Archive for the ‘Vic’ Category

1990 STATS

Posted: June 13, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Chili, Frost, Hank, Rogers, Sammy, Spongy, Turner, Vic, Weapon
6

1990 was a pretty damn good year.  I like what we pulled off.  I really enjoyed pulling the strings from the third base coaching box with this group because we had a lot of speed on this Team.  Straight steals, hit-and-runs, delayed steals….taking an extra base….it all added up.  Rogers hit .246, but he led the Team in stings (eight), sacrifices (six), and was right near the top in RBI.  Rogers’ six sacrifices were an all-time Verdugo record.  Rogers also played EVERY position on the diamond for us that season!  Hank had 21 hits….20 of them singles!  Martin led in average, slugging percentage and doubles, Weap and Canale led in RBI.  Canale, a 16 year old in his rookie season led Verdugo with 27 hits!  Canale struck out only ONE TIME!….an all-time contact percentage record that was never broken.  And Martin’s 10 doubles was another Verdugo record that was never broken.  Same with VIC’s 19 stolen bases…no one ever broke that record either. Vic also set an all-time record for walks in one season (18).  Vic also led the squad that year in runs (18), triples (three), on-base percentage (.549), and times reached base (45).  Sammy was one of two players we ever had in our history to steal more than 10 bases in one season (12) and NOT get caught stealing.  Yep…12 for 12!  Turner may have only hit .178…but he was 5th in on-base percentage.  Turner also was second on the Team in walks with 15, and fourth on the Team in runs scored with 13.  As you can also see….Chili had a great year for us at the plate.  He had four doubles in nine games.  And then there’s Frost.  He didn’t play any ball his senior year in High School and look at what he did.  I looked back in the scorebook and he started the season one for 12!  So he had a nice year for us as well once he got back into the swing of things. 

Our .865 contact-percentage as a Team in 1990 was also a record that was never broken.  1990 Also hit the most triples we ever had in a season with 11…..a record that was TIED by the ’91 Team.

Check out the Original Verdugo numbers…..pretty impressive indeed!  Ahhh Original Verdugo Team!!!!

“The Saugus 500″……..(Part Three)

Posted: May 31, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Frost, McBride, Vic, Weapon
0

I tweaked the schedule so that there were no games played while I honeymooned.  I returned a week later, and now we had some BIG games to play.  We were at the point now where we couldn’t lose anymore games if we wanted a shot at the Playoffs.  But with Verdugo….you never know.  We still hadn’t really “got hot” and rattled off three or four wins in a row so if anything…we were due. 

If they had camera crews following around teams back in those days and televising the action, Verdugo would have definitely stolen the spotlight from some of the powerhouse teams around the League.  Why?  Because damn near every time we played, we put on a great show.  And today was no exception. 

We rolled out to Saugus to play the Newhall-Saugus team.  For more information on the crazy shit that went down on our ride out that day…..please read my earlier posts “The Saugus 500…Parts One and Two.”

Newhall-Saugus was on track to take the last playoff spot so I told everyone “we gotta beat these guys.”

“Don’t worry Gee”………..was all I heard.

“We can’t lose any more games”………I said.

“Don’t worry Gee”………

God I loved this Team!

Depleted pitching staff?  No problem!  McBride goes ALL THE WAY in a nine-inning game.  We win!!

Facing Erik Hiljus the Big Hard-throwing early-round draft pick?  No problem!  We lit him up!

Vic drew four walks, stole three bases and scored three runs.

Frost singled and scored twice.

Tex went three-for-four with two doubles and three RBI.

BullOxen Two hits and Two RBI.

Weapon Two hits and Two RBI.

McBride threw 134 pitches and went all the way for the win.  It was a little shaky…but we pulled off another upset.

One thing I will never forget is the absolute SHOT one of the Newhall-Saugus players BOMBED for a homerun in the first inning off of McBride.  This ball was probably the longest homerun I had ever seen hit in a Legion game.  Of course, in 1991 we saw BullOxen hit one that we measured after the game at an estimated 510 feet (when it landed)…..but the ball this guy hit was probably just as far.  It was hard to tell.  There was that Big Blue Fence at Saugus High.  Bull’s was hit at an open field up in LittleRock.  Plus, Bull’s shot rolled at least another 50 feet in some pretty deep grass.  So it’s hard to say which ball went further………..

This was one of those homeruns where the dugout gets real quiet.  Usually, when we’d give up a homerun I’d never look at anyone in the dugout.  I’d have to kind of put on my pokerface and pretend that it “didn’t hurt.”  You know, just kind of keep looking out at the field and say nothing.  No change in expression, that kind of thing.  Stoneface it, if you will.  As a manager you have to do shit like that, you know.  Even if it DOES hurt.

But within a short time of this ball landing (about 30 seconds later), I couldn’t keep a straight face.  I had to kind of shake my head at first.  Then I kind of looked at people in the dugout with a little peripheral vision…just to see their reaction.  Next thing you know I was making eye-contact with guys in the dugout and kind of saying “Fuck, did you see that SHOT?”

Then it escalated even further.  Everybody in the dugout was now talking about that ball he hit and laughing about it.  Then we looked out at the field.  I could see from the dugout that some of our guys in the field were kind of looking at each other like “Fuck…did you see that?”

Finally, we looked at McBride.  He couldn’t hold it in either….he started laughing too!!!!!

It didn’t matter…we all just kind of admired it.  Guys in our dugout were needling McBride about it the rest of the game.  We all had a good laugh about it.  That SHOT that kid hit was no fluke.  He led the District that summer in home runs with (I think) seven.  Usually I would read the papers and follow the stats around the League so I at least had SOME clue as to who was putting up the big numbers, and at least try to warn the pitchers.  But I didn’t do my homework on this guy.  Somehow he came in under the radar.  Well, after that SHOT he hit we knew EXACTLY who he was…..and pitched him very carefully the rest of the day.  He also doubled and singled before the game was over, but he didn’t tag us again like that first at-bat of his.

This was another clutch victory for Verdugo.  We were still “alive” mathematically in the playoff hunt at 8-7.  I don’t know what was more fun on this day in Verdugo-lore…..  beating up Newhall-Saugus like we did or the rides to and from the game. 

McBride chucking nine innings like that when we needed it was CLUTCH.  But we still had another HUGE game coming up the next day (Sunday) against Woodland Hills East.  If ever there was a game that should have been caught on film it would be the game that we were about to play.  Woodand Hills East was 15-1 or something like that.  We needed one more miracle……….and little did I know that I was about to experience one of my proudest moments EVER as a coach.

Landmines, Potholes, and Three Sheets of Paper…..

Posted: May 30, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Hank, McBride, Turner, Vic, Weapon
2

Now we traveled out to San Fernando High School for a Sunday Doubleheader.  I’ll never forget the condition of the field when we arrived.  It was the most brutal war zone I have ever seen.  Not only had the field not been dragged……..I don’t think it had EVER been dragged.  No chalk lines…..nothing. 

I was greeted by a smiling old man who was (I guess) coaching the San Fernando team.  From the looks of the field…I knew he HAD to be the coach (the dress-shoes he was wearing gave it away).

“Are you gonna drag the field?” I asked.

“No, no, no it’s good” he told me.

I saw a couple of guys from his team now trying to dig into the ground to find the anchors for the bases.  I gotta give him credit…he DID have some bases.

“Look” I said, “I will personally drag the field.”

“No, no it’s good” he said.

I then tore three empty pages out of our scorebook and handed them to him.

He then looked at me as if to say “what the hell is this?”

“Really…..you’ve gone to alot of trouble this morning here I can see……..why don’t we just use THESE as the bases today?”

THAT……… pissed him off!  But I didn’t care.  And I think I made my point with that guy.  Somebody was gonna get hurt with the field like that…………jeez.

I’m not real picky…but the condition of this field was the worst I had EVER seen in my life.  And it was a decent facility.  All it needed was to be taken care of.  Incredible.

I hit everybody HIGH CHOPPERS during Pre-game so no one got hurt. 

We took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth inning of the first game and they rolled an eight on us.  We dropped the opener 9-3.  We only had three hits in the first game. Frost hit a two-out triple in the second inning but we couldn’t bring him in.  Vic had a two-RBI Double in the third, and an RBI triple in the fifth.  Apart from that we didn’t really get anything going in that first game. 

The San Fernando team was pretty loose, and had a good squad.  They were having fun out there on the field. Some of you guys may remember they had a pitcher on the mound named “Bobby.”  All I remember is pretty much the whole game I had to listen to their team saying “Hey Bobby”…..”Hey Bobby”….it actually was kind of funny.  Well, it wasn’t THAT funny.  The way I saw it I just lost a game to a guy who was not only wearing DRESS SHOES, he didn’t even have enough respect for the game to drag the ‘effin field!!  Fucker……..yeah, I was pissed!

The second game was a different story.  We took a 2-0 lead on them after two innings keyed by RBI singles by BullOxen and Vic.  McBride started BOTH games of the doubleheader on the mound.  San Fernando then scored five unearned runs against us in the bottom of the third to take a 5-2 lead.

Tex wasn’t at the field that day………YET.  He said he had some sort of commitment he had to be at and told me he would get to the field around 3 PM.  Sure enough…around 3:00, in rolls TEX.  I immediately got him into the lineup.  Tex then stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning with that bow-legged stance of his and promptly ROPED a two-RBI double up the gap in left-center.  All of a sudden, we were right back in it.

The Verdugo attitude was starting to kick in.  Guys were getting pissed.  Canale had thrown a couple of great innings of relief and was getting tired.  I was reluctant to give the ball to Hank, because he had thrown about 90 pitches the day before at Chaminade.  Vic stepped up….he didn’t ask for the ball, he DEMANDED the ball.

I asked Vic when the last time it was he had pitched.  “Back in Babe Ruth” was his answer.  That was NOT the right answer………now I was getting sick to my stomach.  It was then that Vic uttered the phrase the players kept telling me all year…….”Don’t worry Gee.”

Vic went out and threw two innings of no-hit ball.  The problem was…..he walked SEVEN guys in those two innings.  But only ONE guy scored….and we now trailed 6-4.

The Verdugo attitiude was now in full effect.  I kept hearing guys saying shit like “C’mon! NOBODY sweeps Verdugo!” 

All of a sudden we were TOTALLY into the game.  Frost led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple.  Hank laced a base hit and it was 6-5.  We tried a hit and run with Canale but the shortstop made a great play to nip the Bull at first.  Hank got wild-pitched to third.  Up came Weapon.  Weapon grounded out, but Hank scored.  It was 6-6 and closing in on 100 degrees.  I was starting to get really worried about Turner….he had caught every inning of both games.  I’d tell Turner “Look we gotta get Rogers in there you’re gonna die back there.”  Turner just kept saying to me “Don’t worry Gee I got it.”

This is the type of shit I’m talkin’ bout!  Total Verdugo!

Hank was getting really worked up.  All he said was “Gimme the ball.”  I told him “hell no”…. he had just thrown 90 pitches the day before.  So what does Hank say?  “Don’t worry Gee.”  So we sent him out to pitch the top of the seventh.  And he fucking struck out the side!!!!!!!  AHHHH Hank!!!!

We started a little one-out rally in the bottom of the seventh.  Tex drew a walk, and Vic singled.  The centerfielder misplayed the ball allowing Vic to get to second base, but we had to hold Martin at third.  They intentionally walked Frost to load the bases. Then the fiery Hank came up and hit into an inning-ending double play!  Fuck was Hank pissed! 

After hitting into that double-play (a 5-2-3 Double-play where he was out at first by a half a step), I was no longer worried about Hank.  He was pissed now, and he wanted this win.

So we sent Hank out to pitch the top of the eighth.  And sure enough, three up, three down.  Ahhhhh Hank!!!

Hank was just about as pumped as I’ve ever seen him.  BullOxen led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk.

Weapon then stepped up and CRUSHED a 1-0 fastball over everyone’s heads…..

And we were DOGPILING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What  a win!!!!!!!!!!  That ball Weapon hit was hit just as hard if not harder than the ball he hit at North Hollywood where he was robbed of a homerun.  This one would have been an inside the park homer.  So I guess Weap SHOULD HAVE had two homers in 1990 for Verdugo….he kind of got robbed twice.

Somehow……….we had found a way.  Again.  What a win!!!!!!!!!

That’s all I can really say………and I’m shaking my head and smiling as I write this (in a good way) WHAT A WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes it was hard….and it usually defied logic…..but now, when the guys were telling me “Don’t worry Gee”…I was actually starting to BELIEVE them.

Softening in My Old Age????

Posted: April 18, 2011 in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, Bir-Dawg, Calf, Chandler, Evan, Hack, McBride, Moreno, Sammy, Turner, Vic, Yves
0

You know, I’ve had all kinds of people who have known me through the years say that to me….”You must be softening a little in your old age.”  OUCH!!  That hurts!  Well, maybe I am A LITTLE….but I’m STILL GEE!!!  I mean, even when my wife tells me “You swear too much”…..I always tell her “The HELL I do!!!!”

Even HACK noticed it in an email he sent me.  We were talking about airfare to the Reunion.  I said something like “we’ll find a way to get you there.”  What did HACK say?  “You must be softening a little in your old age.  A more typical Verdugo response would have been ‘We’ll hi-jack a plane for you.'”

Yeah…I guess he’s right.  Maybe I am.  And I’ll try to keep all the sentimentality out of this Blog……at least until AFTER this post!!!  This story is for those of you out there who haven’t said the magic words….”I’m IN!!!”  Maybe you’re thinking…”why are we doing this?” or “what’s the point?” ……..well…..read this story and tell me what you think…..

I will never forget the image in my head of Bir-Dawg rounding first base with a clenched fist in the air as he hit a TITANIC three-run shot on a Sunday night game at Stengel Field against Notre Dame in 1993.  We trailed 7-0 and Bir-Dawgs blast made it 7-6.  I had been thrown out of the game and got to watch most of this one from the stands.  Let me tell you something……..that was THE GREATEST GAME Verdugo Hills ever played.  And I can’t wait to TELL YOU WHY it was the GREATEST GAME WE EVER PLAYED in a later post!!!  But let me tell you….Bir-Dawgs SHOT….and the vivid images I can still see of EVERY SINGLE PLAYER coming out of the dugout to mob him at home plate still, to this very day, raise the hairs on the back of my neck every single time I think about it.

I will never forget Robb Turner at bat in the bottom of the seventh inning against Notre Dame in 1992.  A game that we were trailing 6-0.  There were couple of guys on base.  Turner came to the plate FURIOUS.  He had been called out on strikes twice in that game on horrible calls.  We were down…and still talking shit!!  Turner was like a Bull in a China Shop at the plate.  Snorting, digging in….fouling shit off.  The count was 3-2.  He swung at everything.  He was NOT gonna let anyone call him out on strikes again that night.  He waited…he waited…fouled everything off he could…and then on the 13th PITCH of the at-bat he JACKED a ball that went at least 450 feet.  Think about that…the THIRTEENTH PITCH of the at-bat.  And as Turner rounded the bases….he verbally unloaded on everyone on the Notre Dame squad within earshot of him.  Yeah, “The Reverend” was screaming from his pulpit that night!!!!!!!!!

I will never forget a game in 1990 we lost 10-9.  We only had NINE GUYS at the game.  VIC couldn’t make it.  He had been telling me ALL WEEK he wouldn’t be able to make the game.  I tried like hell to get him there…but what could I say when he said “Gee, I gotta study for finals.”  This is what a great kid he was.  Forget about all the heroics he pulled off on the field for us.  He, like ALL Verdugo players…was a fucking GREAT KID.  And he told me “Gee, I gotta study for finals.”  And I accepted it.  Let me tell you this ….I will NEVER FORGET that in the second or third inning I looked over towards our dugout and THERE HE WAS putting on his cleats.  All he said was “I couldn’t let you guys down.”………..Let me tell you something people……I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT.  Not only did he show up, he drove himself out to Woodland Hills that day and found the field on his own………..

I will never forget that very same day we lost 10-9 in Woodland Hills finishing the game with only EIGHT Guys on the field.  Well, actually SEVEN and a HALF.  Our second baseman, Sammy was injured.  He couldn’t move one of his wrists.  Yet he stayed on the field.  And he was hurting BAD.  Here was a guy who never complained about anything so I knew that if he told me he was hurt he wasn’t kidding.  Yet he stayed on the field.  And on the final pitch of the game….when we had no one in right field…there he was….laying it all out for us (just like he always did)….DIVING for that ball that fell in to defeat us…risking even further injury.  Yeah, I will NEVER FORGET the effort he gave for us that day……and the effort WE ALL GAVE…even though we came up short.  Sammy was a total Verdugo Warrior!

I will never forget the charge we made in ’92 to finally clinch a playoff spot.  I think of TWO balls that were hit that final game where we clinched against Fat Bitch from Sun Valley…after he had vowed to dominate us the next time we played.  TWO balls that were hit that knocked him out of the game (in the third inning).  One was off the bat of CALF….and the other off the bat of YVES!!!!!  YVES hit one of the hardest balls we hit all-season off of that hard-throwing fatso.  I think that those TWO balls that were hit were the exclamation points that said “We’re IN” (the playoffs).   That’s right…I WILL NEVER FORGET.

I will never forget the game “White” Chandler threw against Burbank for our first win in 1990.  Chandler was emotional, hard-throwing and was coming off a not-so-great season at Burbank High.  But he did throw a gem in our season final at Burbank High…and I was wondering how long he could ride that wave.   As it turns out…he rode that wave quite a long time.  Because he was pretty much unbeatable the rest of his Legion/High School career.  Got drafted in the 49th round by the Royals.  I will never forget the front row seat I had to watch him develop into what he became.  I got to see him throw all of his emotions out the window and become one of the most poised pitchers I have ever seen……and “White”…if you’re out there reading this…..thanks.  I’ll NEVER forget.

I’ll never forget McBride.  How he lit a fire for our ballclub that will always burn with his profanity-laced tirade against Fat jody.  One of the defining moments of Verdugo-lore.  And by the way…he didn’t get thrown out of the game for all the four-letter words, either.  Throwing his glove into our dugout, kicking bats, batting helmets, waving his arms around and screaming.  We were lucky that day…the Ump was a reasonable guy….and he came to the conclusion that McBride was RIGHT.  Contrary to public opinion….it was VERDUGO who actually had the good kids…and we usually didn’t throw the first punch.  But if someone did, they found out in a hurry that getting into a game of BENCH JOCKEYING with us was not a very wise decision.  McBride wanted to wear number 14…..and so did “White” Chandler…so what did McBride do?  He wore number 14 and a HALF!!!  McBride…We’ll NEVER forget!!

I’ll never forget Yvan Moreno in the playoff game against Chatsworth in 1992.  The Umps had already thrown three guys out of the game.  Yet the Warriors from Verdugo stepped it up big time.  Lance Evans came off of the bench and PITCHED WITH A BROKEN ARM.  I will talk about that in greater detail in a later post.  But it was Moreno, the quiet kid, the guy who never said too much who came of age on this day.  We trailed 5-0…..then they threw three guys out of the game.  Yet in TRUE Verdugo-style..we rallied to take the lead 6-5.  When we took the lead…Moreno had made it to third base on a crazy play where he just flat-out took off on his own.  I was yelling “Get Back!!!”  but Moreno was possessed.  The throw beat him by ten feet and he just jarred the ball out of the third baseman’s glove when he came in HARD!!!!  Moreno was safe…the crowd was going wild and he was just feeding off of it.  I had never seen this kid show even a trace of emotion in two seasons with us.  Yet there he was …..standing on third base…staring down Chatsworth’s shit-talking POS third-baseman.  All of a sudden…the shit-talking third baseman didn’t have anything to say.  It was Moreno doing the talking….or the screaming I should say.  “Get the fuck away from Me!!!!!!  It’s 1-0 VERDUGO….get the fuck away from me I’m gonna stuff you in that trash can!!!!!!!!!!!”

That piece of shit third baseman didn’t just believe Moreno…he was CONVINCED.  He backed up close to the left field grass.  I will NEVER FORGET the way I felt at that exact moment.  Everything that I wanted to say myself was being said by my own players!!!!!!!  I didn’t have to say anything.  I will NEVER forget that moment……..and I just wanted to say to Yvan……Thanks!!!!!!!  And to all of you for the fight we gave them that day………….

Most of the guys I have mentioned here have not said the magic words “I’m IN”………

If what we did 20 years ago didn’t mean anything at the time I can see how it wouldn’t matter now.  But from the brief stories I have mentioned here (and I have plenty more) it is obvious that what we did way back then DID indeed mean something. 

I know this…I WILL NEVER FORGET.

And I know, you haven’t forgotten either……

I’ll see you guys at the Reunion.  And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this BLOG!!!!!

What Are All These Nicknames? (Part One)

Posted: April 9, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, General, Hank, Sammy, Spongy, Vic, Weapon
0

There are plenty of folks out there who are “checking out” our Blog here (some on a daily basis) who know nothing about US or our PROGRAM.  We are now averaging about 50 hits every day and should go over 2,000 hits today or tomorrow.  So this story is to you strangers out there who have become fans over the last couple of months.  We, here at Verdugo Hills certainly can understand why you have become fans.  The only thing we DON’T understand here at Verdugo Headquarters is why we aren’t getting 50,000 hits every day!!!  Well, we’re sure it will happen soon enough!!  After all, we ARE The Kings of American Legion Baseball.  So we just wanted to send one very important message to all of you out there who love us as much as we love ourselves.  And the message is this:  “Get a Life!!!”

No…all kidding aside…..we are actually humbled that you “identify” with us…and I figured it would be only fitting to let you strangers out there know what all of these nicknames mean, and the jersey numbers they wore.  So hopefully, by the end of this post you will understand things a little better.   I will begin with “The Founding Fathers” of our four years of glory….the original members of the Motley-Crew, Rag-Tag Group called Verdugo Hills 1990!!!!!!!!!!!  The brilliant nicknames of 91-93 will be posted soon for all of you fans out there!!!

General:  We named him “General” after Gene Mauch.  Didn’t they call Gene Mauch “The Little General” or something like that?  Mauch was the former Manager of the Minnesota Twins and later the California Angels.  We first started calling him “The General”…then it kind of evolved into “General”….later, it became “Gen”….and even later, some other derivatives we CANNOT PRINT HERE!   ‘Ol General, yes-sir-ree….Number 49 on his jersey!!!

Hank:  His Real Name is Henry…but we also called him “Double-Ott” (his uniform Number was “00”).  The opposition had ALOT more nicknames for him than we ever did, and I certainly can’t PRINT any of them here.  Due to the things he did on the field and SAID on the field, he was for sure the most HATED player to ever wear a Verdugo Uniform, and I’m sure no one is prouder of that than ‘Ol Hank himself!!!

The Weapon:  For those of you who don’t know what a weapon is…..I don’t know what to tell you.  There are lots of different kinds of weapons.  This guy was not a tire that you light on fire and roll down the street at somebody…..no, no.  He wasn’t a broken bottle you drunkenly swing at someone when you’re in the middle of a bar room brawl.  No, this guy was a very sophisticated piece of human machinery that was designed to deliver the final knockout punch.  The bomb that WHEN it gets dropped on the opposition ENDS the war if you know what I mean.  Within a short time of “Weapon” delivering……. the opposition would quickly begin to hoist their tattered white flags!!!!!!!!!!  ‘Ol Weapon…Number 22!!!

BullOxen:  Well, we all know what a Bull is.  And an Oxen is slightly larger than a Bull.  Both are “pulling”  animals.  First, he was “Canale”….then for a short while he was “Bull”…but he was STILL GROWING you know?  After a while, he was bigger than a Bull.  We certainly couldn’t change the name…so we added “Oxen” to the end of it.  The two names MUST run together and the “O” in Oxen MUST be capitalized!  Got it?  BullOxen was a perfect name for this guy….because there were many games where he single-handedly “PULLED us through.”   BullOxen….Number 19!!!!

C’mon Vic!!:  This guy was such a great player that General and I came to the conclusion that there was really NOTHING we could teach him.  But we needed to say SOMETHING to him when he was out on the field, right?   We wanted everyone to believe we were actually COACHING HIM so we just kind of started saying “C’mon Vic!!!” every chance we could!!!  Sometimes I liked to fuck with the other coaches and say “this guy has never played Baseball before in his life until this season!”  They’d say “really?”…and I’d say “Oh yeah, he’s coming along just fine, but he’s still learning.”  Then, just before he’s step in the batter’s box I’d say something like “make sure you run to first after you hit it Vic!”……And ‘Ol Vic would give me that smile as if to say “shut the fuck up Gee!”  Yes-sir-ree….”C’mon Vic”….Number 28!!!!!  And once Vic was on base……you could hear ‘Ol General over in the first base coaching box saying something like “Allright now Vic…don’t forget to BREATHE!!!”  SEE??….we actually WERE coaching Vic!!!!

Spongy:  He had this thing going on with his hair that led everyone to name him “Spongy.”  Number 4!!!!!!  Before he played for us, everyone called him “Spongy.”  I always called him by his first or last name.  It’s hard to call a guy by his nickname when you didn’t have anything to do with the creation of it……..to me, he was “Martin”….to everyone else….he was Spongy!!!   To the opposition, he was a MAJOR pain-in-the-ass….because he was either reaching base, driving in runs, or scoring runs!!!  Update:  It has been brought to our attention by “Spongy” himself that his REAL nickname was TEX!!!  So for all of you true fans out there….we may call him “Spongy” on this Blog….or we may call him “TEX.”  Unfortunately we don’t have any footage of him at the plate with his signature, slightly bowlegged, wide-stance.  But we did find a picture of BullOxen with a towel on his head!   So anyone out there with any footage of ‘Ol TEX in his signature stance….please, please send it in to us!!!

Sammy:  This was his REAL first name.  But it stuck.  In fact, if you saw him walking down the street, probably the first name that would pop in your head would be “Sammy.”  You see, a guy named “Sam” is a slow guy who is a power hitter.  The name “Sam” wouldn’t have worked for Sammy.  Sammy was a quick guy.  Could steal a base for you.  Great speed.  Great Defense.  Great Hustle.  In fact, Sammy was FIFTH in the 20th District with 12 stolen bases!!   Sammy!!!  Number 2!!!!!!!

Part Two (and the other seven notorious nicknames from the 1990 squad) will be coming soon!!

1990: The BEST Outfield in the 20th District….

Posted: April 1, 2011 in 1990, Spongy, Vic, Weapon
0

Before we go any further about our brilliant 1990 season….I need to take a timeout to point something out here.  Yeah, it was our first season…yeah, we played all of the games on the road….I can (and will, by the way) go on and on about what that Team did.  But once again, “The Numbers Just Don’t Lie.”  And when you take a close enough look at the numbers it all starts to paint a very clear picture…that we had the BEST outfield in the 20th District that year.

Damon “Spongy” Martin in left.  “C’mon Vic” Ramirez in Center.  And  “THE WEAPON” in right……is there anything else to say besides those three names?

Personally, I don’t think anything else needs to be said….but let me keep selling if you insist!

These three guys combined for 67 hits that season, 26 by Martin.  They stole 37 bases for us, 19 by Ramirez.  Let me put it to you this way…our 1991 TEAM stole only 20 bases (and still managed to go 13-9).  Martin led the DISTRICT…that’s right….THE DISTRICT in Doubles with 10.  Vic was second in the District with his 19 stolen bases.  Weapon led our Team in RBI with 16.  Add in the fact that these guys all had killer arms and played pretty much flawless defense, and could all pitch an inning or two here and there and not hurt you and…well, maybe you can see the picture that is emerging.

Martin hit .407.  Ramirez hit .390.  Although Weapon hit only .281 for us…he hit a HARD .281…..leading the Team in RBI.  Weapon was clutch.  Weapon was a presence on the field as well.  I would get so many people who would ask me “What’s the deal with #22 (Weapon) out there glove-flickin’ when he makes a play on a routine fly-ball?”  I’d just say…”Have you ever seen him drop one?”

Nothing looked cooler than a routine fly going Weap’s direction.  Balanced, behind the ball, both hands down around waist-high with palms down and parallel to the ground like a cat ready to pounce.  Then as the ball came down towards him, he’d get that left hand up just above his head and FLICK DOWN ON IT as he made the catch.  I remember a couple of times telling him to intentionally sand-bag it from right field during pre-game to actually ENCOURAGE the opposition to try and take an extra base on him……just so he could gun them down in the game!

People would ask me “Why do you let him glove-flick like that?”

I would just smile and say…”We actually ENCOURAGE him to do that!”

You’ve seen the “pop-up slide” haven’t you?  Sure, we all have.  Well, sliding conventionally (feet first) was just not in The Weapon’s arsenal.  It was always full-tilt with Weapon.  Head first all the way…every time.  He even was the first guy I ever saw who did a “pop-up slide”….HEAD FIRST.  Most guys when they go in head-first stay down for a while after the slide…….With Weap?  Hell no!…he just popped right out of it!  If you blinked your eyes you just might miss it.

If this team had been a pro club where the players were getting paid…we would have PAID Weapon to do exactly what he did for us.  Weap was always looking to hurt the opposition.  The deep SHOT blasted over everyone’s head…the diving catch…gunning down runners from right…some kind of play where the other team just kind of says…”fuck…did you see what that guy just did?”  There’s only one word to describe Weapon’s style of play…ELECTRIFYING.

“Spongy” Martin…who was given this nickname because the guys thought his hair kind of looked like a sponge was just as fun to watch.  The place-kicker for the High School football team.  I can guarantee you he didn’t hit .407 for his High School team that season…but he did for us.  Wide stance at the plate, kind of crouched over, short, abrupt swing….high stirrup socks…he just had that old-school ballplayer look that said SCRAPPY.  And everytime I turned around…there he was again standing on second base after another double.  And this guy was CLUTCH.  Nothing fazed this kid.  I never saw him once get rattled……

Everybody loved Spongy, players and coaches…….he was a great acquisition for our Ballclub.  He was second on the team in hits that season with 26.  Led the District in Doubles with 10.  Second on the Team in runs scored with 16.  Was seventh in The Distict with 11 stolen bases….yeah, he could run, too.  His slugging percentage led our Team at .609 and he only struck out five times the entire season.  Add in some brilliant defense for us…a few runners he gunned down from left….. and maybe this picture I’ve been trying to paint from the beginning of this story is starting to make sense….but I’m STILL not done!!  Please….allow me to keep selling!

And finally….Vic Ramirez.  I would love to just stop right there.  Just the name should be enough for those of you who knew him.  But I can’t stop here….I’m trying to build a case here, you know?

Ramirez had just finished a great season at Glendale College.  And somehow he ended up playing for us!   He could hit, run, throw, hit for power, hit for average, and was a LEFTY!!!  He was second in The District in Stolen Bases with 19 (still a Verdugo record).  Second in The District in Triples with three.  He led our Team in On-Base Percentage at .549….Runs with 18…..Times Reached Base with 45……and Runs with 18.  He was second on The Team in RBI with 15.  He was a human highlight film. 

You know…two-thirds of the earth is covered by water, the other third is covered by Vic Ramirez.  That’s how much ground he covered in the outfield for us.  Having Weap and Spongy out there probably made it a little easier on Vic….but let me tell you something….this guy could fucking motor!!!

Vic was a quiet leader for us.  It is only fitting that he drove in the tying run…and SCORED the winning run in our first victory against Burbank.  But that was just the tip of the iceberg.  He was instrumental in showing our younger guys the ropes……ask some of our Rookies we had that year like Robb Turner what is was like to watch Vic Ramirez play the game of Baseball.  Let me tell you…it was something special to see……….

Vic was also one of two guys we had who made the All-Star Team that year. 

Yeah…..The Numbers Don’t Lie…..and I’m going to say this right here and now….Verdugo Hills Post 288 had THE BEST 1-2-3 punch in the outfield of any team in the 20th District in 1990.  Bar NONE!!!   These guys were Total Warriors!!  They had the numbers…they hit for power…they hit for average…they electrified….they hustled…they scraped up their bodies…they took extra bases…they stole bases….they were CLUTCH….they crashed into fences….they stole games from and broke the hearts of the opposition……they gunned baserunners down from the outfield….they got their uniforms dirty……they did WHATEVER IT TOOK……..VERDUGO-STYLE!!! 

And you know what?  That’s pretty much what the WHOLE TEAM did that year!!!!!!!!!!   So go ahead…line up every starting outfield in the 20th District in 1990….go ahead.  And, soon enough – you’ll see the exact picture I’ve been painting from the beginning of this Post.  And we all know how  “The Numbers Just Don’t Lie”……….

When you’re painting a picture like the one I’m painting here…there are only three colors you can use – Martin, Ramirez and Anderson! 

Yes-sir-ree………….our 1990 Outfield……….THE BEST in the 20th District that Season.  BAR NONE………..

Exorcising The Demons…….Our First Win

Posted: March 13, 2011 in 1990, BullOxen, Chandler, Chili, Games, Hank, Spongy, Vic
2

Sounds pretty heavy.  “Exorcising the Demons.”  Well, to me …it was.  That’s about the only way I could describe it.  I mentioned in my last post that I was a paid assistant coach at Burbank High in 1990.  You know, when I got that job it was one of the proudest moments in my Baseball life.  My friend, Dave Johnson had been hired for the Head Coaching position after a lengthy and bitter interviewing process.  There were ALOT of people that wanted that job, but Dave got it.  We were both hired as walk-on coaches who were not members of the faculty.  We were really, really excited about working there.  Little did we know about the scumbags that were lurking in the shadows, lying in wait, seeking out every opportunity to undermine and discredit us behind our backs. 

While my Grandfather Harry Leroy Magee had taught me the love of the game….Coach Johnson TAUGHT ME THE GAME.  Working with him that one season was an incredible opportunity to watch one of the greatest coaches I have ever been around in action.  He had hired me to assist him, and he probably knew that about the only thing I brought to the table was fire, and a love of the game.  But he brought me on board, and like I said before…we were REALLY excited about working with the players.

Unfortunately, there were SEVERAL people who were extremely bitter about us getting hired.  Two of them, one guy who called himself “Pops” and another guy I’ll just call “Weasel” did everything they could that first season we had there to make our lives miserable.  They knew all of the players and really went to some mind-boggling lengths to get the players to turn on us.  But there’s an old saying….Good ALWAYS triumphs over evil.  And that’s exactly what happened.

Out first season at Burbank was a disaster.  We went 3-12.  BUT….. by the end of the season, the UNDERCLASSMEN were on our side.  Halfway through the year we pretty much wrote off the seniors on that team.  So Dave and I were worried about what would happen during summer-league.  We REALLY didn’t want those two guys undoing all we had done with the players that season.  One summer with those two guys would have wrecked everything we had tried to accomplish.  That’s why in the summer of 1990…I coached TWO TEAMS.  We put together another Team in Connie Mack League that had players from both CV and Burbank.  All we knew is that we DID NOT want those two guys talking to our kids, and if I had to coach TWO Teams that summer to protect our guys from being poisoned by them…then so be it.

While I might not have contributed much to the Burbank Program, you gotta give me credit for ONE THING.  Being a HUMAN SHIELD between our players at Burbank and Pops/Weasel.

I really had NO IDEA that I would end up getting hired at CV in 1991.  But the summer of 1990 was instrumental for the Burbank program.  Why?  Because we shielded our players from Pops and Weasel and those players got to hang around some of the kids up here from La Crescenta.  I’ll tell you…WINNING and the way you carry yourself is contagious.  And after Jason Chandler and Chili Rivera had spent most of the summer around our Legion Team…I began to see a BIG difference in the way they carried themselves.  They evolved into WINNERS.  Chandler and Rivera were NEVER losers….they were ALWAYS awesome in my mind…..but after our disatrous first season at Burbank a change in scenery was needed, and THE PLAYERS of Verdugo Post 288 seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.   I personally CANNOT take any credit for it, but it was a wonderful thing to see everyone from both schools get along so well.

Yes, I went on to get hired at CV in 1991 and we had a pretty good season and made the playoffs.  But you know what happened in Burbank?  They WON the League TITLE OUTRIGHT.  You know who was in their League?  HART.  Yes, that’s right………..HART.  The accomplishments of the 1991 Burbank High School Baseball Team are absolutely incredible.  Coach Johnson did a masterful job, and I was happy for him and REALLY proud of the kids over there.  Chandler and Rivera dominated that season.  Awesome!! 

Our 1990 Legion Team lost the first game in our history to a team from Panorama City that ultimately went 18-5 and made the playoffs.  We took a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning….they tied us and we ended up losing in the 10th inning 6-4.  I thought we had played a great game.  Certainly we had played well enough to win.  I was wondering how our Ballclub would respond to such a devastating defeat.  Alot of teams would have just thrown in the towel right there……..but not Verdugo.

So now here we were…the Verdugo Hills American Legion Team…playing the SECOND GAME of our existence.  And guess who we were playing?  That’s right…Burbank.  And guess who I was coaching against?  That’s right…Pops and Weasel.  Plus several of the guys I had coached that season at Burbank High were on that team.  Most of them were seniors who had graduated, the guys who we had pretty much written off as insubordinates.   Coach Johnson and I pretty much had realized that any instructions we tried to give these guys in particular was like asking them to eat a plate full of HAIR.  They all had “season tickets” in the second-guessing section, if you know what I mean.   So there was plenty of bitterness going into this game. 

Pretty much EVERYBODY on the other side of the Diamond that day HATED ME or RESENTED ME.  And they knew I was going TOTALLY out of my way to keep Chandler and Rivera away from them.  And the coaches of the Burbank team now were going to get their chance to teach me a lesson.  They had fantasized their whole lives about coaching the kids at that school….and myself and Coach Johnson had “taken” that from them.  I could hear their petty comments from the moment I arrived at the field…………

So you know who I gave the ball to that day?  Jason Chandler.  The hot-headed and wild-throwing Chandler.  And you know what he did?  He beat ’em.  We never led until the FINAL PITCH of the game.  And we had our first dogpile.  And we dogpiled right on THEIR field…..right in front of the guys who HATED ME.

They threw Mark/Mike? Rossiter at us that day.  Probably the best local pitcher that was drafted in 1991.  Canale came up in the second inning.  My old third baseman Jeremy Sparks and I were making a little small talk with each other in the early part of the game.  When Canale came up I told Sparks “See this guy here?  He’s only a sophmore”….

Sparks, being the arrogant guy he is who had the listening skills of Helen Keller then said as Rossiter dealt to Canale “Hey what do you say FROSH?”

Canale then hit a ball then went about 450 feet.  It was great to watch one of those bitches from the Burbank team who never listened to a word from myself or Coach Johnson have to go and fetch that ball.   We all know about BullOxen’s lack of speed.  It would have been a home run if there was a FENCE there but Canale ended up with a triple.  He scored on a wild pitch.

Chandler kept his poise the entire game.  He threw only 99 pitches.  His only walk was a hit-batter.  Was it an intentional DOSE?  I’ll never say……….

All I know was that when we rallied to win in the bottom-of-the-seventh inning……when that ball Martin hit fell in….I had to hold back tears.  The newspaper didn’t get all of the facts straight…the guy who got his glove on it and dropped it was one of my former players at Burbank high who we threw off of the Team for failing to call/show at a carwash fund-raiser we had.  That made it even SWEETER.  Yeah, we kind of burst their bubble(s) that day…..I guess you could say “‘Pop’ goes the ‘Weasel'” after this win………….

Yeah…we exorcized the demons that day.  And we had our first win.  If you’d like to read the story in the papers Click Here

The Collective CHIP on our 1990 Shoulders….

Posted: March 8, 2011 in 1990, Behind the Scenes, BullOxen, Chandler, Chili, Frost, Hank, McBride, Rogers, Sammy, Spongy, Turner, Vic, Weapon
0

When we started this thing in 1990 I went in to the Post and somehow got them to sponsor our Team…something Verdugo Hills Post 288 had not done in about 30 years.  For more info on how that came about read my earlier Post titled “From $1000.00 to a Team Bus?”  While I was excited to have been “hired” to coach Post 288 (for no pay)…….I had just ONE PROBLEM.  I didn’t have any players……

I had just finished up my first year as a PAID coach at Burbank High.  So I was planning on taking a couple of pitchers with me from that school……our tough little right-hander Chili Rivera and left-hander Jason “White” Chandler.  But that’s really all I had.  I knew some of the kids from CV and had coached many of them in Colt League in ’88 and ’89.  Alot of those guys had already verbally committed to joining us but I still had many slots on the Roster to fill. 

So I started picking the brain of one of the players from my 1989 Colt Team..John Rogers.  Rogers was smart, funny, and most importantly…he could SELL.  In reality, Rogers was the GM for our Team the first year of our existence.  He kind of bridged the gap with a lot of these players we wanted to recruit for the Team and he really opened up the lines of communication with these players.  Rogers had already played for me for a couple of years and had a feel for how I liked to run a program and I think he did an unbelieveable job SELLING this to the players who ultimately ended up on our Roster.  But being the new guy, I still had ALOT of selling of my own to do.

Glendale had a powerful program going on, and I am sure many of the guys who played with us that first year (if given the choice) would have played for them instead of us.  But there was something going on behind the scenes that worked in our favor.  Glendale was trying to recruit the guys who ended up on our Roster as “Filler” players.  They wanted them on their team, but they wouldn’t make any commitments to these players as to how much (or little) playing time they were going to get. 

Most of our guys probably felt (and rightfully so) that they could be STARTING for the Glendale team.  As I spoke more and more with these players that we ended up with, I realized that they were pretty pissed about the whole thing.  This kind of worked to our advantage.  And in the end, they decided that PLAYING for us was better than SITTING for anybody.  I started to realize that this was a great group of guys….they all kind of had a CHIP on their shoulders and wanted to prove Glendale (and the rest of the world) that they were WRONG.  And I think that our guys more than accomplished this.

Glendale wanted all of the BIG NAME players.  The marquee players, if you will.  Hell, I’ve always said just give me nine guys who want to play hard and I’ll do fine with whoever it is.  Even if we play the entire season ON THE ROAD like we did. 

One of those Marquee players was Vic Ramirez.  The Glendale team was trying to get me to sign off on a waiver sheet and effectively “release” Vic over to them.  I had two words for the Glendale team when that was proposed to me…..those two words were “Hell NO.”  It looked like Vic might not even play that season at all.  But thanks to Hank, BullOxen, and some of the other guys doing a little behind the scenes “selling” Vic ended up playing for us and having a great season. This is the reason the Glendale team had it in for us and wouldn’t let us use Stengel Field at all in our first season.  And I’ll bet you if they did acquire Vic from us they would have won the District.  So Glendale may have ruined our plans of having a home field…but we ruined their season……….

You know what I say?  Canale is a marquee player.  Damon Martin is a marquee player. Weapon is a marquee player.  Hank is a marquee player.  Rogers is a marquee player.  Same with the pitchers we brought over from Burbank.  And the guys we filled out our Roster with were great players, too.  At least this is how I SAW IT.  And as far as I’m concerned, I SAW IT and the guys running the Glendale program missed it.  This is why Verdugo Hills had the greatest players….we had the guys who had HEART.  We had the guys who ate, lived and breathed the game.  So from our inception we had this great group of kids who felt they had kind of been OVERLOOKED.  They had a nice, big, fat CHIP on their shoulders.  And over the next several posts…I’m gonna tell you all about it!  I’m getting fired up right now just writing about it!!

It kind of goes without saying the chip I had on MY SHOULDER.  It was the perfect union…a coach who wanted to prove he could win at this level and a bunch of players who felt like they had been overlooked and wanted to prove that they could PLAY at this level.  Well, I think we proved our critics WRONG by the end of that first season.  Take a look at the stats from the 1990 Team when I post them here and try to tell me these guys were not players.  Canale as a 16 year-old made the ALL-STAR TEAM.  He had 88 Plate Appearances that season…..and he struck out ONE time!!!  

Yeah…..we all had a one big, fat, CHIP on our shoulder.  And I frickin’ LOVED IT.  While the rest of the league certainly didn’t label us as the new bully in the block…. I will say this….after just a few games they all were paying VERY CLOSE attention to US……….and there was a LOT of whispering going on behind the scenes about this New Team in the 20th District called Verdugo Hills……a Motley Crew of no-names who didn’t back down to ANYBODY.

 

Short Porch in Right

Posted: February 20, 2011 in 1990, Games, Hank, Vic, Weapon
0

One of the greatest players we ever had was Vic Ramirez.  Vic played for us in our first season in 1990.  Vic was a lefty, ran like a demon, had a great arm, and hit the shit out of the ball.  Vic had graduated from C.V in 1989 and was still eligible for one more season of Legion ball.  He had just played an entire season at Glendale College and started every game and did a great job for them as their lead-off hitter.  Vic wanted to play for the Glendale Legion team that season…but thanks to some great selling by Hank, Weapon, and BullOxen we ultimately ended up with “C’mon Vic” (as we nicknamed him) on our roster. 

One of our games in 1990 was at Chaminade High.  When we first got to the field everyone was eyeing their right field fence.  It was only 240 feet from home plate, but it had a net that acted as a “fence” that went straight UP about 70 feet in the air.  Vic was our only left handed hitter on the team.  The first guy I looked at when we all saw that fence was Vic.  He was drooling.  You knew what was going on inside his head………

“Don’t even think about it” I said.

Vic smiled and said “Don’t worry Gee….nothing but two irons today.”

We were having problems with some of our hitters….alot of guys were dropping their hands when the pitch was on the way and trying to jack the ball over the fence or everyone’s heads………and it wasn’t working.  This is where the term “two irons” came around.  If you’ve ever hit a perfect shot in Golf with a two iron you know what I’m talking about.  A two iron is a low, penetrating shot that goes a LONG way.  I kept telling the hitters that year…”let’s go…lots of two irons today.”

I still knew what he was thinking.  And if I was in his shoes I knew what I would be thinking.  That short porch in right field was a little too tempting…..

And sure enough…the first pitch of the game….Vic drops his hands and tries to jack it over that fence.  He golfed a high towering routine fly ball.  The ball went 241 feet for a home run.  Everybody came out of the dugout laughing.  In fact…everyone was laughing EXCEPT for GEE.  When he came around third with his homerun trot I didn’t even high-five him.  Everybody was out at the plate congratulating Vic but Hank and Weap were looking over at me and giggling because they knew I was pissed.  I was just down there shaking my head but the players still knew I was happy we had a 1-0 lead.  I tried to act pissed but it wasn’t working.

One thing about Vic…he was a great kid.  He came up to me the next inning and said “sorry Gee….just two irons from now on.”

So his next at-bat he laces a two-iron right into the net in right field.  The right fielder knew just how to play it and damn near threw Vic out at first.  Time to re-think my little scheme…………

Next time before Vic came up I called him over and said “All right…you get a hall pass for the day….just golf it over the fucking fence.”  All I know is that this game had quickly turned into a shootout and we needed runs any way we could get ’em.

Vic got a big smile on his face.  He tried about three more times that day but couldn’t golf another one outta there but he did hit another one off of that screen that almost made it.  I was learning a lesson as a coach that day.  Actually, as a coach you are always learning something.  The lesson was simple….JUST LET ‘EM PLAY.

We held on to win that day 16-12………recording the final out of the game with the BASES LOADED and a power-hitting lefty from Chaminade at the plate who was eyeballing that short-porch too!!!!!!!