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RONNIE WARNER: LIFER, OBSERVER, COACH AND A CARDINALS’ DIE-HARD

Ronnie Warner, a Redlands High product from the 1980s, has spent his entire 32-year professional baseball career in the St. Louis Cardinals’ chain, rubbing elbows with the likes of Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Tony La Russa, not to mention future Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina (photo by the St. Louis Cardinals).

Dateline, St. Louis:

Pop Warner is a household name around this Midwestern city.

Around Redlands a few decades ago, he might be remembered as Ronnie Warner, a 6-foot, 3-inch point guard in basketball, or a possible high school QB, even a would-be track sprinter, but certainly a baseball shortstop.

Get ready, Dodgers’ fans, because the St. Louis Cardinals had gotten a wake-up call after a few years of sub-par seasons. Retired Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa’s successor, Mike Matheny, was dismissed. Manager Mike Shildt, who led the Cardinals to three straight playoff berths, was fired last fall, replaced by Oliver Marmol.

Warner, a Cardinals’ lifer now at 32 years and running, is now coaching third base in St. Louis — his fourth season in that spot.

It’s a long and winding way from those days hanging around with his Redlands buddies Glenn Trunnelle, Jerry Requejo and Buck McGilvary. There was a shoutout for his old Redlands High baseball coaches, Bill Havard, not to mention Don DeWees.

“I learned a lot from those guys,” said Warner, who could also be remembered for playing point guard on the Terriers’ varsity basketball team. “Then we’d run into those Long Beach  (high school basketball powerhouse) teams in the playoffs and I’d find out just how good I really was.”

What he was really trying to say was this: How good he wasn’t.

In baseball, though, Warner was the skinny, no-power, no-hit kid that was in the lineup every day for the Terriers at shortstop. “They DH’d for me,” said Warner, chuckling, “because they said I couldn’t hit.”

Who knew what his future would be?

At some point, the kid went to his dad, Ron, now into his 80s, and said, “Dad, I want to concentrate on baseball.”

Concentrate, he did.

There was that appointment with Barry Martin, an academic counselor at RHS, who sat down with the younger Warner to chat about post-high school goals and ambitions.

Did he want to go to college? Play sports? The course set that day was more than helpful.

“I should’ve gone back to thank him,” said Warner, “because he really helped me.”

Armed with a serious plan, Warner left Redlands for Riverside City College. Afterward, there were near commitments to Univ. Pacific (Stockton, Calif.), St. Mary’s (Moraga, Calif.) and Cal State Northridge. Instead, NCAA Division 1 University of Wyoming came calling.

It’s where Warner stoked those fires that eventually got him drafted by the Cardinals (17th round, 1991). If you’re talking baseball history, you can argue whether it’s the Yankees, Dodgers, Giants or Cardinals that gets the most positive historical recognition.

 

The offer was for $1,000. Rookie ball. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. A scout called him to find out if he’d accept the offer.

“I had no idea I’d last this long,” said Warner.

Pop Warner? No, not the legendary football coach, Glenn Warner (Cornell Univ. and Stanford, among others) who has a current nonprofit youth football program named for him all across America.

Pop Warner, aka Ronnie Warner of Redlands, got that nickname from his first manager, George Kissell, in Hamilton. At practice one day, Kissell explained to Warner, not to mention all the other players, about the legendary football coach.

“By the time I got back to my locker, the trainer put a piece of tape over my name. It said, ‘Pop.’ ”

The nickname stuck.

Except for this: A few years later, when he was playing at Memphis, Warner heard someone calling him from the stands.

“Ronnie … Ronnie.”

“I thought, ‘no one calls me Ronnie around here.’ I looked up in the stands and it was Randy Genung.”

Genung had been Warner’s basketball coach at Redlands High.

“Another big influence in my life,” Warner said.

Forget his minor league numbers. Anyone can look those up. Getting to the majors as a player was another question.

“I think I was good enough to get there,” said Warner, who never got that call, “but I wasn’t good enough to stay there. I morphed into coaching. I used to coach some of the guys when I was playing. The organization wanted me to coach.”

In the Cardinals’ chain, he’s done everything from roving minor league instructor to manager at Triple A Memphis, Double A Springfield, Class A Palm Beach — 1,500 minor league games as a manager — plus a batting practice pitcher for the MLB Cardinals in 2000.

“The (catcher’s) throw went down to second,” said Warner, “and Ozzie threw it to me. I remember thinking, ‘Hey, I’m getting a ball from Ozzie Smith.’ ”

Said Warner: “We still reminisce.”

His best season as a player might’ve been his last, 1999, when he slugged a career-high 11 HRs and batted .290. Keep in mind that the Cardinals’ shortstop during Warner’s minor league years was either Smith or his replacement, Royce Clayton. By then, Warner was more a utility player than a fulltime shortstop.

St. Louis hosted the L.A. Angels in June, but that interleague duel didn’t include a return trip to the West Coast. The Cardinals were in L.A. to play the Dodgers this week.

He, his wife, Laura, and their kids are Colin, Ben and Callie, who live in St. Charles, Mo.

“The travel’s a grind,” said Warner, who started the 2023 season again as Cardinals’ third base coach. “Anyone who thinks this is easy … I’m lucky to have a good wife.”

She’s married to a guy with a household name.

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PART 1: “WILLIE … ALMOST MICKEY … AND THE DUKE”

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown

Talkin’ baseball. Terry Cashman. His song, released in 1981, seemed to summarize a special part of baseball. A musical contribution to baseball history. It surrounded the great center fielders in three New York boroughs – the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Cashman wrote about … “Willlieeeeee … Mickey … and The Duke.”

Duke Snider came to Redlands.

Mickey Mantle came to … well, as far as anyone knows, he didn’t come to Redlands. But his longtime friend, Billy Martin, showed up here at least once.

Then there was Willie Mays. I can’t honestly say that the “Say Hey Kid” ever set foot on Redlands soil. But me, the sports editor from Redlands, took part in a rare discussion that probably never came up in baseball circles.

It would’ve made a nice little change in Cashman’s song, “Willie … Almost Mickey … and the Duke …”

Say, hey!

Say, hey!

Say, hey!

Willie_Mays_cropped
Willie Mays talked about a “trade” that could’ve happened regarding a Dodger pitcher named Koufax? (Wikipedia Commons photo)

It was in the early 1980s. Bob Hope Desert Classic. Deep in the heart of Coachella Valley. Willie Mays, a golf lover, was playing in the celebrity Pro-Am, along with plenty of others from music, film and sports.

There we were in the VIP tent. Food was being served. It was the middle of the day. Willie had played his round. I was talking a break. Other than the serving staff, no one else seemed to be around.

Sitting at a table near him, I could just feel the opportunity. I grew up in the Bay Area watching this guy play in the twilight of his career in the late 1960s.

What should I ask him? Finally, I came up with something out of sheer desperation.

“Willie,” I said, “tell me something about your career that didn’t get much attention.”

He responded crudely, which shouldn’t have come as a complete shock. In sports, you often run into replies like that. In the clubhouse. In a locker room. On a field or court. Willie had probably been approached by thousands of media guys looking for something – stories, opinions, recollections, you name it.

He wouldn’t be talking – at least to me. It’s okay. I tried. No big deal.

Suddenly, out of the blue, he blurted, “We almost got Koufax.”

Huh? What? Say that again!

Yeah, he said. A year, or two, before Dodger southpaw Sandy Koufax really hit his Hall of Fame stride, the fireballing southpaw was stewing about how the Dodgers were using him.

Translation: Or not using him.

Apparently in Willie’s presence in San Francisco – likely at Seals Stadium – Koufax approached team general manager Buzzie Bavasi to request a trade.

Said Willie: “He told Bavasi, ‘you’re not using me. Why even keep me? It’s better to let me go. Trade me somewhere so I can pitch.’ ”

Willie said he jumped right into the discussion. “Trade him to the Giants,” he remembers telling Bavasi. “Trade him to us.”

There was some discussion. Wow! The Giants’ star player was discussing a trade with the GM of their chief rival, the Dodgers.

Willie was told by Bavasi to tell Horace Stoneham, the Giants’ owner who made all deals for the San Francisco-based team.

“Did you do it?” I asked him.

He nodded. “I talked to Mr. Stoneham. Didn’t hear much about it for awhile.”

Willie was chewing his food. Some guys were entering the VIP tent. Hoping that it wasn’t people looking for Willie – which would interrupt our chat – I prodded him a little.

“Any discussions take place about Koufax going to the Giants?”

Willie Mays nodded again. He was chewing. Swallowing. Didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to answer.

“They wanted Cepeda.”

Orlando Cepeda, one of baseball’s younger star sluggers, was a San Francisco favorite. He was an established star.

Koufax had yet to reach that portion of his career that would get everyone’s attention. At that time, Cepeda-for- Koufax might not have seemed logical for San Francisco.

(Funny thing, though, was in 1966, the Giants sent Cepeda to St. Louis for southpaw Ray Sadecki – not quite the same caliber of pitcher that Koufax had been. At least Sadecki had won 20 games a couple years earlier.)

Koufax had a little success in his early years, but had yet to really hit his consistently Hall of Fame stride. In his mind, apparently, the Dodgers weren’t treating him respectfully.

Between 1961 and his final season, 1966, Koufax was unhittable, unforgettable and, evidently, untradeable.

I summarized this for Willie Mays.

“Are you telling me that you guys almost had Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry on the same pitching staff?” It would have been a couple of years before Perry joined the Giants’ staff.

Wow!

Willie didn’t answer. Just kept chewing. I wasn’t all that much of an interest to him. At the moment, though, I was the only one sitting near him to chat about this remarkable trade possibility.

“How close do you think this came to happening?”

I should mention this: During this entire chat, Willie Mays never looked at me. Not once. Didn’t have to, though. This was more than I’d bargained for. I don’t even know if he had even heard that last question.

At that point, more people started entering the tent. Food was being served. Willie Mays acknowledged some of the people he’d played golf with that day. My time with him was apparently over.

It was exciting, to say the least. I was practically finished with my sandwich and potato salad. I was nursing my drink when Willie Mays got up to leave. My heart kind of sank. I’d have really liked to get more conversation with him.

I watched him shake hands with a few guys.

“Nice to see you again, Willie.”

“Thanks, Willie.”

“Let’s get together soon, Willie.”

You know, typical sendoff lines.

Willie Mays was leaving. He’d walk right behind where I was sitting. When he walked past me, he said into my good ear (I only hear out of one ear), “Stoneham would’ve never traded Cepeda.”

One-third of the Cashman song – done.

Part 2 of Willie … Almost Mickey … and The Duke next week.

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DEE FONDY: REMEMBERED BY BUD SELIG AND WILLIE MAYS

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open and the Olympics, plus NCAA Final Four connections, NASCAR, the Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and more, the sparkling San Bernardino County city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown

In memory of the 1973 World Series:

Dee Fondy, an ex-major league baseball player who lived in Redlands for years, never seemed to show up in the spotlight. He was completely without fanfare. For an ex-big league ballplayer with some real time in the spotlight, Fondy preferred to keep his collar up and the brim of his hat down.

His son, Jon Fondy, said his late father never sought the publicity of local newspapers, preferring a low-key existence. A war hero and a local product (though he was born in Texas) from San Bernardino, Fondy was a golf-playing member at Redlands Country Club during his retirement years.

It wasn’t all that well-known, however, that Fondy was a premiere advance scout for the New York Mets — a spot that is most likely among baseball’s under-appreciated roles. A year after producing a scouting report that nearly helped the Mets win the 1973 World Series, Fondy landed a spot with the Milwaukee Brewers.

It was Fondy who scouted the defending champion Oakland A’s for the Mets in its 1973 showdown against a Hall of Fame-led team, namely Reggie Jackson, Rollie Fingers, “Catfish” Hunter, not to mention a well-traveled manager Dick Williams.

The Mets, injured and suffering throughout the season, managed to package an 83-79 season together. It was good enough to win the National League Eastern Division.

In the National League playoffs, New York outlasted a 99-win Reds’ teams loaded with Hall of Famers — Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, manager Sparky Anderson, Tony Perez, plus Cooperstown’s overlooked non-inductee Pete Rose — in five games.

The A’s were baseball’s defending champions, having beaten the Reds in the 1972 World Series. This time, it was Oakland taking on the Mets, whose Hall of Fame talent included future Hall of Famers Tom Seaver, Yogi Berra and Willie Mays, who was playing his final season.

The Mets had a 3-2 lead in the Series, based off 10-7, 6-1 and 2-0 wins over the A’s in Games 2, 4 and 5. Hunter outdueled Seaver in Game 6, 3-1, before Kenny Holtzman beat Jon Matlack in Game 7, 5-2, for Oakland’s second straight World Series title.

Fingers, the loser in Game 3, saved three of those A’s wins. It took Oakland’s best efforts.

“Dad’s scouting report was in Yogi Berra’s back pocket,” said Jon Fondy, Dee’s son, who had produced the report. “They almost pulled it off and beat the A’s.”

Berra, a Hall of Famer, was New York’s manager. Part of Fondy’s scouting report had to be data that led to Mets’ pitchers holding A’s hitters to a .212 Series average with just two home runs.

The comparative rosters of both teams should have left Oakland in position to sweep the Mets, or at least take them in five games. Fondy’s notes on the A’s, however, gave New York’s pitchers a strong advantage.

One season later, Fondy was off to Milwaukee to join the Brewers.

Dee_Fondy_1953
Virgil Dee Fondy spent four decades in major league baseball, notably as a first baseman over eight seasons, later as an advance scout (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

Fondy, a lefty during his playing days, wound up with the young, expansionist Brewers – eventually heading a scouting department that signed Robin Yount and Paul Molitor. In the Brewers’ only World Series appearance, 1982, those future Hall of Famers were paramount in the teams’ success.

CONSTRUCTING AN OBITUARY

Upon Fondy’s death – Commissioner Bud Selig responded to a call from a local newspaper – to laud the career and life of the onetime Pirate, Cub and Red first baseman. Fondy had once been traded with Chuck Connors, who went on to fame as television’s “The Rifleman,” a CBS production.

Selig, of course, knew Fondy from his days as Brewers’ owner. Fondy worked for Selig.

In August 1999, Dee Fondy died at a retirement home in Redlands.

In his obituary, I wrote: “He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds and was the last player to bat in Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. Died of cancer. He was 74.

In the obit: “Fondy, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a year earlier, died at Plymouth Village.”

His death reverberated through baseball. He was well known.

While working on Fondy’s obituary, I placed a call to the MLB offices in New York City, seeking comment — a standard procedure. Baseball usually responded quickly. In this case, it was the commissioner, Bud Selig, who placed the return call.

Bud_Selig_on_October_31,_2010
Alan “Bud” Selig, a Hall of Famer as onetime Commissioner of Baseball, weighed in personally on Dee Fondy’s 1999 death (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

I was out of the office when Selig returned the call. Mike Brown, the news editor (no relation), took the call, jotted down Selig’s comments, and forwarded them to me. I must’ve missed the commissioner’s call by just minutes on that August day.

“Dee Fondy was one of my favorite people,” Selig told Mike Brown. “He had a great sense of humor. He and I used to kid each other a lot.”

FONDY’S MAJOR LEAGUE CAREER 1951-58

Fondy hit .286 with exactly 1,000 hits (69 HRs) over eight seasons in the majors, having batted .300 in four of those seasons. His debut, in April 1951, came just a month before Willie Mays’ legendary MLB entry.

Signed originally by the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946, Fondy came to spring training in 1949 and competed with Gil Hodges and Connors for the starting job at first base. Dodger lore shows, of course, that Hodges prevailed to win that notable spot.

A side note, of course, is that Hodges was the managerial architect of that 1973 Mets’ team. Hodges died just before the 1972 and was replaced by Berra.

Fondy played in the Dodgers’ farm system until being traded, along with Connors, to the Cubs for outfielder Hank Edwards. It was a golden era of Dodger baseball that included Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, plus Hodges, Pee Wee Reese and a host of other highly popular Dodger players.

Fondy won a spot on the Cubs. His first major-league hit was a bases-loaded triple off St. Louis pitcher Ken Raffsenberger on opening day, April 17, 1951, at Wrigley Field.

Eventually, Chicago traded Fondy to Pittsburgh in 1957.  In that deal, the Cubs sent Gene Baker and Fondy for the Pirates’ Dale Long and Lee Walls. Midway through that ’57 season, Fondy was leading the National League with a .365 average, eventually finishing at .313.

Traded to Cincinnati for slugger Ted Kluszewski, a transaction mentioned by Tom Cruise’s character in the 1988 movie “Rainman,” Fondy’s career concluded  in that 1958 season.

In a remarkable twist of baseball trivia, it was Fondy who grounded out for the last out at Ebbets Field in Pittsburgh’s 2-0 loss to the Dodgers on Sept. 24, 1957. That grounder went to Don Zimmer, whose throw to first baseman Jim Gentile ended an era.

The Dodgers moved to Los Angeles the following year.

Jon Fondy had some fun memories.

“I ran into Willie Mays once and he said, ‘I’ve still got the bruises from the tags your dad used to give me. He was a hard-nosed player,’ ” said Jon, a freelance cameraman who has covered major league games.

Willie Mays
Willie Mays once told Dee Fondy’s son, Jon, that he laid some pretty hard tags on him. “I’ve still got bruises,” said the inimitable Mays (photo by Wikipedia Commons).

It was off to work, eventually, as a scout for the Mets and in Milwaukee, where he signed Molitor, who went on to a Hall of Fame career. Upon Fondy’s arrival, the Brewers took off to becoming a top-flight American League team that reached the World Series in 1982.

Fondy retired from baseball in 1995 after serving as a special assistant to the Milwaukee general manager.

“He was as good a judge of talent as I’ve ever known,” Selig told Mike Brown. “He played a great role in the development of the Brewers. I had as much faith in his baseball knowledge as anyone I know.’”

FONDY’S FUNERAL: ONE FINAL HURRAH

It was at Fondy’s funeral that several ex-players – Ray Boone and onetime Oakland A’s third baseman Sal Bando included – had shown up to pay final respects. Another funeral-goer was a man named Fred Long. For years, Long coached local baseball, eventually rising to becoming a major league baseball scout.

Fondy’s influence had been felt in Long’s scouting life.

Long, who was nearing 80 at the time of Fondy’s funeral, had plenty of stories to share, sporting a World Series ring — Florida Marlins, 1997.

Fondy, said Long, was one of the best guys he’d ever known. “And the guy knew baseball, too. You should’ve heard him.”

His minor league career included stops at Santa Barbara (California League), Fort Worth (Texas League) and Mobile (Southern League), each a Brooklyn Dodger farm club.

Before his climb into the major leagues, Fondy racked up 863 minor league hits, whacking out 130 doubles and 52 triples.

His career as a minor leaguer, major leaguer, scout and scouting director covered 1946 through 1995.

Isn’t it interesting that Fondy worked as a scout for the same Mets’ organization in which Hodges — who edged him for Brooklyn’s first base job — was the manager?

Born on Halloween in 1924, Dee Virgil Fondy’s death took place on Aug. 19, 1999 in Redlands. Fondy, a native of Slaton, Texas, served in the Army during World War II and was part of the forces that landed on Utah Beach in Normandy in 1944, three months after D-Day. He received the Purple Heart.

Fondy had also been survived by twins, Jon Fondy and Jan Cornell of Las Vegas. His wife, Jacquelyn, had died a year earlier. Fondy’s funeral was in nearby San Bernardino, almost directly next door to Perris Hill Park’s Fiscalini Field.

Growing up in San Bernardino, Fiscalini Park was where Fondy played plenty of baseball.

 

 

 

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BRIAN SABEAN: IN REDLANDS TO WATCH HIS SON PLAY FOOTBALL

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is Part 3 of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. Future NFL Hall of Famer Tom Flores, baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966.

Today’s feature: San Francisco Giants’ General Manager Brian Sabean.

No interviews with this guy. I had a job to do and Brian Sabean was being a Dad.

It was my habit to cover University of Redlands football games from the visitors’ grandstand.

NCAA rules prevented me from being on the sidelines in between the 30-yard-lines. It’s OK. I understand. That’s reserved for players, coaches and referees. But I needed better vision.

In the school’s well-constructed press box, there was too much unprofessional behavior, cheering and one-sided decorum (footnote: Maybe that’s all changed in later years), rooting for favorable Bulldog plays, snarling at officiating calls — you get the picture.

You might not think it gets in the way, but it’s a distraction in covering highly-competitive games.

It chased me to the visiting side’s grandstand.

On a sparkling, cold Saturday night, Redlands was playing Occidental College, from Eagle Rock near Pasadena, in 2008.

Game about to start. Both teams ready. Appearing out of the stairwell was a familiar face. As a lifetime San Francisco Giants’ fan, I couldn’t believe who I’d spotted. What in the world was Brian Sabean doing at Redlands? This was football, not baseball.

Brian Sabean
Brian Sabean, a longtime executive with the San Francisco Giants who helped construct four World Series teams and three champions, was spotted at a University of Redlands football one night while watching his son play for visiting Occidental College (photo by San Francisco Giants).

Quickly, I scanned Oxy’s roster.

Sean Sabean, a six-foot, 210-pound freshman linebacker from San Mateo Serra High School, was on the Tigers’ roster. It was Brian’s son.

What a great Dad, I thought. Redlands? This was an out-of-the-way location, for sure.

I had a list of questions formulating for Sabean — if only I could get to him. I was covering a game. On deadline. He wasn’t working.

The San Francisco Giants had just parted ways with Barry Bonds. Years of getting close, including a 7-game World Series loss to the Angels in 2002, had frustrated Giants’ fans everywhere.

Sabean, who had brought in Bruce Bochy as their manager, had started rebuilding the Giants with draft picks like Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner. Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford would soon come onto the scene.

The questions, among others:

  • Barry Bonds.
  • Performance enhancing drugs.
  • Scouting, drafting ball players.
  • Any trades he might be working on.
  • Free agents.

Sabean was constructing a team that would win three World Series championships in the coming years.

At Redlands, 2008. I watched him disappear into Occidental’s bleacher crowd, then returned my gaze to the field. The Tigers and Bulldogs were ready to pounce on one another.

 

 

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RUMBLINGS CIRCULATED ABOUT JACOB NOTTINGHAM’S CALL-UP TO BREWERS

Rumblings on onetime Redlands High catcher Jacob Nottingham began on a Sunday night. Milwaukee Brewers’ catcher Manny Pina was headed for the 10-day disabled list, among a flurry of other moves.

Those rumblings were Redlands’ baseball observers — parents, coaches, former players, ex-teammates, observers from all corners of the city, you name it — that included social media attention.

On July 8, Nottingham was recalled to the Milwaukee Brewers. He was expected to share catching duties with Erik Kratz over the next week.

Nottingham may be the Brewers_ catcher of the future (Sean Flynn, Houston Chronicle).
Redlands’ Jacob Nottingham returned to the major leagues, called by the Milwaukee Brewers on July 8. He started one day later, getting a double and single for his first two MLB hits.

Sure enough, Nottingham was placed in the lineup — batting eighth, in fact — in Milwaukee’s game at Miami. He would be facing Marlins’ pitcher Jose Urena while catching Brewers’ pitcher Chase Anderson.

Nottingham, a catcher who spent a few days with the Brewers earlier in the season over a similar situation, had been recalled again. He was hitting .303 with 10 HRs at Class AAA Colorado Springs.

He’s the Brewers’ No. 25 prospect, according the MLB Pipeline.

This could be no ordinary Redlands Connection. It’s just the latest.

Nottingham singled off Urena, who fed him an 89-mph off-speed pitch, hitting it to left field off the end of the bat. Next time up, against Javy Guerra, Nottingham drilled a double to left field.

In the end, Miami beat the Brewers, 4-3.

Milwaukee, which held a two-game lead over 2016 World Series champion Chicago in a rough-and-tumble National League Central Division race, could be the surprise force in 2018.

Nottingham, along with a bevy of other Milwaukee youths, might be a vital cog in the expected summer duel with the Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals.

Nottingham-to-the-big-leagues is big news.

Redlands has produced previous major leaguers, including undrafted second baseman Julio Cruz (Mariners, White Sox, Dodgers), Seattle’s 1980 13th round pick southpaw pitcher Ed Vande Berg (Mariners, Dodgers, Indians and Rangers), plus Angels-Blue Jays catcher Dan Whitmer (a 1978 Angels’ draft pick), who worked as Detroit’s bullpen coach when the Tigers won the 1984 World Series.

When the Houston Astros drafted Nottingham at No. 167 overall in the sixth round in 2013, it didn’t take long for Nottingham to sign on June 14.

After a couple seasons in the Astros’ chain, Houston needed pitching at the major league level. On July 23, 2015, they traded Nottingham to the Oakland A’s in exchange for southpaw pitcher Scott Kazmir, who was 108-96 with a 4.00 ERA over a dozen MLB seasons.

Traded for by A’s legendary Billy Beane, who authored Money Ball in the early 2000s, Nottingham would eventually be on the move again.

Beane’s transaction activity surrounding the Redlands prospect. Between 2015 and 2016, Nottingham was shipped to the Milwaukee Brewers.

Brewers’ General Manager David Stearns dealt outfielder Khris Davis (166 home runs, .248 average over 5 MLB seasons) to Oakland. Davis, who would go on to smoke over 40 home runs in the next two seasons for the A’s, has 21 bombs so far this season.

That’s how highly Milwaukee must’ve viewed Nottingham’s potential.

On Nov. 20, 2017 Nottingham’s minor league contract was purchased. The Brewers placed him on the 40-man roster, the ultimate payoff for any off-season transaction.

Nottingham was one of five catchers – by far, the youngest on Milwaukee’s roster.

Over a five-year span with a handful of teams ranging from Rookie Ball to Low Class A to High Class A to Class AA, Nottingham had blasted 43 home runs and hit .238 (.325 OBP) in 424 professional games.

Upon his call-up to the Brewers in April, Nottingham received the full treatment. His father, Greg, was spotted being interviewed on the Brewers’ TV network.

Brewers’ history is traced back to the 1969 season when the American League expanded to two teams, the Seattle Pilots and Kansas City Royals. When the Pilots’ support floundered prior to the 1970 season, they were sold to a group in Milwaukee, which included eventual baseball commissioner Bud Selig.

When baseball needed to even up its 30-team alignment in 1998 — there were, at one point, 16 N.L. teams and 14 A.L. teams — the Brewers were shifted to the National League to evenly align the leagues.

Other than a playoff season in 2008 (wild card) and 2011 (N.L. Central Division title), the Brewers’ post-season appearances have been limited. The Brewers, then in the American League, lost the 1982 World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals.

As for Nottingham, he had one final swing in the Brewers’ loss in Miami. That he struck out against Marlins’ closer Kyle Barraclough is only part of the story.

Against Barraclough’s 95-mph fastballs, Nottingham unloaded back-to-back swings that were hard-core, all-out powerful, home run-conscious hacks that would’ve tied the score if only he’d connected.

Only a true Big Leaguer takes those kinds of cuts.

Nottingham’s call-up, most likely attracting attention from all corners of his hometown, got the rumblings rolling.

Next stop is an N.L. Central Division showdown between the second place Cubs and first place Brewers. That showdown would have true Redlands Connections if Tyler Chatwood, a Redlands East Valley prospect, were pitching for Chicago with Nottingham catching for the Brewers.

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HUMBLED BY HIS REDLANDS CONNECTIONS, JULIO CRUZ SOARED BEYOND BASEBALL

UPDATE: In mid-February 2022, an unexpected phone call flashed across my screen: “TOM MARTIN,” it read. It’s always fun to chat with Tom, a longtime Southern Californian who had relocated to Washington a few years earlier. He had bad news about a longtime friend, Julio Cruz.

Martin, whose friendship with Cruz dated back to the 1960s, was very gentle: “Julio only has a few days left on the earth.” Struck by cancer, he said, a couple of visits to the former MLB second baseman and Redlands High product, had concluded with a few sad good-byes.

On Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, Cruz died, leaving a wife and children — and a whole bunch of memories.

Julio Cruz, perhaps one of the most popular athletes in Redlands High School’s century-plus history, is showcased in his baseball card — then a member of the Seattle Mariners. Cruz played nine seasons in the major leagues after getting signed at an open tryout.

SEATTLE — Julio Cruz remembers cutting to the basket during practice for coach Al Endeman’s team at Redlands High School way back, say, in the early 1970s.

“Brian Billick blocked my shot,” said Cruz, a 5-foot-10-inch guard, “and knocked my glasses off. They were on the floor, broken.”

Cruz, a future Major League Baseball player, was sent to an optometrist the next day for contact lenses. By Endeman. Backed by the Lion’s Club, the worldwide service club that specializes in sight.

“My vision was bad,” said Cruz. “One day, he gave me a slip of paper. It was for a sporting goods store.” Cruz got a pair of basketball shoes.

Billick, of course, went on to spend a full-fledged career coaching football. In 2001, it was Billick, as head coach, who led the Baltimore Ravens to a Super Bowl championship.

Imagine that: Billick, who spent a career in football, was teammates with Cruz, a baseball lifer, as teammates on a basketball team!

Endeman and Billick are just a couple of names Cruz, then 64, recalled during a time of reminiscence. Cruz may well be Redlands’ most famous baseball name, having spent 10 seasons (1977-86) in the major leagues.

He’s one of the most popular Redlands athletic products.

His Redlands buddies — Adrian Garcia, Randy Orwig, Juan Delgado, Dominic Mircacantante, Tom Martin, Billick, plus others — are fresh on his mind these days.

Cruz has forgotten little throughout the years.

“I’m re-living my youth,” he cracks, “and disregarding my age.”

His pathway to a MLB career was marked by plenty of help along the way. Cruz’s ascent to playing pro ball didn’t include the modern-day travel ball, Showcases and costly surroundings that today’s players/parents go through to land post-high school opportunities.

“Joe Hansen, my JV coach, drove me home (to Loma Linda) after basketball practice every day,” said Cruz. “Right to my front door.”

The Cruz family, who moved to Loma Linda from Brooklyn, N.Y. when The Cruzer was 14, was poor. No car. No money for buses or taxis. For a future baseball player, it was curious that he had no glove. No baseball spikes. Gear? He’d have to wait on all that.

“I think I was better at basketball,” said Cruz, “but I was only 5-10.”

Cruz’s baseball career was noteworthy for many reasons.

For openers, he’s probably the first-ever Redlands-based ballplayer to reach the majors for more than the so-called “cup of coffee” — 1,156 games, hitting .237 with 343 career stolen bases, fielding a brilliant .983 all between 1977 and 1986 — mostly with Seattle and the Chicago White Sox.

For good measure, that 1983 Seattle-to-Chicago deal at the trade deadline, drew plenty of praise. Not only did the ChiSox pull away in the American League Western Division when Cruz showed up, but someone in the MVP balloting posted a vote in his direction.

That mid-season swap by White Sox General Manager Roland Hemond, who sent second baseman Tony Bernazard to Seattle, fit Chicago well.

CRUZ OFFERS SERIOUS WARNING

Maybe it’s just age, time running out, all those early memories that got Cruz to reminisce about the old days. Martin, his high school friend, shared plenty of insight. On the real serious side, Martin said, “We both had prostate surgery a few years ago … a few days apart.”

Cruz himself asked me, “When’s the last time you got your prostate checked?”

He’s concerned. Then he inquires, “how about your wife? Has she been screened for breast cancer?” There’s a reason he asks.

In 2010, his wife Becky died from that disease after a 17-year battle. She was 48. Throw this in: His current wife, Morgan, has breast cancer, too.

On the plus side, there are his three sons — Austin and Alex, both Washington State graduates — plus Oxford grad, Jordan. Neither one was a baseball player, incidentally.

Jordan was, in fact, named after Michael Jordan. “He was just starting his career in Chicago,” said Cruz, “when I was there (playing with the White Sox).”

As Cruz tells it, a career in baseball — including serving as the Seattle Mariners’ Spanish-speaking TV broadcaster since 2002 — would’ve never happened without an array of those Redlands coaches along the way.

When he dunked a basketball as a Cope junior high schooler — noted by his coach, Gary Branstetter — The Cruzer had a future in Redlands athletics.

“I never dunked in a game,” he said. “All that jumping, though. I’ve had 11 knee surgeries.”

Baseball?

Check out these two names — Joe DeMaggio and Joe DiMaggio. Note the spelling on those two names.

Joe “De” was Redlands High’s coach — The Cruzer’s coach — during his baseball-playing years.

Then there was Joe “Di,” the Yankee Clipper, a baseball Hall of Famer (1936-51). Cruz memorably extracted an autograph from him during an Old-Timer’s game one year in Japan.

“Normally, he (Joe Di) didn’t give autographs,” said Cruz, “because he thought people would just take them and sell them.”

Choosing not to sign the “sweet spot” on the ball, Joe “Di” signed it to Cruz’s sons. Might be hard to sell an autographed ball if it was signed that way.

But he’d come full circle.

Branstetter had those Cope basketball kids shave their heads. “We were the Bald Eagles,” said Cruz, laughing. “I didn’t care. I was having fun.”

Three decades later, Cruz, now retired, was hitting leadoff in that Old-Timer’s game with teammates like Campy Campaneris, plus Hall of Famers Minnie Minoso and Bert Blyleven.

TRYOUT AT UCLA STARTED IT ALL

Cruz, meanwhile, went unscouted during his high school days at Redlands, not to mention his junior college days at San Bernardino Valley.

It was Delgado, The Cruzer’s friend from Highland, who found out about a baseball tryout on UCLA’s Westwood campus one Sunday. Cruz was 19.

“The only reason I went,” said Cruz, “was because it was a nice Sunday. It was a good day to play baseball.”

Cruz borrowed a glove, grabbed some spikes two sizes too big, and played in jeans. Delgado drove, three times, in fact. Cruz, who wiped out all comers in 60-yard dashes, kept getting invited back.

Scouts were in the stands and on the field. Cruz played shortstop. First game. First inning. First two guys up reached base. Line drive to Cruz. Steps on second. Throws to first.

Triple play!

He got a $500 bonus from California Angels’ scout Lou Cornower. The Cruzer was on his way, just a short time after his Redlands upbringing. “I really had to talk my dad into letting me do it. He wanted me to finish college.”

No one makes it alone, said Cruz. “I had people looking over me. Those guys brought the best out in me. They helped make me more sociable.”

Joe De, Endeman, Hansen, Branstetter, future varsity baseball coach Don Dewees, among others — each has a special place in The Cruzer’s heart.

“My (pro) managers didn’t come close to doing what these guys did for me,” said Cruz. “The way they went about their business with me without cheating the other students. The pros cut you. It’s a business to them.

“It wasn’t a business to my teachers.”

Cruz and Billick, meanwhile, showed up again together. Three decades after Billick knocked Cruz down at basketball practice, the two were inducted on the same night into the Terrier Hall of Fame.

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UMPIRE JOHN MCSHERRY PART OF NOON ROTARY RIB-TICKLING VISIT

This is part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. This is Part 3 of the series, Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West showed up. Bowling legend Earl Anthony. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966.

Today’s feature: Former major league umpire John McSherry.

So who was the toughest character to take on a major league umpire?

Redlands Rotary took their opportunity to bring in a guest speaker so far off the radar in early 1981. How about National League umpire John McSherry.

It was McSherry who gave a rib-tickling address to a packed house of Noon Rotarians, jammed into a downtown location not far from City Hall. At the moment, McSherry was working in nearby San Bernardino, training young umpires during the off-season at Little League Western Regional headquarters.

The Bronx, N.Y. native, who began his pro umpiring career in the Carolina League in 1967, told the locals, “Redlands is not to be confused with New York.”

McSherry_inset
National League umpire John McSherry was a featured guest speaking at Redlands Noon Rotary on one memorable weekday afternoon (photo by Wikipedia).

He started umpiring sandlot games there, games sometimes starting at 8:30 a.m.

“The first thing we had to do was go out to center field and wake up the drunks who’d been sleeping there all night.

“They didn’t want to be moved, so they just sort of wandered into the stands and watched the games. During the games, they used to bet their nickels and dimes on whether or not the kids would get a hit.

“If we called a kid out, some of them would lose their money. They wanted to win so they could get an early start on the evening’s festivities.

“And if you did call them out,” he said, “often they would throw the empties.”

He cracked about getting a police escort away from the sandlot field, he said, “and the two teams were on our side.”

It was life as an umpire, he told me, “I figured pro ball wasn’t any tougher than sandlot.”

Upon his visit to Redlands, Cardinals’ pitching great Bob Gibson had just been elected to the Hall of Fame.

“Gibson was excellent,” said McSherry. “The thing that made him so great was how he just moved the game along.

“He just said, ‘gimme the ball, let’s go.’ That guy just had a positive attitude and played to win. He’s definitely a Hall of Famer.”

One of his personal favorites was Gil Hodges, a Dodger legend who led the Miracle Mets of 1969 to the World Series.

“You know how people get built up sometimes as being an all-around super guy? And then you meet them and none of it’s true.

“Well, Gil Hodges was not like that. He didn’t disappoint me. He was just a super man in everything.”

Major league umpires, at that moment, numbered only 50 to 60. It was tough to move into the major league level.

Toughest part of umpiring, he said, “was the travel. But I like the flying, all the moving around from city to city.”

Umpires like McSherry expect the question, though. Which managers were toughest on the umps. He’s heard the question often.

“Tommy Lasorda.

“(Leo) Durocher.”

“I’m glad I wasn’t in the American League. I felt bad for anyone that called Earl Weaver’s games.”

And, he said, “thank goodness Billy Martin wasn’t in the National League, either.”

Truth is, there was the World Series and the All-Star game. McSherry crossed paths with both managers in those classics.

There were no further explanations.

“I’ve got a job to do,” he said, “and so do they.”

 

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REDLANDS CATCHER PLAYED ROLE IN MONEY BALL

Redlands Connection is a concoction of sports memories emanating from a city that once numbered less than 20,000 people. From the Super Bowl to the World Series, from the World Cup to golf’s U.S. Open, plus NCAA Final Four connections, Tour de France cycling, major tennis, NBA and a little NHL, aquatics and quite a bit more, the sparkling little city that sits around halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs on Interstate 10 has its share of sports connections. – Obrey Brown

Jacob Nottingham, a four-year Varsity catcher/designated hitter, might’ve been in the rarest of positions for a Redlands High School athlete in 2013. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder had apparent legitimate scholarship offers to play football at Arizona or Oklahoma.

What an opportunity!

Ranked No. 2 in Redlands’ citywide football – trailing that of highly successful city rival Redlands East Valley, especially considering that donning a Sooners’ uniform might’ve been a bright light up against the Wildcats’ football supremacy over Nottingham’s Terriers.

REV had sent guys to football juggernauts like UCLA, Oregon, Utah and Washington, at least among the major universities. It might seem like Oklahoma football would’ve trumped all of that.

Sooner football lore stands firmly ahead of the Bruins, Ducks, Utes and Huskies.

Nottingham may be the Brewers_ catcher of the future (Sean Flynn, Houston Chronicle).
Redlands’ Jacob Nottingham may be the Brewers’ catcher of the future (Photo by Sean Flynn, Houston Chronicle).

Nottingham, though, who played on a couple of the same Terrier baseball teams as my son, Chet, also loved catching. Batting. Ninety feet instead of 100 yards. Every day instead of once a week. He chose to chase the pro diamond dream over the college gridiron.

Redlands has produced other major leaguers.

Included on that list is undrafted second baseman Julio Cruz (Mariners, White Sox, Dodgers), plus Seattle’s 1980 13th round pick southpaw pitcher Ed Vande Berg (Mariners, Dodgers, Indians and Rangers), not to mention Angels/Blue Jays catcher Dan Whitmer (a 1978 Angels’ draft pick), who worked Detroit’s bullpen when the Tigers won the 1984 World Series.

Who knows? If Nottingham had chosen football, he’d have likely been college teammates at some point with future Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield.

But when the Houston Astros drafted him 167th overall in the sixth round in 2013, it didn’t take long for Nottingham to sign on June 14.

Even as a minor leaguer, Nottingham turned some heads. He was front and center in a couple of Money Ball transactions.

Money Ball definition: One of baseball’s newest and most notorious activities away from the diamond. It’s the art of dangling a major league product to a pennant-chasing franchise, but for the right cache of minor league prospects.

Nottingham was, apparently, just such a prospect.

NOTTINGHAM NETS KAZMIR FOR ASTROS

After a couple seasons in the Astros’ chain, Houston needed pitching at the major league level. They were in a heated pennant race. So they traded Nottingham to the Oakland A’s in exchange for southpaw pitcher Scott Kazmir, who was 108-96 with a 4.00 ERA over a dozen MLB seasons.

Scott Kazmir
Scott Kazmir, a veteran southpaw with a dozen years in major league baseball, landed at another team in a Money Ball exchange for Redlands product Jacob Nottingham (Photo byline unknown).

That July 23, 2015 move came when Houston’s Class A Lancaster team was hosting the Stockton Ports, the California League Class A affiliate of the A.s

All Nottingham had to do was switch locker rooms at the JetHawks’ stadium in Lancaster, Calif. Instead of heading to his Lancaster digs, he took the Stockton bus.

Traded for by A’s legendary Billy Beane, who authored Money Ball in the early 2000s, Nottingham was in a new stratosphere.

Billy_Beane_-_General_Manager_Oakland_As_(5964095428)
Billy Beane, the legendary “Money Ball” general manager of the Oakland A’s, was responsible for both trading for and trading away Redlands catcher Jacob Nottingham in notable deals. Photo by Oakland A’s

That wasn’t the end of his Beane’s transaction activity surrounding the Redlands prospect, either. Perhaps regarded as a future Oakland payoff at the MLB level, forget it. During the off-season between 2015 and 2016, Nottingham was shipped to the Milwaukee Brewers.

NOTTINGHAM NETS DAVIS FOR A’S

In return from the Brewers, Oakland received outfielder Khris Davis (145 home runs, .248 average over 5 MLB seasons), who would go on to smoke over 40 home runs in the next two seasons for the A’s.

Oakland Athletics
Oakland’s Khris_Davis, who has struck over 80 home runs in two seasons for Oakland, came to the A’s from Milwaukee by way of a trade … for Redlands’ Jacob Nottingham. Photo by Keith Allison

That Nottingham could fetch such nice prizes seems amazing.

Money Ball was certainly hot & heavy surrounding the Redlands prospect.

On Nov. 20, Nottingham kept smoking it to the top. The Brewers purchased his minor league contract, thus placing him on the 40-man roster – the ultimate for any prospect. He was one of five catchers – by far, the youngest on Milwaukee’s roster.

Over a five-year span with a handful of teams ranging from Rookie Ball to Low Class A to High Class A to Class AA, Nottingham had blasted 43 home runs and hit .238 (.325 OBP) in 424 professional games.

Think about this: Nottingham was a 2015 Quad Cities River Bandits (Midwest League) teammate of Alex Bregman, who played a part in the 2017 Houston Astros’ World Series championship.

Another Quad Cities teammate, Derek Fisher, slugged five HRs for the 2017 Astros.

Pitchers Joe Musgrove (7-8, 4.77 ERA), Frances Martes (5-2, 5.80), David Paulino (2-0, 6.52) and Raymin Guduan (0-0, 7.56) also logged MLB time with the series champs … off that River Bandits’ squad.

Another hurler, Daniel Mengden was one of those shipped to Oakland from Houston in the July 2015 Nottingham-Kazmir deal. Mengden finished 2017 with the A’s – 3-2, 3.17 ERA – while looking squarely into Oakland’s 2018 future as a starting pitcher.

By the time Houston had slipped past the Dodgers in the World Series, Nottingham was on a Brewers’ team looking to climb into contention. Heading into spring training, he was on the Brewers’ 40-man roster, claiming the organization’s 17th best prospect.

Beane. Kazmir. Davis. Mengden. Money Ball. Nottingham. A formal Redlands Connection.

 

 

 

 

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THERE WERE PLENTY OF REASONS WHY BOB GAILLARD DIDN’T WANT TO TALK

This was part of a series of mini-Redlands Connections. Quick Visits. Magic Johnson and John Wooden showed up at the University of Redlands as part of a Convocation Series. There was a piece on Tom Flores, an NFL Hall of Famer a few decades down the road. Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins, former NBA player John Block, legendary high school coach Willie West all showed up. There are others. Cazzie Russell, for instance, came to Redlands with an NCAA Division III basketball team from Savannah, Ga. Russell, out of Michigan, was the NBA’s overall No. 1 draft pick by the New York Knicks in 1966. That guy lived through a remarkable career.

Today’s feature: Former Univ. San Francisco basketball coach Bob Gaillard.

I guess I could understand a few reasons why visiting Lewis & Clark (Ore.) College basketball coach Bob Gaillard wasn’t in all that much of a mood to chat.

He had a basketball team to coach at the University of Redlands’ Lee Fulmer Memorial Tournament.

For openers, it had been so long since he’d coached at the University of San Francisco.

There wasn’t much he could add to a sad, dramatic and unfavorable tale about a scandal that was so richly embarrassing. At times like those, you hate being a media member. You have to ask, though.

Forty-five minutes before tip-off at Currier Gymnasium, I’d slid in beside him on the Pioneers’ bench. His players were warming up. Can’t remember if L&C was playing Redlands, or not, in the eight-team tournament that night.

Gaillard was in the midst of a 22-year coaching career at the Portland campus.

Bob Gaillard
Lewis & Clark College basketball coach Bob Gaillard brought his team to win the Lee Fulmer Memorial Classic on three different occasions. The onetime Univ. San Francisco coach lived through turbulent times before landing in Portland (photo by Lewis & Clark College).

USF? Maybe there was something the media missed. New developments? A different side we hadn’t thought about?

“Was there any of that?” I asked.

“Look,” he said, shaking his head slowly, “I really don’t want to re-hash something like that. There’s nothing new. It happened so far back.”

What my readers might’ve wanted to know was about his USF background. There were people in Redlands that attended USF. He tried to be kind and patient. He was in the midst of a career that left him with 530 coaching triumphs.

Gaillard was at USF from 1968 through 1977, starting about a decade after Bill Russell had left the Dons.

By 1976, he was the Dons’ head coach, a team that included NBA-bound players like Bill Cartwright, Winford Boynes and James Hardy. The Dons were 29-2 that season.

That team, eventually placed on probation, was cited by NCAA officials for academic fraud that included players getting special academic treatment, among other infractions.

Gaillard, the 1977 AP Coach of the Year, was fired.

No way he wanted to re-live those moments.

In the middle of his refusal, I kept thinking, “I really can’t blame you, coach.”

It was a lousy atmosphere in which to try and rekindle all that negative hype — the media coverage, NCAA sanctions, the outlaw nature of the players, everything. In Redlands, a place where academics are highly lauded. Same with, apparently, Lewis & Clark.

It’s quite possible Gaillard had nothing to do with any of those scandals. What a story it might make for that tiny Redlands readership. Like I said, there were a few local residents that had USF connections. By the way, they never let me forget that, either, especially the ones who were on campus during the Russell years.

He’d brought his team from Oregon, flown into Los Angeles, caught a couple vans out to Redlands for this tournament. It was 1992, some 15 years after the fact.

“I’d really rather talk about this team,” he said.

Those were good years for the Pioneers, in fact, who were headed for a string of winning seasons. L&C dusted off its NAIA roots for the NCAA a few years after his pre-season trips to Redlands.

Back to USF 1977. Wasn’t it curious that Gaillard’s Dons carried a 29-1 record into the 32-team NCAA Tournament? Their first-round opponent was none other than Nevada-Las Vegas, coached by Jerry Tarkanian.

Tarkanian also had Redlands connections. It was right around that time, 1977, that Tark himself had started getting negative NCAA attention. A USF-UNLV duel might’ve been the talk of the NCAA offices.

Maybe that’s another reason Gaillard didn’t want to talk.

Tark’s Runnin’ Rebels ran the Dons out of the area that night, 121-95. In fact, USF had been 29-0 heading into their final regular season game against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish lost to the Dons by 11 in that year’s opening round.

(Remember, the NCAA Tournament was just 32 teams in those days.)

One season later, 1978, which was Gaillard’s finale at USF, the Dons finished their season 23-6 (Gaillard’s record, 165-61, over eight seasons, winning five West Coast Conference championships; reaching the Elite Eight in 1973 and the Sweet 16 in 1978).

He was out of coaching for 11 seasons, even working an advertising gig for the San Francisco Giants for a time; taking over the Pioneers in 1989.

As for Lewis & Clark at the 1992 Fulmer Tournament? The Pioneers not only won it, but they came back the following season and repeated as champions.

 

 

 

 

 

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IT WAS A PRE-OLYMPIC SHOWDOWN IN REDLANDS

REDLANDS — It was a race worth waiting for, but only few people really knew about it. That race took place after a lengthy schedule of track & field events. Of all places to launch an Olympic showdown. Check that: A pre-Olympic showdown.

Innocent Egbunike, at far right, races to the finish against gold medal-winning Alonzo Babers at the 1984 Los Angles Olympic Games. Babers won the 400-meter in a race against Egbunike. The two raced against each other over a year earlier in Redlands, California.

It took place in the spring of 1983 at the University of Redlands, its annual T&F invitational attracting a number of small college squads, though a couple of interesting programs showed up.

Azusa Pacific, coached by legendary Terry Franson, would win that year’s NAIA team championship in June, was on site. So was the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The meet, which featured men’s and women’s events – jumping, all throws, pole vault, every conceivable distance race, sprints, plus relays – took over eight hours to complete.

By the time both finishing relays took place, the hour was close to 9 p.m.

There they were, Azusa Pacific University squaring against the U.S. Air Force Academy team in a 4 x 400 men’s finale.

It would be memorable, especially since 1980 Nigerian Olympian Innocent Egbunike would be racing the anchor lap for APU. His opponent for that lap was senior Alonzo Babers, already a lieutenant in the USAF. Babers still holds his school’s indoor 400 (46.86) record from 1982.

Throw this in: In that 1983 season, Babers ran 45.36, still the school’s outdoor mark. He took fourth (45.51) at the NCAA Division I finals later that June.

Against much easier competition at the NAIA finals, Egbunike sprinted to national championship wins in the 100 (10.34), 200 (20.94) and anchored the winning 4 x 400 relay – John Shalongo, Doug Laisel and Ted Campbell, plus the Nigerian, in 3:09.77.

***

At the Redlands Invite, Egbunike’s Azusa Pacific teammate Mike Barnett, a future Olympian, ripped off a winning 275-foot javelin mark – still the Ted Runner Stadium record – on that day. Oregon State’s Mark Fricker, from nearby Hemet, posted a still-existing 5,000 record of 14:09.30 on that 1983 date.

USAF’s Bret Hyde, a winner at Redlands, still holds his school’s mark over 3,000 meter steeplechase (8:31.87). Hyde, incidentally,  also placed at the 1984 L.A. Games.

For good measure, APU sent discus and hammer competitor Christian Okoye, the future NFL “Nigerian Nightmare” with Kansas City. In this same stadium, Okoye would terrorize the University of Redlands’ football team.

There was even a Redlander on the USAF women’s squad, NCAA Division II All-American Laureli Mazik, who won that day and stands on the school’s indoor mile (4:53.9) all-time list at No. 9. She’s No. 16 outdoors (4:32.09).

All of which is a reminder how relevant the Redlands Invitational seemed at the time.

***

By race time, hardly anyone remained inside Ted Runner Stadium’s grandstand. It was late, after 9 p.m. Interest had long since waned when most events were finalized. Most participating teams departed for their Southern California campuses.

A few teams remained, including Azusa Pacific and Air Force.

When the batons were exchanged for that memorable anchor 4 x 400 lap, Egbunike and Babers were in full stride. That duo raced side by side for their entire 400-meter run. At the midway mark, Egbunike and Babers were seen bumping in their one-on-one duel.

The APU sprinter edged the USAF officer, though both runners had plenty of season left – Egbunike in the lower level NAIA ranks while Babers had top NCAA runners like Bert Cameron and Antonio McKay to square off against later that season.

It was that very season that Babers ran the third leg with Ted Holloway and Todd Scott with Rick Goddard anchoring, setting the school record (3:10.11) – currently the school’s eighth best.

Babers? The dude still holds the school mark over 500-meters, a discontinued event in which he posted a 1:01.7.

All of which was just preparation for the 1984 Los Angeles Games. He’d come across Egbunike again.

At Redlands, the Nigerian Olympian, escorted to the final handoff by Shalongo, Laisel and Campbell, got his triumph over Babers that night. The real race was over a year away. 

***

In fact, there were two events in L.A.

At the L.A. Coliseum, both wound up in the open 400-meter finals. There was plenty of buildup, much of the spotlight falling on Antonio McKay, that year’s NCAA champion. Babers prevailed over McKay. Egbunike finished last in the seven-man finale.

As for the 4 x 400 relay, Babers needed McKay’s help. The two were mixed in with a lineup that included Ray Armstead and Sunder Nix. The USA won the gold ahead of Great Britain (silver) and Nigeria’s bronze medal finish behind Egbunike and his three running mates, Rotimi Peters, Moses Ugbusien and Sunday Uti.

Unlike that Redlands finale, it was Egbunike against McKay in the final lap. Babers had taken a 7-meter lead after his portion of the relay, handing off to McKay.

Beyond the bronze medal, Nigeria got another consolation – the African continent record.

***

While training for and competing in the 1984 Olympics, Babers held the rank of lieutenant. Just one month after his double-gold performance in Los Angeles, Babers reported to flight training school and began his career as a pilot. His athletic career was over. He was an active duty officer in the United States Air Force from 1983 to 1991, continuing to serve as a member of the Air Force Reserves. As of 2019, he was a 777 pilot for United Airlines.

Egbunike? He’s currently the track coach at Pasadena City College – a campus just a few miles from those Azusa Pacific digs. As head coach of the 2008 Nigerian Olympic team (coaching also in 1996 and 2000), Egbunike appeared in the winner’s circle again, having coached gold medalist Angelo Taylor.

These two world-class speedsters brought an Olympic showcase to Redlands in March 1983.