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It was a tough day for everyone. But also an uplifting one. We were there …. and I’m proud of all the Verdugo Alumni who attended Scott’s Memorial yesterday. I know we will all miss him.

Rogers….Canale….Fernandez….Ramirez….Cowsill….Hagge….Saltsman….and a touching appearance by JR’s dad….Don Workman.

I know for a fact that Fielder and Big Breck would have been there….but had other commitments and I know they were both there in spirit. 😢

My favorite moment of the day was when I was over at a table looking at all of the pictures of Scott. Bats he had swung, gloves he had worn…and many of his favorite personal items that had meaning to him. Posters of his favorite bands. The degrees he obtained from studying at both Glendale College and Azusa Pacific.

I was laying low and feeling sadness as I took it all in….and a woman walked up to me and broke the silence and said “are you…..Gee?”

It was Scott’s mom. It meant so much to me that she ……remembered me. 😢

Don Workman said some things about the Team in general that were some pretty cool things to say. I will get to what he said in a future post. It was touching when he literally appeared from out of nowhere in front of me …..a father who had taken time to be there on behalf of himself ….and his son. 😢

Great love abounded yesterday. For one another….and especially for Scott.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed connecting with all of you as we’ve all dealt with this in our own way. Seeing everyone yesterday and watching you all interact with one another kind of brought me back to another time. Especially when you guys started throwing the whiffle balls around. 😢

Forgive me for the little icons with the tears.

Sometimes we shed tears of sadness and sometimes they are tears of joy.

But I know this ….Tears are important.

They are the safety valves to the heart when too much pressure has been laid upon it.

They are the messengers of grief, and deep contrition…..and unspeakable love.

Tears are words that the mouth can’t say….nor can the heart bear.

I remember when Scott shared with me via text that his father had passed away. I sent him this one….it is my favorite and will leave everyone with this:

“tears are often the telescopes which allow men to see far into Heaven”

Scott….

We will never forget you….

We miss you….

We love you….

Your friend,

“Gee”

I encourage all of you to make an appearance at The Scott Anderson Memorial to be held this coming Saturday ….July 31st at CV Park in La Crescenta from 1pm-4pm.

Bull and I spoke a couple of days ago and we’ve decided we will not be wearing a suit to The Memorial. I don’t know if there is a dress-code for this. No disrespect to The Weapon, either. I doubt we will see anyone there wearing a suit ….it’s going to be a hot day.

I still don’t really know what I will wear. Probably some denim …some boat shoes….and maybe my jersey. I don’t know.

I told Bull that the last time I saw Scott (May 13, 2016) was the only time I ever saw Wep in a regular pair of pants. Every single time I saw The Wep (whether it was 40 degrees or 105 degrees) he was wearing his signature shorts! I would probably lean towards wearing some shorts to The Memorial in Wep’s honor but I will save everyone the horror of seeing ‘Old Gee’s white skinny legs!

I don’t know what they have planned for The Memorial. I don’t know if I should bring anything so I won’t. But I think it’s important to be there. I may show up late and I may leave early …I just ….don’t know.

The only thing I will bring along with me is a heavy heart, some great memories, and a few words to say if they have an open mic. Even with the open mic….I don’t know if I will say anything or not.

As you can see here there’s a lotta stuff I just don’t know about heading into this Saturday.

I remember our first season and going through Q and A sessions with the players before the games. When I hear the words “I don’t know….” I always (to this day) think of The Wep.

I remember the first time I called on Scott during the pre-game Q and A….I can’t remember exactly what I asked him but I will never forget his answer.

He said “I don’t know I’m just here to Kick ass”….

As a coach …. and hearing this ….that’s the wrong answer! Right?

But as a coach ….I couldn’t get mad at him for that answer. In fact…his answer was the RIGHT answer. The more I thought about it ….yeah….it was the right answer.

In the heat of the battle players and coaches and everybody can’t remember everything. Wep was saying….”if I get into a situation where I don’t know what to do….don’t worry Gee….I will find my way through it ….because at the end of the day I’m just here to KICK ASS.”

I still use his line to this very day. I’ve used it with bosses I’ve had….co-workers….friends….enemies….and even with my wife for a funny moment. It always draws a smile to whoever hears me say it.

We don’t know what to expect Saturday. It’s okay. Let’s make an appearance and pay our respects. Let’s all handle it with the spirit that Scott brought to the table.

Let’s go to the Memorial ….and if we don’t know what to say or do….let’s just be there to KICK ASS.

Just like The Weapon would do….

I hope everyone can be there. This information was sent to me by Henry. If there are any changes we will announce it here at the blog. The Memorial will be held at CV park….not Montrose Park.

Any questions just get ahold of me ….if you don’t have my contact information send a comment here and I will be able to get back to you.

Thanks….

Scott’s sister Carrie sent me a pic of this tonight. I thought you all would like to see it. Thanks for sending this Carrie.

I want to thank everyone for the heartfelt comments made in memory of Scott here on the blog. I considered shutting things down for a while here in his honor but The Weapon was one of the biggest fans of this blog….so I will at some point resume posting here.

Henry has been in contact with Scott’s sister and Henry has reported to several of us that Scott’s family is planning a gathering to celebrate his life sometime around the end of July at CV Park.

This information may be subject to change and if anything I’ve reported here is incorrect I am hereby asking for Henry to correct me and please do his best to try and keep us all in the loop.

We all have spent the past week or so talking to or texting or emailing one another in The Weapon’s memory. I’m sure we all wish we could have seen him one more time. I know I do.

He will never be forgotten…..

Last night was a really sad night. I got a phone call from Scott’s sister and she informed me that Scott had passed away yesterday.

He had a long and hard battle with cancer.

She said I could make an announcement on the blog here but has asked us all to not make any posts or announcements about this on Facebook or any other social media.

She is in the process now of trying to notify a lot of people so please honor and respect her request.

You gotta have an exclamation point after that letter if it’s associated with Verdugo…..right?

Brendon Cowsill.

I “think” I was the guy. When I first saw him play he was a freshman at CV and jeez …this guy was hammering shit deep beyond the Ivy growing all over the walls at Stengel Field.

Yeah….as a freshman.

When I say “I was the guy” I am referring to where they were playing him defensively. He was playing shortstop. He ended up with Verdugo. And he ended up being our third baseman.

I “think” I was the guy that said “hey look he’s a great shortstop but that guy is not only a third baseman….he’s a professional prospect down there”

I never met anyone…player, coach, parent, or scout that disagreed with me putting him there.

Obviously he could pitch. I really didn’t use him much as a pitcher in the three years he played for us. Not because he couldn’t pitch. But because he was such a game changer as a position player.

Electrifying. When he struck it always had a huge impact. Offensively or defensively. And he had some great appearances for us on the mound.

As a side note I wanna say this, too. From ‘92 forward we had about as intimidating of a pre-game drill as you could find. It showcased everybody. One could argue that in certain games we played that by the time we finished hitting our pre-game drill the game was already over.

We would start our drill like any other ball club would. We would start with the outfielders and then finish with the infielders.

I will tell ya this. There’s no better feeling as a coach when you’re hitting pregame and you get to the infielders and you’re holding a ball and a fungo with cigar burn marks all over it and hitting that first ground ball to our infielders and it’s Brendan Cowsill.

Clean pick. Chest-high feed over across the diamond to our first baseman. You could hear the ball “fizzing” and see it rise a little as it made its way across. It just set the tone. We had a lotta cannons on that team. But watching this guy was just “wow”…..

I think “B” responded positively to me letting him spend more time running around the yard as a position player and just letting him get his hacks in. If he wanted more innings on the mound with us….I certainly never knew about it and I’m confident that he would have asked me. Or somebody would have said something.

Due to basketball commitments with the high school…we only had Brendon at 13 or our 23 regular-season games. We knew this going in. Obviously we would have loved having him there every game. It was what it was.

When the playoffs came around he was at every game…and he hit .389 for us in those four post-season games.

Like I said earlier…he was electrifying. And he was clutch.

If we had signed him to a contract and were actually paying him to play for us that’s exactly what we would have paid him to do. Be electrifying. Be clutch. And that’s exactly what he did.

Very similar to the role “The Weapon” had with us in 1990.

“Just do your thing man….” and turn him loose!

He wasn’t just a power-hitting third baseman either. This guy could RUN. In ‘92 we only stole 42 bases as a team. We didn’t have to run. There were so many bats that could inflict so much damage at any given moment that it really wasn’t a necessity.

The ‘93 team I had to manage differently. We stole 95 bases with that team and could have stolen many more. We had to manufacture some runs here and there with that team. “B” stole 14 bases for us in ‘93. Third on the team behind Hack (17) and John Lister (15)….

“B” showcased his wheels when we snatched sole possession of first-place from Jody’s greedy hands and moved our record on the season to 15-2. I remember that game vividly. We were short-handed and I had a choice…Yves in the outfield? Or put Yves at third and put “B” out in center field and let him roam the tundra?

I went with “B” in center. We won 5-1. That was the only game Brendon ever played in the outfield for us in three years. Why did I do it? To be honest? I just knew this guy had played hour upon hour of that little game called “over-the-line” as a kid …probably with his older brother and his older brothers friends.

So what does he do? He sets an all-time Verdugo single game record for put-outs in a game as an outfielder. SIX.

count em….SIX (and in a seven-inning game no less)

These were not routine plays either. I can still see it in my mind….these high towering flies that he had to go get. Through some DEEP outfield grass!!! Jody later admitted to me that he intentionally left the outfield grass long and unmowed for that game. He did this because he wanted to try and slow down any gappers we hit from reaching the fences.

Jody’s gardening didn’t work out to well…all the shots we hit up the gap that day touched the fences….and B….with his long loping strides ….just kept fighting his way through that tundra and flagging ‘em down!!!

It was so awesome to see it was almost comical !!!!

ELECTRIFYING!!!!

He absolutely BLASTED three home-runs for us in the 13 regular season games.

A THUNDERING two-run shot in the fourth inning of game four against Valley South that broke it open and made it 4-0 on our way to a 7-0 victory.

Undefeated at 5-0 against Burbank in game six we were down 6-1 in the top of the sixth. Their pitcher had held us to only five hits and B steps up with Josh aboard and crushes his second of the year and in one swing it’s 6-3.

That ignited a furious rally and while we ultimately came up short and took our first loss….it was clutch and got us back in the game……all I can say is….

ELECTRIFYING!!!! CLUTCH!!!!

The biggest games of the year on July 4th, 1992.

Double-header versus Glendale. Down 2-1 in the top of the fourth. Our backs were a little bit against the wall. Bull was owning ‘em but we needed to get something going offensively. Haggs draws a walk and the next pitch B hits an absolutely TITANIC blast deep into the wash and it’s 3-2 Verdugo!

We hit 15 home runs in 1992. 28 in our team history in the combined regular seasons.

I would have to say that one was was the most EMOTIONAL home run we ever hit. They all had meaning. But this one? BACK-BREAKING. This settled a territorial dispute. It settled a lot of stuff.

ELECTRIFYING!!!! CLUTCH!!!!!

(go with me here and substitute those words for “QUICK!!!! PANTHERLIKE!!!!)

Verdugo became the new bully on the block that day.

That game also went into extra innings and “B” drove in the runs that were the difference in the game in the 5-3 win.

Canale’s gem that day. Lance breaking his arm and coming back to the field to watch the 2nd game. Haggs breaking his nose in a collision at the plate and scoring. Hack coming in and playing at shortstop when Evans went down. EVERYBODY just gutted-up on this day. But this home run by B?

ELECTRIFYING!!!! CLUTCH!!!!

We had many many glorious moments in Verdugo history ….many which surpassed the Glendale sweep…but at that time in our history?….those two games and especially that first game was (at that point) “our finest hour”

He hit another home-run in our first playoff game that was instrumental as well and we will talk about that too in a future post.

He only threw 10 innings for us in the regular season in ‘92. Those 10 innings yielded three wins and a save. He was scheduled to start against Sunland-Tujunga and they forfeited so I credited him with the win. But still….two wins and a save in ten innings is pretty “electrifying” I would say.

He threw the last two innings in relief of Vo against Valley South and picked up a save.

He relieved Vo in the first Sun Valley game at Stengel and gave us 3.2 innings. Mowed down four hitters and allowed zero earned runs for his first win of the year.

He started on the mound in game one of the double-header against Lancaster North. The ball club with all the ringers. We won. We got hit hard that day but they had some college players out on the field against us. All things considered he beat a very strong team that day.

So when he started on the mound against Crespi in our third playoff game he only had ten innings under his belt all season. Yet he threw a gem. He threw six solid innings and gave up ONE earned run.

Once again….

ELECTRIFYING!!!! CLUTCH!!!!

We loved having B in a Verdugo uniform all three seasons!

The question with Bee was never if or when he would electrify or do something clutch for us. The questions were (at least in 1992):

Is he going to wear his number nine jersey?

or the number 25 jersey Evans wasn’t using as he rehabilitated from the broken bone in his arm?

is he going to ever wear his Verdugo cap?

(B loved his USC cap)

Sure those questions were always running around….but as a coach who had a player this electrifying and this clutch …honestly I didn’t give a shit what he wore out on the field. Or what anybody wore for that matter.

“Once Verdugo, always Verdugo” I always say.

No matter what you wear.

“B”?

It’a no surprise to me that long after your playing days ended ….even as a professional baseball player …..that you simply plugged in a guitar and a microphone and joined a cool band and CONTINUED TO ELECTRIFY!!!!

Yves Brancheau.

We’ve talked already about the great rookie class of 1992. But the next four guys we will be talking about are recruits from 1991. Three were rookies …and that rookie class from ‘91 was money, too….you better believe it! And Yves was one of ‘em. Great acquisition.

Yves saw significant time for us in ‘91 as a rookie and was our lead-off hitter and played great defense. Acquiring him really set us up with a quality second baseman for the next three years. But he could play anywhere in the infield for us. In 91 he saw some time at shortstop as well and in 92 he played some great games for us down at third base.

I never hesitated to play him at third base for us because he had a very, very good arm.

So coming into ‘92 he ready had a full season under his belt and we knew he was our starting second baseman. I expected him to have a great year in ‘92 and that’s exactly what he did for us.

He hit .300 on the year. Reached base 28 times for a .452 on-base percentage. Loved his wheels. Loved the hustle. Good range. Came in hard to get the high choppers. Knocked down the hard shots. Threw across his body well. Good footwork around the bag. Wasn’t afraid of getting dirty. Loved his glove. Loved his arm even more.

He started and played entire games at third base for us in wins against Sunland-Tujunga, Woodland Hills West, and Notre Dame ….and handled it masterfully down there. He even caught a few innings in a double-header up in Lancaster.

We knew going into the season he would have a week off for a family outing but apart from that he was always there.

Our Opening day win against Agoura/Oakpark was a tough game. We had never won on opening day. Yves singled, stole a base and scored on Robb Turners base hit in the fifth to give us a 2-0 lead.

In the 7th, Agoura’s first three hitters reached base …..and they had scored to make it 4-1….they had broken up Bull’s shutout he had going with nobody out and they had runners at the corners. Josh got a clutch strike out and I moved the middle infielders back to double-play depth and left the corners up in case they tried anything. A sharply-hit ground ball was hit to second base and there was no way we could get two on that play….

I remember Yves making a great play and diving just to keep it from going through for a base hit and then FIRING to the plate to barely nip the runner. Fucking HUGE play. Bull retired the next hitter on a weak ground ball to end the threat. HUGE PLAY by Yves that helped us pick up that elusive, first-ever opening-day victory for Verdugo.

He picked up two hits in the double-header split in Lancaster North. The Team that had all the ringers.
That win in the opener was an uphill climb for us and they hit us HARD in game-two and beat us. I thought Yves and the rest of our hitters did a great job that day against the thirty-year-old pitchers they threw at us.

The day we took over sole-possession of first place later in the season was a game against Notre Dame. First place on the line at Fat Jody’s yard. We were short handed that day. I put Cowsill in center and Yves down at third and we didn’t miss a beat. Huge win.

The next game was key. We had to maintain first place and the best record in the District. This was a huge game. Against Burbank. Burbank handed us our first loss of the year back in game six. And they were throwing the same guy at us who had beat us before. He gave us fits both games. But we got to him this time and knocked his ass out of the game in the fifth inning. We only had four hits that day but we really made things uncomfortable for him that day out on the mound.

Yves turned a 4-6-3 double play in the first inning of that win and handled three other ground balls for us that day. Including the final out. Clutch game. At the plate? He lays down a sacrifice bunt moving two guys over who scored on Hack’s triple. Granted….they would have scored on the triple but Yves did his job.

That day at the plate he sacrificed, drew two walks, took a dose and scored two runs. Played the entire game and went zero-for-zero at the plate! ….yet he was a huge factor….scoring twice! In the eighth inning we only had a three-run lead and we needed a run. He took the dose….moved to second when the Wiley Jackson drew a walk and then baited their pitcher into a balk!

He easily scored on Robb Turners base hit to make it 6-2.

The last four games of the regular season this guy went on a tear. Starting against Lancaster South. A huge game. He was really starting to hit shots all over the yard. He singled that night in our 6-3 win.

The next day against Sun Valley he played his best game of the year. Greeting Fat Bitch from SV with two absolute SHOTS in his first two plate appearances. Both doubles. Balls that were hit as hard as anything we had hit all season. He drew a walk and picked up another single later in the game….going 3-3 with the all the money on the line.

Yeah …this guy was clutch too!

That night he was in on a 1-5-4 rundown that resulted in an out ….a 2-5-4 back-pick that resulted in an out….and caught a line-shot and back-picked to first for a double play.

Again….he stepped up.

The next day he added another base hit in our 11-1 drubbing of Panorama City.

The next day we were still in the hunt for the division title and played Newhall-Saugus over at their yard. He hit the ball with authority yet again. Doubling and singling in our 4-3 nail-biting win and extending his hitting-streak to four games.

The last four games of the regular season he was 7-13 with three doubles….and hitting the ball HARD. There were several guys we had who carried us offensively down the stretch that last week of the season …and Yves was one of them.

Yet another example of 1992. We never knew who was going to step up or when. But everybody did at some point. And this guy was crucial to us getting to 20 wins and reaching the playoffs for the first time.

We only had five guys in our team history who played three seasons for us. Yves was one of those guys too!

Old number eight himself. The guy with the tough last name to spell….

The guy with probably the coolest first name to go with that last name on earth!

Yves? We loved having you in a Verdugo uniform all three years…

Thank you for 1992 and all three seasons with us!

When we put together the roster for ‘92 we had several multi-sport players. Cowsill and Kasey both playing basketball at CV. Dave Fielder played football…as did Ivan Moreno. Although Ivan had already graduated from High School he was already involved with summer workouts with his College Team for next season.

I knew going in that this would “bite us” here and there….(At least throughout the regular season). But I still felt that our abbreviated roster with only 14 guys on it could sneak through the season and not have any major issues and still win. Fortunately, we were able to pull that off.

As a side note, I don’t know what the hell Fielder told his coaches at CV (other than to pound sand?)….but what a salesman Thunder was! He only missed one game for us ….I think it was a passing league deal.

Whatever he told them definitely worked! Maybe he just said he couldn’t make it to whatever was going on with CV Football because he had more important shit going on with Verdugo! 😂

So when it came down to deciding the last few spots on our roster I think availability weighed in huge. I’ve always felt that the best ability is “availability”

We needed a guy who brought that to the table as well as having a great attitude. A guy with a “can do” vibe who was ready to go at any time.

We really couldn’t have ended up with a better guy to fill this role than John Gabrielson.

GABE!!!!

Absolute CLUTCH acquisition!

I really can’t say enough about what this guy meant to us.

I’ve always felt that with a ball club you can never have too much speed, or too much pitching, or too many lefties! Gabe ticked all the right boxes.

John was 18 and this would be his only season of eligibility with Verdugo. My only real regret with Gabe is that we only had him with us for one season.

This guy would have started for most teams around the league and probably never would have come off the field. Don’t get me wrong, he started a lot of games for us. And by the time we got to the playoffs and we were facing a right handed pitcher, Gabe was in the starting lineup for Verdugo…and he had earned it.

Gabe hit .410 for us. 16 hits on the season….all singles. 2nd in stolen bases with seven. Fourth on the ball club in on-base percentage at .510.

The most staggering statistic with Gabe was his ability to SCORE once he reached base. Of the 25 times he reached base in 1992, 17 times he scored! A .680 percentage. The only other player we had close to that was Hack Workman at .593.

Sometimes Gabe would start. Sometimes he would sit for entire consecutive games. Sometimes he would come into the game and hit in the three or four-hole after somebody got launched!

It never mattered….Gabe was always ready to go.

I led him off. I’d hit him in the nine hole. It never mattered. Gabe was always ready.

We pinch ran him….we used him as a late-inning defensive replacement. We DH’d him. He never bitched about anything. Every home game we played Gabe was always a part of the field prep crew. Before AND after the game.

He never won at flip. But he was always out there battling!

He tried to kick Spiro out of the Verdugo dugout!

Loved to slide and dive! Made some great acrobatic plays for us defensively! Always fun to watch!

Played all the outfield spots for us. Saw significant time at first base. Had two CLUTCH appearances on the mound for us the final weekend of the season. It was Gabe who was on the mound and got the final three outs against Sun Valley when we clinched our first playoff spot ever.

He picked up a win in the season final against Newhall-Saugus….our 20th win of the season.

Gabe went 4-12 for us in the playoffs as well. Finishing his summer for us with a combined regular season/playoff batting average of .392.

Gabe also FLEW to the Verdugo reunion back in 2011. From Austin, Texas!!! He told me he wouldn’t miss it for anything. And I’ll tell ya….it wouldn’t have been a true reunion if Gabe hadn’t been there.

Gabe was quirky. After all, he’s a lefty. Religious. Gabe represented all good things on earth….Mom, apple-pie….and….uhhhh….Verdugo!!!! Yes-sir-ree indeed he did!!

In terms of having some game and always being there for us, Gabe fit right in. But going into ‘92 we all wondered for sure just how this guy would REALLY fit in with us. Personality-wise…..

I will tell you how he did that right now…..

PERFECTLY!!!!

In his own way….Gabe fit in perfectly for Verdugo!

You’ve all heard me say “Verdugo had the greatest players who played in the greatest games”….

I remember at the reunion in 2011 things were winding down and it was getting late and everyone was starting to realize the night was over and saying goodbyes to one another. Gabe pulled me aside and said something to me.

He said “hey coach….you know something? Even though we didn’t win it all….we actually DID….you know what I mean?”

Maybe that was Gabe’s way of saying the same thing.

I remember just standing there and smiling after he said that. There was no reason to talk about “coulda-shoulda-woulda’s”….

There was just an understanding between us. The understanding between us as we stood there and smiled for a few seconds was “annnnnnd….they’ve done it!”

Just a coach and a player standing there content with the fact that once again “They’ve done it!”

I don’t know of too many Legion Teams that have held reunions. Probably most teams that DID win it all never did. And probably never will.

But we did. And many guys made long trips by car or by plane or whatever it took to be there. I was humbled and inspired by all of you who made an appearance at that unforgettable evening.

I don’t think anyone can understand what I felt that night. The manager of a ballclub about 20 years later in a big room surrounded by the greatest players who played in the greatest games….

Once again….the best ability was “availability”

And once again….Gabe was there. For Verdugo.

John….thank you for 1992.

Thank you.

This guy here may have been the most important piece of the Verdugo puzzle we ever had. Well….Maybe. All I know is the last two seasons we went 38-5 in the regular season. And this guy was there the entire time ….usually in our dugout….and systematically tearing the minds out of the opposition.

I had seen him before we got him. He pitched for the Glendale JV Team and my JV Team had faced him. I can’t remember who won…off the top of my head…..but I remembered this guy.

He looked like a cheap-shot artist. Like he would cheat to win. Like he would do anything under the sun to beat you. He talked some trash. Yeah, I hated him. But Lance Evans said to get him, and if a guy will cheat and talk some trash, well c’mon!?!?!? That’s ticking a couple of major boxes when you’re you’re going through your recruiting depth charts right?

I was an open-minded guy. You gotta remember, before we got Henry Fernandez on Verdugo….I had coached some games against him. And I fucking hated him too!!!!

I had enough seasons under my belt as a manager to be honest and ask myself if I just hated this guy for the sake of hating him? or did I really want this guy playing for me? Like was the case with Henry….

I remember asking Evans “so what does this guy bring to the table?

Lance had never even played for Verdugo but via his communications through the years with Canale and Turner, he knew what was going on at Verdugo. Lance hadn’t even played an inning in a Verdugo uniform and his answer to me was this:

“He’s totally Verdugo”

Here’s a guy who had never played for us telling me that this guy we’re considering will fit right in to a ballclub neither of them had ever even played for.

The absurdity of Evans’ answer made me realize that maybe there’s a reason that all of this was even being considered and I decided to not mess with fate or destiny and sat there for a minute or two and then weakly said….

“Okay”

That’s how we got “The Wiley Jackson”

What an acquisition. I’ll say it again…what an acquisition.

The dirtiest, cheating-est, lying-est, stealing-est, foul-mouthed and diabolical guy we may have ever had. And I say that about him in the absolute very best of ways.

What he did for Verdugo was this: he made it fun being on the bench. He made the Verdugo dugout the greatest dugout on earth.

He loved fucking with people. The opposition for the most part.

And nobody did it better.

He didn’t play much. But when he did play he was another perfect piece….even with his .150 batting average in 1992. I loved every minute of it.

He was also a little like Henry Fernandez. I always used to say about Henry “he can’t hit, he can’t throw, he can’t field and he can’t run ….all he knows how to do is beat ya”

Wiley pitched one inning of relief in our win in game 2 against Lancaster South.

He didn’t pitch again until the last week of the season. He threw two complete game victories over a total of four days for us that final week. Arms were tired. Guys needed a break. What this guy did over those four days was this:

Two wins…

Two complete game victories…

15 innings.

12 hits.

One walk.

13 strikeouts.

4 earned runs.

ERA 2.13

Absolutely FUCKING CLUTCH.

The train we were riding in ’92 sputtered at times and somebody had to get off that train and push it through some tough spots.

The magic of our ball club was that we never knew who that was going to be or when it was going to happen. But at some point in 1992….there was a different guy pushing that train for us.

Everybody was involved. Including “The Wiley Jackson”

This guy was to Verdugo Hills what “Eddie Haskell” was to “Leave it to Beaver”….

Wiley also played errorless defense for us on the field in ’92. And he didn’t care if he played or not. But make no mistake about it….he was a factor in every game.

From the Verdugo Bench….this guy was our cleanup hitter.

He wore people down with words.

He was a demoralizing factor to the opposition.

There wasn’t anyone he couldn’t defeat in a battle of the wits.

He literally broke Jody Breeden.

He took great pleasure in it too. And he didn’t just go after opposing players. Coaches, umpires, parents….anybody who was trying to stop us was a target of his.

And I loved every minute of it!!!!

He made the Verdugo Dugout off-limits to any and all.

I remember saying “I love this guy ….he’s Wiley!!!!”

Then guys started calling him “Wiley Jackson”

I wondered if he liked this new moniker we had for him or not.

Then he showed up at a game and sat down next to me. He took his Verdugo Cap off and showed me a perfect masterpiece (in color as well) rendition of “Wile E. Coyote”….under the bill of his cap.

I think he liked it, yeah.

I loved our Verdugo Caps….but I remember actually thinking and seriously considering after the ’93 season that maybe we should go with a new cap. Same colors….but instead of the VH….a diabolical and menacing looking shot of Wile E. Coyote’s head might be kinda cool ….right in the center of our caps!

If I decided to do that….I gotta say it would of been because of ‘Old Wiley himself.

’93 was his last season with us. He left enough of a mark as to what a dugout should be like and how a guy who doesn’t play much should go about his business when he does get out on the field.

I started him in the outfield sometimes. I pinch-ran him. I DH’d him for Vo two or three times. He got ejected arguing with the home plate umpire in our 6-2 Victory against Burbank in game 18 of the season.

He could bunt, he could slap it around a little at the plate, he drew walks and he could play defense. And he had that “tough knuckler” too….

I’ve already written a feature here on the blog about Wiley many years ago…. check it out here: https://verdugo288.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/the-wiley-jacksons-tough-knuckler/

Wiley? Your contributions to The Great Verdugo Hills will never be forgotten….by myself, by your teammates, and most importantly….by the opposition!!!!

Absolutely brilliant acquisition.

Lance Evans was right….Wiley Jackson? Totally Verdugo!!!!