I still wanted Bull on the mound for that game.

Lots of interesting stuff came about.

These next few weeks coming up defined us. And it was absolutely magnificent to watch!

I want to interject this now. I think it’s important to say. My goal when I started this thing was to eventually put the most-feared team in the 20th District on the field. Nothing more…nothing less. That was the goal.

If we win it all then we win it all as the most feared team in the District. If we don’t ….we’re still the most feared team. And personally? I would say if you’re the most feared ball club you stand a pretty good chance of going far……and inflicting quite a bit of damage.

I always wanted Verdugo to have a certain degree of “notoriety” if you will….

Kinda like John Madden’s 1970’s Oakland Raiders.

We weren’t there YET. We still had a lot to prove. This season was an absolute battle. We had to fight and fight and fight for what we achieved. But we were well on our way.

We didn’t look too intimidating when we came on the scene in 1990…wow…remember THOSE “uniforms”????

Now….the uniforms, the caps, the batting helmets with the matching logo of our caps. The basic look was there.

In ’93….we went from white pants to a grey pant. The grey pant had navy pipe striping down the outer inseam of each leg that matched the jersey.

And yeah….if we had played in ’94, Jack Tiernan and myself had already started designing AWAY jerseys that would have been in grey….to match that pant.

Could you imagine that? A Legion Team with home and away jerseys?!?!?!? Hahahahaha

But most important….the attitude. The swagger.

I wanted us to intimidate. And seriously….the size and athleticism of the dudes on our team…..all four years….It had to be nothing short of intimidating.

I remember at our reunion Ivan Moreno came up to me at one point. You know he doesn’t say much. He’s a head football coach at Canoga Park High School now. When you’re a head coach or a manager you just kinda see things a little differently. He came up to me and took a deep breath and looked around the room and smiled and said “How did you get all these guys to play for us?” Almost in disbelief. He was saying “look at all the great players in this room!”

I told him…”yeah I know…and not everybody is here either” I rattled off names of guys that couldn’t make it to the reunion (Turner, Cowsill, Parque, Bir, Evans) and that it made it even more staggering.

This was the kind of shit that was going through my mind and what I was scheming to build when I first went out to watch CV play a preseason game so I could see Canale throw an inning back when he was a sophomore. Back in early 1990. Before we even had a roster drawn up for our first season.

He was bouncing pitches…getting pissed out there on the hill. Wild. Angry. It didn’t look too good, but he uncorked a couple of deuces (“yellow-hammers” as I like to call ’em) that were fucking unhittable. Another guy was with me that day and he said as we made our way back to my car “well that didn’t look too good”…..

I said to the guy who was with me “I fucking love him…..I’m building this team around that guy”

And that’s what we did.

I look back and we did eventually create without a doubt the most feared team in the 20th District. What we will be writing about here now is watching the fear unfold. It was even more distinct in ’93. I think Haggs once told me “after we hit pregame in ’93….the game was over before it even started”

But we never won the 20th District. Or the State. We went 20-3 in the regular season in ’92 and finished in SECOND PLACE in our Division. We did win the Division in 93……but many could argue that “Yeah….They were good….but they never won the big games”

I disagree. In LEGION…..EVERY game is a big game. And now that we were 7-1…..All the teams around the league were throwing their number one chuckers at us.

If someone is adjusting their rotations to make sure they throw their number one hurler at us….it sure sounds like it’s a pretty BIG GAME to them. Right?

Look at our regular season record combined for 92-93…..it was 38-5.

That’s a lot of BIG GAMES we won.

So don’t ever let anyone tell ya Verdugo never won the BIG GAMES….

And I think I need to let you all know that you’re going to keep hearing the phrase “BIG GAME” a lot from this point forward.

Because We were now the target 🙂

We had come quite a distance from our humble beginnings in 1990. We didn’t even have a home field in 1990. Now….we had TWO.

We had stopped the Glendale team from picking off guys from CV to strengthen their Roster. Now….we were picking off guys from Glendale!!!!

Things I had envisioned in the early days were starting to come to fruition.

It felt good. But I had to work hard to keep you guys on the same page while we won all these big games. Because to us ….and me….it was just another game. But for many teams around the league….playing Verdugo was their biggest game of the year…..and just beating Verdugo could make their season.

They may have an abysmal season but they could still say “hey at least we beat Verdugo”

We didn’t let very many people say that did we?

I jokingly mentioned in the last post that it seemed like everybody was coming after us now….even Mother Nature.

But things change when you start winning. And things really start to change when you start dominating. It does seem, at times, like everybody and everything is coming at you. Everybody around the League wasn’t being quite as friendly to Verdugo as they were to us the first couple of years.

And I was fucking loving it. It was an absolute honor for me to watch us take this thing to the next level. We all did it…

I’m looking forward to writing about the remainder of ’92….

But this early part of the season and the great start we got off to? This was the turning point.

I was starting to see the fear in the oppositions eyes.

I’ve already actually written a little something about this great day in Verdugo History about 9-10 years ago. I have a link to that story at the bottom of this post. The story I wrote back in 2010 was titled “Father’s Day with Ron Cey”

Yes this was Father’s Day 1992. And yeah Ron Cey was there at the field watching his son play against Verdugo. This was the first time in our history we got to face this team.

Another big game. Another future big leaguer playing for the opposition as well in this game….Randy Wolf.

So please check out the link regarding Verdugo’s interaction with Ron Cey himself. It’s still funny when I read it. We were brutal. And we never held back….not even with Ron Cey.

I remember this day pretty well. It was a beautiful day for baseball. No clouds ….birds chirping….even some bees flying around doing their thing. Gotta love Mother Nature ….even on Father’s Day.

We had a great thing going. It was Verdugo against the world. Everybody was trying to stop us now so it seemed. It wasn’t just the opposing teams coming at us anymore. It was umpires…..league officials…..reporters who may not have liked my attitude at times….everybody was coming at us.

But that’s what ya want….right?

And this day was no different. Even Mother Nature tried to derail us. She took a shot at our ass too!!!! But just like anything else that got in our way in ’92….even ‘Ol Mother Nature got her ass thrown to the ground and stomped on by Verdugo!!!!

I’ll get to that later. Let’s get to talking about this win!!!!

The final score was 8-3 but I don’t think the score was indicative of how thoroughly we punished these dudes. We hit the ball HARD that day. Not everything got us on base….in fact, we only had 8 hits on the day.

They scored three runs against us in the third inning but apart from that were totally dominated. Canale pitching the complete game nine-inning victory. He only allowed five hits and struck out 11.

Three balls they hit that day were weak ground balls right back to Bull….one he even turned a 1-6-3 double play off the bat of Dan Cey that ended the third inning.

Woodland Hills West’s two big guns….Cey and Randy Wolf were a combined 0-6 at the plate. Wolf striking out three times. Wolf reached base via a walk in the 5th and was promptly mowed down trying to steal by Dave Fielder.

Lance Evans got us on the board in the first inning with a two run homer. Evans drove in four runs for us on the day…..and his two-RBI base hit in the 8th really blew the game open and put it out of “grand-slam-reach”….giving us a five-run lead going into the ninth.

Kasey started and played the entire game at second base. And laid down a beauty of a squeeze bunt in the second inning….scoring Kirk Hagge and giving us a 3-0 lead.

They rolled a three on us in the top of the 4th tying the score at 3-3.

Haggs added a base hit of his own in the fourth that made it 4-3 Verdugo scoring Robb Turner, who drew a walk leading off the inning and was wild-pitched to second.

Hack Workman led off the 5th with a base hit….and was wild-pitched to second….and third. Evans drew a walk with one out and we ran a double-steal….Evans being thrown out at second….with Hack scoring and making it 5-3 Verdugo.

It was right around this time that Mother Nature struck. Canale on the mound….and what happens? He gets stung by a fricking bee!

On his pitching hand!

This Bee came from outta nowhere (what are the ODDS?) and dive-bombed his ass. He swatted it ….smacked it ….wrestled with it ….and finally knocked it to the ground with his glove and stomped it dead!

So what do you do as a manager when a guy like Bull Oxen gets nailed by a bee on his pitching hand? Well what else do ya do? You leave him in the game! He was on a roll !!!!!!

The players from the West team were ragging on him about it to be sure. But Bull kept mowing em down.

Honestly I don’t know at what point of the game this happened. I can’t remember. I personally am guessing it was after they scored off him. Because I remember he dominated after the sting.

But I may be wrong….I asked him today what he remembered and he thought it was in the second or third inning.

Either way it was no later than the fourth or fifth inning and he would know better than me ….so if it happened 2nd or 3rd inning that just makes it even more commanding!!!!

Either way. He shut them off. After they scored three in the fourth inning….he retired twelve hitters in row!!!!

He took the sting in the meaty area on his pitching hand between the thumb and index finger and yeah it swelled up.

But like I said earlier….nothing stopped us that year. Not even Mother Nature. So to Mother Nature? Nice try! And just like Sunland-Tujunga….Mother Nature got her ass thrown to the ground!

Meanwhile, we kept adding to our lead. Robb Turner was hit by a pitch leading off for us in the bottom half of the sixth. Haggs sacrificed him to second and then Dave Fielder ripped a double up the gap and it was 6-3 Verdugo.

Hack Workman led off the seventh for us with a walk….and Ivan Moreno singled. They threw another wild pitch…putting runners at 2nd and third when Evans stepped up and ripped the base hit that made it 8-3 and really put the lid on things.

The Wiley Jackson came into the game in the bottom of the 8th and drew a walk. He also hauled in two fly balls out in left field in the 9th inning….including the final out.

Verdugo goes to 7-1 !!!!

I remember I was smelling blood towards the end of this game as we came off the diamond between innings….maybe in the 7th or 8th inning.

I was saying stuff like “cmon continue to dominate!” Just reminding you guys not to let up.

I distinctly remember saying “cmon you beat these bastards and you’re on the map!” I turned around after saying that and Don Hornbeck….their manager was about two feet away from me walking from his spot in the third base dugout back to the first base dugout and heard it all!!!!

Did I care? HELL NO!!!!

I remember the eye contact. His eyes basically said “dang you guys aren’t fucking around are ya?”…,

My eyes said to him “no….we’re not”

We eventually had to let everyone in the league know, too. And I think we did. Word was getting around.

The one thing that happened after this game was as follows….and it kept happening every game during the regular season for the rest of ’92 and all of ’93 and it was this:

Every team we faced from this game forward threw their ace at us. They knew it was the only chance they had.

But that’s what ya want? Right?

To read “Fathers Day with Ron Cey” click here https://www.google.com/amp/s/verdugo288.wordpress.com/2010/12/23/fathers-day-with-ron-cey/amp/