I don't care too much for professional baseball anymore, there isn't the team spirit or the cohesiveness that use to be. Oh, I think minor league baseball is fun . . . I've seen the Albuguerque Dukes play and the Sacramento River Cats too. Professional sports are just entertainment organizations and I prefer to watch a sport where there's real emotion coming from the players and money is doing the talking so I go to all the CIF playoff games in Sacramento now. Talk about good baseball, it doesn't get any better.
I've always loved watching baseball. We lived near Chavez Ravine where the Dodgers played and it was easy to pop over there and watch a game or better yet, I could just stop in at Bovard Field and watch fraternity brothers Armando de Castro, Bill Seinsoth, Jack Harrington, Buzz Shafer and Rick Raczka play for the National Champion USC Trojans for several years. Then there was another friend, Tom Hutton, who was the CIF player of the Year in 1964 out of South Pasadena (our arch rivals in the Rio Hondo League) who signed with the Dodgers and eventually came to the big leagues playing for Los Angeles, Montreal and Philadelphia and Toronto. Tom is the color guy for the Florida Marlins. Tom and Bill Seinsoth were cousins! Bill was the CIF player of the year in 1965 out of Arcadia and MVP of the Trojan National Championship team. He signed with the Dodgers after his senior year at USC but tragically was killed in an auto accident after his first season in AAA. If Bill had lived, Steve Garvey wouldn't have played 1st base for the Dodgers!.
I started playing baseball in Little League. Then Pony League then High School, I always played somewhere in the infield. My friend Tom Coleman was way better than me at second base so I tried short stop and third and played mostly there; I was good defensively but not to strong with the bat . . . too intimidated by the fastball and inside curve. I managed to become pretty good when I decided to play more slow pitch softball and then success came. When my friend Dan Dominy alerted me to a softball team he was playing on in the Advertising Leagues, I joined up and we really had fun. Eventually Dan and I had own teams in the Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. "Steve's at the Beach" was the best one. We went undefeated one season. Toni would keep the scorebook and my nephew Mathew was the batboy.
One of our high school team mates is Craig Wallenbrock, who has been a scout and coach in the Majors for the last 25 years. Craig is considered by many as the top batting coach in the United States. He has many clients on major league teams. Since moving to the Central Coast I have attended many Cal Poly Mustangs and Cuesta Bulldog games with Craig and have learned to enjoy baseball from a whole new perspective . . . . hitting. I'm seeing things in a game that I never knew existed. Craig consideres Louie Silviera, who scouted for the Baltimore Orioles for 15 year and now scouts for the L A Dodgers, to be his mentor. Louie lives in Atascadero. In addition to the local college baseball, in the summer we have two California Collegiate League teams with collegiate all-stars from across the nation who used wood bats.
Major League Baseball U S C Baseball Baseball Reference
Tom Hutton Jack Harrington Bill Seinsoth