My connection to baseball history part 2

The 1968 Santa Clara Colt League All Stars.

 

After winning about 4 tournaments, they would finish second at the colt league world series, with key 15 year olds (in a 15-16 year old league) at C, 1B, 2B, SS, LF and one starting pitcher. In 1969 they would win it. Here is a picture after an early tournament victory. I am the batboy, holding the trophy.

 

My father was president of the league that year. Future Atlanta Falcons QB Steve Bartkowski is bottom row, right. He was a power hitting SS, later a home run hitting 1B for Cal. His father was  manager and is lower row in the white "Cincinnati" jersey. To his right is coach Jim Brown, a long time baseball associate of my father's who played (and won) in the first ever college world series in the late40s, playing against future president George Bush 1 from Yale. Mr. Brown would grab me in the mid sixties at baseball functions and take me out in the outfield pregame and we would work on double play pivots.

 

I believe in their first double elimination tournament, they lost the first game 2-1 and then came back and pitched 4 consecutive shutouts to take the tourney. After winning 3-4 more tournaments they made it to the Colt League World Series - featuring 8 teams from across the country. They won some early games then lost to a team from Ft Worth Texas about  16-2 after a controversial safe call on a bases loaded play at the plate - a grounder where the catcher caught the ball then fired to first trying for an inning ending double play. The home plate umpire ruled his foot left the plate too early before catching the ball and said the runner was safe.

 

They then advanced back to the finals where they had one loss and the Ft Worth team was undefeated. They had to win 2 games and the Texas team just one. I know they won the first of the two games and barely lost the second. In one game (not sure which) they were trailing in the bottom of the 7th inning (last inning) and a 2 out single tied the game. One of the games went  way into extra innings, again not sure which. I know they narrowly lost the final game when both teams had 1 loss.

 

Anyway, they came back the next year and won it all, although I was not involved as a batboy any more.