From a similar thread on another site
I was supposedly a young baseball pheenom but did not make Little league All stars. I was allowed to miss school every year and go see the SF Giants play the local college Santa Clara in an exhibition game - met Willie Mays and others at those games.
When I was 8, I made my first team in farm league, the intermediate league between minors (8-9) and majors (11-12). I made the team by drawing straws with a 12 year old (!!!), he drew the short straw and I slept in my uniform that same night. When I was 10 , I made majors (11-12) but most teams had at least 2 10 year olds (ours had 3 - and the three of us are Facebook friends 47 years later after no contact for 42 years). I was a very good fielder and a slow but excellent baserunner- our manager told our team the same. They moved me to SS for a few games at age 10, but I settled back as a 2B, and occasional C. Even at 10 years old, they called me the human vacuum cleaner - I had exceptional hand eye coordination. Our little league almost went to Williamsport 2 years in a row in 1967 and 1968, back when if you lost 1 game you were out. I think my 10 year old year they went 9-1 and led 3-2 in the bottom of the 6th before 2 runs kept them from going to the LL Word Series.
That same year, 1968, I was occasional bat boy for the Santa Clara Colt League All Stars that came in second in the Colt league World Series (they would win it all in 1969 and again in 1975). On those 1968-69 teams (and a facebook friend today) was future overall NFL #1 pick QB Steve Bartkowski of the Falcons.
Don't remember much about my 11 year old year, 1969, but my good friend Jeff Walsh, also 11, made the nearby Briarwood LL all stars who did win the US LL championship but became the first team to lose to Taiwan. Jeff played in one of the games, subbing for some guy named Carney Lansford, who was injured. Jeff and I reconnected on FB about 18 months ago after 44 years. His niece, Keri Walsh, is the famous Olympic beach volleyball player.
My 12 year old year I was easily the best 2B in the league. But we moved 1/2 way through the season and I did not make all stars. They chose 7 SS and 7 P and 1 C (and 7 coaches sons). I took some satisfaction that the SS they played at 2B in all stars made 4 errors in the AS tournament game they lost, to Campbell, another District 44 team (there were just 4) that in 1970 also made it to the LL World Series, one year after Briarwood. Notable is in 1969, Briarwood became the first team to ever lost to Taiwan. I did not make 4 errors in 3 years of LL majors. My 18 year old brother was his high school ping pong champion but could not beat his little brother (me) who was in grade school.
I did not play baseball my 13 year old year after we had moved, but played Pony League my 14 year old year. I was elected as an all star alternate. OK some progress. I played SS when our SS pitched, C when our catcher pitched and 2B when our 1B pitched.
At age 15 I attended Oak Grove High and we had 1800 in our freshman class. Nearly 200 guys went out for baseball and I was the starting 2B, but I broke my finger about 1/2 way into the season and played the rest of the year basically one handed. I excelled at fielding once again - some opposing coaches were amazed at my fielding ability but swung the bat 1 handed and had a dismal offensive season, although we finished 11-1. Oh I was also one of four freshman to be elevated to the frosh-soph team (for a huge Easter tournament) which we won.
At age 16 (still on double session due to high student population), I played jayvees. Our star freshman pitcher (the year before) was elevated to varsity. We finished 15-3 without him. We split with the league champions who went 17-1 (they had gone 12-0 as freshman and given us our only loss). The other two games we lost included a loss to a team after our first seven batters in the game scored to lead 7-0, we lost 10-7. Then our coach got mad after we fell behind 6-2 to the 10th place (last place) team and pulled the starters and we lost 17-2. The next day (a rain make-up) he put the starters back in and our fat knuckleball pitcher pitched a perfect game! I made 4 plays out of the 21 outs, at least 1 a tough chance. Also that year, during Easter, the varsity sent down a cannon armed OF to try pitching - he was horrible. Later this OF converted to P and started two all star games - Dave Stieb of the Toronto Blue Jays. I did make colt league all stars (finally) my 16 year old year. One odd thing, I was twice picked off third base!!! (by a LH!!!) and got out of the pickles both times
They opened a new school the next year and I went there although we did not have any seniors and mostly sophomores (I was a junior). The football team went 0-9, the basketball team went 2-12 but we went 11-13, losing our first 3 and last 3 games and going 11-7 in between. I was team captain both my junior and senior years.
The school we split from that year, Oak Grove made it to the section semis (150 school section). Bob Ash who made all section was 24-0 in his high school career up until the section semifinal which he lost 1-0 on an unearned run. Carney Lansford and Wilcox reached the final but lost to the same team OG lost to. We played Oak Grove our last game of the year and they pitched Ash against us, we led 3-0 after four pitches (double-single-triple-wild pitch - I was the single) but lost 4-3. Always a defensive stalwart, I made zero errors that year in 24 games, and made a spectacular play in the Oak Grove game, diving for a screaming liner that bounced once or twice as it was shot up the middle, standing up and getting the runner in a bang bang play at first saving 2 runs.
I was very good offensively, leading the team in hits, runs and walks but was voted 5th best IF in an 11 team league, missing all league by 1 vote. Oak Grove won a regional final vs Pioneer (Dave and Steve Righetti among others) 2-1 despite giving up 3 triples in one inning. A key play was CF Dave Stieb gunning a runner out at the plate from deep CF trying to tag up and score. 3B - 3B - flyout double play - 3B - third out. I faced Ash twice that year and the other all section pitcher from Pioneer (Dave Righetti's school) - the best 2 pitchers out of 150 schools, and went 6 for 10 against them.
The school that went 12-0 as freshman and 17-1 as sophomores took the new "north division" - we had 11 schools and they divided us into 2 divisions, but we beat them twice (with no seniors). One of the games I grounded into a double play my first AB and while heading back to our dugout, the opposing coach said to me I was a rally killer. The next AB I doubled home the first run, scored the second run, and then singled in the winning run in a 3-2 win. Rally kill this.
In the summer, my 17 year old year, I made city wide PAL all stars (San Jose - the 11th largest city in the country). I think I hit .396. I led off the all star game, one of the few times I did not bat second in my life.
My senior year our football team went 10-0 (now with seniors), in one game future NFL #1 picks JR Rich Campbell and Soph Jim McMahon dueled at QB in a 55-34 game; ... our basketball team went 12-2 and everyone figured (as we were BY FAR the best team of the 3 the year before) we would be off the charts good. We even had a transfer come in - a hard throwing big left hander to join our other two aces. We were ranked 5th in NorCal in preseason (out of maybe 400 schools). But we faced all #1 pitchers that year (vs mostly #2 pitchers the year before) and lost a zillion close games like 1-0 and 2-1 and we finished a disappointing 10-12.
The next year I played JC ball and one of my claims to fame was getting a 2 run single off future AL ROY and Yankee great Dave Righetti (long time pitching coach of the Giants). Dave Stieb was on that team, still an OF at the time.
That was my last year of baseball.
