MONTEREY LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL
(AGES 9-12)
(AGES 9-12)
TEAM PHOTOS FROM THE 1965, 1966, 1967 & LATER SEASONS
In this section we are adding team yearbooks from the "1965 and later" years. So far we have received and have started to upload books from the 1965, 1966 and 1967 seasons. Special thanks to Saunders Manager Tom Russo, Sr. for his contributions!
We are also looking for a copy of the 1963 Monterey Little League Yearbook! If you have a copy of the 1963 yearbook, or any other photos, clippings, or stories to contribute, let me know! Email: [email protected]
We are also looking for a copy of the 1963 Monterey Little League Yearbook! If you have a copy of the 1963 yearbook, or any other photos, clippings, or stories to contribute, let me know! Email: [email protected]
1965 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
1965 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
*1965 Monterey American Little League All-Stars*
*1965 Monterey American Little League All-Stars*
Front Row: Tom Atkinson, Steve Mercurio, Batboy Frank Mercurio, Bob Miyamoto, Brian Stock.
Middle Row: Chris Stanley, Horace Andante, Mike Blaisdell, Jeff Phillips, Tom Russo Jr.
Back Row: Coach Ky Miyamoto, Alan Herren, John Coustette, Tim Millington, Calvin Krebs, Coach Frank Mercurio, Mark Bibler, Coach Tom Russo Sr.
*National Beat American League in 1965 All-Star Playoffs*
Front Row: Tom Atkinson, Steve Mercurio, Batboy Frank Mercurio, Bob Miyamoto, Brian Stock.
Middle Row: Chris Stanley, Horace Andante, Mike Blaisdell, Jeff Phillips, Tom Russo Jr.
Back Row: Coach Ky Miyamoto, Alan Herren, John Coustette, Tim Millington, Calvin Krebs, Coach Frank Mercurio, Mark Bibler, Coach Tom Russo Sr.
*National Beat American League in 1965 All-Star Playoffs*
*1965 Monterey National Little League All-Stars*
*1965 Monterey National Little League All-Stars*
Front Row: Joe Storelli, Milchor Green, R. Peterson, R. Martin, Jerry Pettas, Peter Caramazza.
2nd Row: Fermin Sanchez, Steve Evans, D. Mancha, Johnny Russell, Paul Moss.
Back Row: Coach Red Howard, Gerald Armstrong, Coach John Sansone, David Thorngate, Coach Pete Lucido. Missing: Lindsey Matthews.
*National Beat American League in 1965 All-Star Playoffs*
Front Row: Joe Storelli, Milchor Green, R. Peterson, R. Martin, Jerry Pettas, Peter Caramazza.
2nd Row: Fermin Sanchez, Steve Evans, D. Mancha, Johnny Russell, Paul Moss.
Back Row: Coach Red Howard, Gerald Armstrong, Coach John Sansone, David Thorngate, Coach Pete Lucido. Missing: Lindsey Matthews.
*National Beat American League in 1965 All-Star Playoffs*
1965 Monterey Little League - Del Monte Properties
Bottom Row: J. Ciolino, T. Pietrobono, John Sakino, Dave Marotta, M. Marseguerra.
Second Row: R. Peterson, C. Lincoln, A. Pietrobono, Ted Melicia, Bennie Torres.
Third Row: Coach T. Peterson, Fermin Sanchez, R. Vaughn, Gary Beadles, Phil Calabrese, Manager Doug Forzani.
Second Row: R. Peterson, C. Lincoln, A. Pietrobono, Ted Melicia, Bennie Torres.
Third Row: Coach T. Peterson, Fermin Sanchez, R. Vaughn, Gary Beadles, Phil Calabrese, Manager Doug Forzani.
1965 Monterey Little League - Saunders Mortgages
Top Row: Coach Frank Mercurio, John Coustette, Tom Russo Jr., Manager Tom Russo Sr., Steve Mercurio, Bart Bartoli, Coach Tom Incaviglia.
Middle Row: Brian Stock, Robert Pira, Mark O'Reilly, Gene Trawick, Marty Bartoli.
Front Row: Larry Seyferth, Paul Dubrasich, Tony Incaviglia, Frank Mercurio.
Absent: David O'Brien, Tom Dubrasich, Robert Carmenita.
Middle Row: Brian Stock, Robert Pira, Mark O'Reilly, Gene Trawick, Marty Bartoli.
Front Row: Larry Seyferth, Paul Dubrasich, Tony Incaviglia, Frank Mercurio.
Absent: David O'Brien, Tom Dubrasich, Robert Carmenita.
1965 Monterey Little League - Kiwanis
Front Row: Terry Witcher, Rubin Martin, Dennis Albert, Craig Higashi, Batboy Eddie Amader.
Second Row: Curtis Higashi, Spencer Nakasako, Richard Waite, Pete Caramazza, Andy Salmeri.
Third Row: Joe Storelli, Lindsey Mathews, Joe Vollaire.
Back Row: Coach Chester Higashi, Coach John Sansone, Manager Pete Lucido.
Second Row: Curtis Higashi, Spencer Nakasako, Richard Waite, Pete Caramazza, Andy Salmeri.
Third Row: Joe Storelli, Lindsey Mathews, Joe Vollaire.
Back Row: Coach Chester Higashi, Coach John Sansone, Manager Pete Lucido.
1965 Monterey Little League - Rotary
Front Row: Bill Iveros, Greg "Gig" Harris, Batboy Mike Cummins, Dan Brooks, Dennis Brooks, John King.
Back Row: Coach Phil Santora, Mark Bibler, Junior Santora, Mike Beck, Allan Weiss, Bill Querforth, Brad Harris, Manager Jack Harris. Missing: Randy Evans.
Back Row: Coach Phil Santora, Mark Bibler, Junior Santora, Mike Beck, Allan Weiss, Bill Querforth, Brad Harris, Manager Jack Harris. Missing: Randy Evans.
1965 Monterey Little League - Optimists
Bottom Row: J. Brooks, Mike Ivers, Batboy R. Acosta, A. Zavitzanos, J. Paredes.
Middle Row: Chris Smith, Ken Richmond, Jeff Broome, Eddie Lowery, Calvin Krebs.
Top Row: Manager Larry Feliciano, Mike Blaisdell, J. Tidwell, T. Osborne, Steve Krebs, Coach W. Richmond.
Middle Row: Chris Smith, Ken Richmond, Jeff Broome, Eddie Lowery, Calvin Krebs.
Top Row: Manager Larry Feliciano, Mike Blaisdell, J. Tidwell, T. Osborne, Steve Krebs, Coach W. Richmond.
1965 Monterey Little League - Larkin & Son
Top Row: Manager Don Howard, Mark Albert, Ted Esaki, John Russell, Coach F. Borg.
Middle Row: Erwin Singh, Mike Mancha, Jerry Pettas, Bill Augusta, Anup Singh.
Bottom Row: Neno Martino, Robbie Fisher, Dorne Colburn, Nelson Maurer, Gary Colburn.
Middle Row: Erwin Singh, Mike Mancha, Jerry Pettas, Bill Augusta, Anup Singh.
Bottom Row: Neno Martino, Robbie Fisher, Dorne Colburn, Nelson Maurer, Gary Colburn.
1965 Monterey Little League - Monterey Peninsula Herald
Top Row: Coach Jim Uyeda, Sal Curreri, Morris Armstrong, Joel Smith, Gerald Armstrong, Steve Evans, Mike Esposito, Manager Kelly Kageyama.
Bottom Row: Kenny Uyeda, Batboy Wynn Kageyama, Colin Kageyama, Gary Kageyama, Greg Andrews. Missing: Jed Jones, Mark Stephens, Billy Smith.
Bottom Row: Kenny Uyeda, Batboy Wynn Kageyama, Colin Kageyama, Gary Kageyama, Greg Andrews. Missing: Jed Jones, Mark Stephens, Billy Smith.
1965 Monterey Little League - American Legion Post 41
Front Row: Gary Whitaker, Bob Wise, Rick Lodge, Batboy Keith Wise.
Second Row: Ernie Torres, Sal Francis, Phil DiGiralamo, Milchor Green, Steve Szody.
Back Row: Manager Tom DiMaggio, Chris Cocker, Ron Borrego, Dave Thorngate, Dave Clark, Mike Torre, Coach Joe Torre.
Missing: Coach John Wise.
Second Row: Ernie Torres, Sal Francis, Phil DiGiralamo, Milchor Green, Steve Szody.
Back Row: Manager Tom DiMaggio, Chris Cocker, Ron Borrego, Dave Thorngate, Dave Clark, Mike Torre, Coach Joe Torre.
Missing: Coach John Wise.
1965 Monterey Little League - Rasmussen & Moody
Bottom Row: Doug Nail, Gary Bearden, Batboy Randy Sena, Tony Lucido, Vince Cefalu.
Second Row: Jim Nichols, Wally Sena, Curtis Richmond, Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler.
Back Row: Coach Frank Lucido, Tim Baird, Paul Moss, Eric Marin, Manager Dave Diaz, Coach Mario Archdeacon. Missing: Mike Moore.
Second Row: Jim Nichols, Wally Sena, Curtis Richmond, Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler.
Back Row: Coach Frank Lucido, Tim Baird, Paul Moss, Eric Marin, Manager Dave Diaz, Coach Mario Archdeacon. Missing: Mike Moore.
1965 Monterey Little League - Elks
3rd Row: Coach Stan Blakely, Coach Tom Muniz, Coach Ky Miyamoto.
2nd Row: Tommy Muniz, Tim Madden, Charlie Harmon, Bob Miyamoto, Mike Genovese, Jerry Hiserman.
1st Row: Bob Blakely, Roy Pina, Hugh Thurston, Bob Maxwell, Danny Maxwell, Jeff Akard, Batboy Matty Muniz.
3rd Row: Coach Stan Blakely, Coach Tom Muniz, Coach Ky Miyamoto.
2nd Row: Tommy Muniz, Tim Madden, Charlie Harmon, Bob Miyamoto, Mike Genovese, Jerry Hiserman.
1st Row: Bob Blakely, Roy Pina, Hugh Thurston, Bob Maxwell, Danny Maxwell, Jeff Akard, Batboy Matty Muniz.
1965 Monterey Little League - Schulkens
Back Row: Coach Ed Leonard, Manager Frank "Stoney" Bruno, Coach Sal Enea, Second Row: Steve Silva, Jeff Phillips, Tom Atkinson, Alan Herren.
Third Row: Joe Rombi, Joe Ventimiglia, Tom Bekeney, David Phillips, Vince Cardinale.
Front Row: Scott Satow, Joe Cardinale, Batboy Frank Bruno, Joe Lucido, Rick Ryu.
Third Row: Joe Rombi, Joe Ventimiglia, Tom Bekeney, David Phillips, Vince Cardinale.
Front Row: Scott Satow, Joe Cardinale, Batboy Frank Bruno, Joe Lucido, Rick Ryu.
1965 Monterey Little League - Ed Williams Mens Wear
Top Row: Coach Jim Fox, Jeff Millington, Vince Costanza, Chris Stanley, Gary Russell, Manager Andy Toscano
Middle Row: Philip Balesteri, Ron Brown, Horace Andante, Bill Cameron
Bottom Row: John Williams, Al Salomone, Greg Soares, Steve Soares, Tom Storelli. Missing: Steve Page.
Middle Row: Philip Balesteri, Ron Brown, Horace Andante, Bill Cameron
Bottom Row: John Williams, Al Salomone, Greg Soares, Steve Soares, Tom Storelli. Missing: Steve Page.
1966 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
1966 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
*1966 Monterey National Little League All-Stars*
*1966 Monterey National Little League All-Stars*
Back Row: Coach T. Enea, Coach H. Ferrante, Coach B. DiMaggio, Manager Dave Diaz, Coach Dom Mineo.
3rd Row: J. Robertson, Curtis Higashi, Phil Calabrese, Bennie Torres, Curtis Richmond.
2nd Row: Dave Marotta, Gary Beadles, Ted Melicia, Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler, Ted Esaki.
1st Row: Joel Smith, Bill Augusta, Batboy Ted Pietrobono, Colin Kageyama, Kenny Uyeda.
3rd Row: J. Robertson, Curtis Higashi, Phil Calabrese, Bennie Torres, Curtis Richmond.
2nd Row: Dave Marotta, Gary Beadles, Ted Melicia, Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler, Ted Esaki.
1st Row: Joel Smith, Bill Augusta, Batboy Ted Pietrobono, Colin Kageyama, Kenny Uyeda.
*National Beat American League in 1966 All-Star Playoffs*
*1966 Monterey American Little League All-Stars*
*1966 Monterey American Little League All-Stars*
Back Row: Jerry Hiserman, John Severson, K. Richman, Jeff Brooks, S. Ventimiglia, Manager Tom Muniz.
2nd Row: Scott Satow, David Philips, D. Brooks, John Williams, Marty Bartoli, D. Shook, J. Blakely, B. Maxwell, Batboy Matty Muniz, Mike Beck, Tommy Muniz.
2nd Row: Scott Satow, David Philips, D. Brooks, John Williams, Marty Bartoli, D. Shook, J. Blakely, B. Maxwell, Batboy Matty Muniz, Mike Beck, Tommy Muniz.
*National Beat American League in 1966 All-Star Playoffs*
1966 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
1966 Monterey Little League - Del Monte Properties
Top Row: Coach Bart DiMaggio, Ted Melicia, Gary Beadles, P. Calabrese, Manager Dom Mineo.
2nd Row: G. Hodges, H. Pietrobono, J. Kennedy, Joe Ciolino, Bennie Torres, Dave Marotta.
Front Row: Ray Luce, Brian Beadles, Batboy Ted Pietrobono, John Sakino, Joe Bommarito. Missing: Coach Tom Enea.
Top Row: Coach Bart DiMaggio, Ted Melicia, Gary Beadles, P. Calabrese, Manager Dom Mineo.
2nd Row: G. Hodges, H. Pietrobono, J. Kennedy, Joe Ciolino, Bennie Torres, Dave Marotta.
Front Row: Ray Luce, Brian Beadles, Batboy Ted Pietrobono, John Sakino, Joe Bommarito. Missing: Coach Tom Enea.
1966 Monterey Little League - Saunders Mortgages
Top Row: Manager Frank Mercurio, A. Lucido, G. Trawick, Marty Bartoli, Coach Tom Incaviglia.
2nd Row: R. Beatty, L. Busby, D. O'Brien, F. Lucido, M. O'Reilly.
Front Row: T. Incaviglia, Henry Saunders, Batboy D. Mercurio, Horace Mercurio, Larry Seyferth, F. Incaviglia. Missing R. Pira, Coach F. Lucido.
Top Row: Manager Frank Mercurio, A. Lucido, G. Trawick, Marty Bartoli, Coach Tom Incaviglia.
2nd Row: R. Beatty, L. Busby, D. O'Brien, F. Lucido, M. O'Reilly.
Front Row: T. Incaviglia, Henry Saunders, Batboy D. Mercurio, Horace Mercurio, Larry Seyferth, F. Incaviglia. Missing R. Pira, Coach F. Lucido.
1966 Monterey Little League - Kiwanis
Top Row: Manager Pete Lucido, Mike Ray, Curtis Higashi, Coach John Sansone, Coach Chester Higashi
2nd Row: Carlo Merlo, Andy Salmeri, Bernard Adalem, Craig Higashi.
Front Row: Terry Witcher, Harold Yamamura, Antonio Balesteri, Steve Tarentino. Missing: Dennis Albert
Top Row: Manager Pete Lucido, Mike Ray, Curtis Higashi, Coach John Sansone, Coach Chester Higashi
2nd Row: Carlo Merlo, Andy Salmeri, Bernard Adalem, Craig Higashi.
Front Row: Terry Witcher, Harold Yamamura, Antonio Balesteri, Steve Tarentino. Missing: Dennis Albert
1966 Monterey Little League - Rotary
Top Row: Coach W. Avilla, Phil Santora, Dan Brooks, Bill Ivers.
2nd Row: Vincent Silva, David Hansen, Greg "Gig" Harris, John King, Don Carrol.
Front Row: Bob Ivers, Mark Avilla, Craig Shaw, Mark Silva, Paul O'Donovan, Missing: James Beck.
Top Row: Coach W. Avilla, Phil Santora, Dan Brooks, Bill Ivers.
2nd Row: Vincent Silva, David Hansen, Greg "Gig" Harris, John King, Don Carrol.
Front Row: Bob Ivers, Mark Avilla, Craig Shaw, Mark Silva, Paul O'Donovan, Missing: James Beck.
1966 Monterey Little League - Optimists
Top Row: Coach A. Petrasich, Chris Smith, Manger Jim Russo, Cal Krebs, Coach Bob Lawrence
2nd Row: Jeff Brooks, David Andrews, Ken Richmond, Jesse Paredies
Front Row: Junior Dalit, Jeff Lynn, Craig Townsend, Anthony Moltin, Mike Sciocchetti
Top Row: Coach A. Petrasich, Chris Smith, Manger Jim Russo, Cal Krebs, Coach Bob Lawrence
2nd Row: Jeff Brooks, David Andrews, Ken Richmond, Jesse Paredies
Front Row: Junior Dalit, Jeff Lynn, Craig Townsend, Anthony Moltin, Mike Sciocchetti
1966 Monterey Little League - Larkin
Top Row: Coach Bob Takamoto, Ray Cardinalli, Joe Portuando, Manager Pet Nakasako.
2nd Row: Dan Fowler, Gus Matheson, James Robertson, Marty Lyndon
Front Row: Spencer Nakasako, Bill Luch, Batboy Joey Cardinalli, Danny Monar, Ed Akerstrom.
Top Row: Coach Bob Takamoto, Ray Cardinalli, Joe Portuando, Manager Pet Nakasako.
2nd Row: Dan Fowler, Gus Matheson, James Robertson, Marty Lyndon
Front Row: Spencer Nakasako, Bill Luch, Batboy Joey Cardinalli, Danny Monar, Ed Akerstrom.
1966 Monterey Little League - Wester Motors
Top Row: Frank Bruno, Joe Ventimiglia, Mike Nelson, Manager Frank Rombi, Tom Bekany, Joe Rombi, Coach Ed Leonard.
2nd Row: Scott Satow, Vince Cardinale, Dave Phillips, Pepe Cardinale, Vince Lucido.
Bottom Row: Frank Bruno, Jr., John Szody, Batboy Frank Rombi Jr, Batboy George Leonard, Keith Nakamura, Robbie Neece.
Top Row: Frank Bruno, Joe Ventimiglia, Mike Nelson, Manager Frank Rombi, Tom Bekany, Joe Rombi, Coach Ed Leonard.
2nd Row: Scott Satow, Vince Cardinale, Dave Phillips, Pepe Cardinale, Vince Lucido.
Bottom Row: Frank Bruno, Jr., John Szody, Batboy Frank Rombi Jr, Batboy George Leonard, Keith Nakamura, Robbie Neece.
1966 Monterey Little League - Ed Williams Mens Wear
Top Row: Coach Steve Fox, Gary Robison, John Williams, Bill Cameron, Manager Jim Fox.
2nd Row: Phil Balesteri, Tom Storelli, Brian Phelps, Ronnie Brown.
Front Row: Gary Mitchell, Steve Soares, John Mead, Kirk Leiz. Missing: John La Salla.
Top Row: Coach Steve Fox, Gary Robison, John Williams, Bill Cameron, Manager Jim Fox.
2nd Row: Phil Balesteri, Tom Storelli, Brian Phelps, Ronnie Brown.
Front Row: Gary Mitchell, Steve Soares, John Mead, Kirk Leiz. Missing: John La Salla.
1966 Monterey Little League - Monterey Peninsula Herald
Top Row: Manager Kelly Kageyama, Ronnie Oka, Kenny Uyeda, Larry Fiet, Coach Steve Rios.
2nd Row: Jim Tannehill, Joel Smith, Colin Kageyama, Steve Gerdes.
Front Row: Don Blakely, Batboy Wynn Kageyama, Scott Hawes, Chuck Della Sala. Missing: Billy Smith, Morris Armstrong, Greg Andrews.
Top Row: Manager Kelly Kageyama, Ronnie Oka, Kenny Uyeda, Larry Fiet, Coach Steve Rios.
2nd Row: Jim Tannehill, Joel Smith, Colin Kageyama, Steve Gerdes.
Front Row: Don Blakely, Batboy Wynn Kageyama, Scott Hawes, Chuck Della Sala. Missing: Billy Smith, Morris Armstrong, Greg Andrews.
1966 Monterey Little League - American Legion Post 41
Top Row: Manager Tom DiMaggio, Chris Cocker, Ron Borrego, Rich Gonzales, Coach Bob Bruno.
2nd Row: Billy Rochford, Jan Matthews, Bob Rosey, Ernie Torres.
Fron Row: Sal Francis, Mike Rushanap, Gary Whittaker, Richard Shook, Rick Lodge.
Top Row: Manager Tom DiMaggio, Chris Cocker, Ron Borrego, Rich Gonzales, Coach Bob Bruno.
2nd Row: Billy Rochford, Jan Matthews, Bob Rosey, Ernie Torres.
Fron Row: Sal Francis, Mike Rushanap, Gary Whittaker, Richard Shook, Rick Lodge.
1966 Monterey Little League - Rasmussen & Moody
Top Row: Manager Dave Diaz.
3rd Row: Coach Vic Santora, Curtis Richmond, Mark Russo, Vince Cefalu, Coach Harry Ferrante.
2nd Row: Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler, Kim Johnson, Wally Sena, Gary Bearden.
Front Row: Randy Sena, Gilbert Souza, Batboy Mike Baroni, Doug Nail. Missing: Mike Moore.
Top Row: Manager Dave Diaz.
3rd Row: Coach Vic Santora, Curtis Richmond, Mark Russo, Vince Cefalu, Coach Harry Ferrante.
2nd Row: Sal Diaz, Greg Stickler, Kim Johnson, Wally Sena, Gary Bearden.
Front Row: Randy Sena, Gilbert Souza, Batboy Mike Baroni, Doug Nail. Missing: Mike Moore.
1966 Monterey Little League - C.W.A.
Top Row: Coach Larry Colburn, Mark Albert, Bill Augusta, Ted Esaki, Neno Martino, Manager Don Howard.
2nd Row: Gary Colburn, John Holmes, Barry Albert, Greg Moseley, Nelson Maurer.
Front Row: Robbie Fischer, Dorne Colburn, Robbie Howard, Dany Alber, Steve Catron, Chris Catron.
Top Row: Coach Larry Colburn, Mark Albert, Bill Augusta, Ted Esaki, Neno Martino, Manager Don Howard.
2nd Row: Gary Colburn, John Holmes, Barry Albert, Greg Moseley, Nelson Maurer.
Front Row: Robbie Fischer, Dorne Colburn, Robbie Howard, Dany Alber, Steve Catron, Chris Catron.
1966 Monterey Little League - Lombardo Golf Shop
Top Row: Coach Dave Young, Scott Lemon, Manager Paul Green, Larry Burkett, John Severson, Coach Frank Silva.
2nd Row: Carl Diedrickson, John Honda, Chuck Clifton, Hal Pusatari.
Front Row: Donald Shook, Don Neff, Ken Neff, James Shook, Jim Speir.
Top Row: Coach Dave Young, Scott Lemon, Manager Paul Green, Larry Burkett, John Severson, Coach Frank Silva.
2nd Row: Carl Diedrickson, John Honda, Chuck Clifton, Hal Pusatari.
Front Row: Donald Shook, Don Neff, Ken Neff, James Shook, Jim Speir.
1966 Monterey Little League - Elks
Top Row: Coach Ky Miyamoto, Bob Blakely, Dennis Vilcone, Jerry Hiserman, Paul Dubrasich, Manager Tom Muniz.
2nd Row: Hugh Thurston, Tim Muniz, Mark Hubbard, Tommy Muniz, Jeff Akard.
Front Row: Dan Maxwell, Bob Maxwell, Luther Baroni, Batboy Matty Muniz, Roy Pina.
Top Row: Coach Ky Miyamoto, Bob Blakely, Dennis Vilcone, Jerry Hiserman, Paul Dubrasich, Manager Tom Muniz.
2nd Row: Hugh Thurston, Tim Muniz, Mark Hubbard, Tommy Muniz, Jeff Akard.
Front Row: Dan Maxwell, Bob Maxwell, Luther Baroni, Batboy Matty Muniz, Roy Pina.
1967 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
1967 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
1967 Monterey Little League - Del Monte
Back Row: Coach Vito Bommarito.
3rd Row: Skip Crump, Jeff Kennedy, Joe Ciolino, John Sakino, Jim Vance.
2nd Row: Jim Ramthun, Don Black, Joe Bommarito, Ray Luce, Robert Games.
1st Row: Brian Beadles, Batboy Mark Kennedy, Jefe Luce. Missing: Buddy Kimbrough, Manager Dom Mineo.
3rd Row: Skip Crump, Jeff Kennedy, Joe Ciolino, John Sakino, Jim Vance.
2nd Row: Jim Ramthun, Don Black, Joe Bommarito, Ray Luce, Robert Games.
1st Row: Brian Beadles, Batboy Mark Kennedy, Jefe Luce. Missing: Buddy Kimbrough, Manager Dom Mineo.
1967 Monterey Little League - Saunders Mortgages
Back Row: Coach Tom Incaviglia, Larry Seyferth, Tony Lucido, Brian Crosby, Frank Mercurio, Frank Lucido, Manager Frank Mercurio.
3rd Row: Tony Incaviglia, Henry Saunders, R. Beattie.
2nd Row: Greg Chappel, Danny Mercurio, Mike Messinger, Larry Busby.
1st Row: Bayboy Horace Mercurio. Missing: Coach Frank Lucido, Bob Pira.
3rd Row: Tony Incaviglia, Henry Saunders, R. Beattie.
2nd Row: Greg Chappel, Danny Mercurio, Mike Messinger, Larry Busby.
1st Row: Bayboy Horace Mercurio. Missing: Coach Frank Lucido, Bob Pira.
1967 Monterey Little League - Kiwanis
Back Row: Coach Chester HIgashi, Manager Pete Lucido, Coach Carl Merlo.
3rd Row: Larry Lewis, Antonio Balesteri, Brian Hicks, Steve Shook, Roark Craven.
1st Row: Barney Strauss, David Young, Batboy Harold Yamamura, Batboy Danny Lewis, Mike Merlo.
3rd Row: Larry Lewis, Antonio Balesteri, Brian Hicks, Steve Shook, Roark Craven.
1st Row: Barney Strauss, David Young, Batboy Harold Yamamura, Batboy Danny Lewis, Mike Merlo.
1967 Monterey Little League - Rotary
Back Row: Coach Silva, Coach Jack Harris, Coach Avila.
3rd Row: B. Walters, M. Avila, Paul O'Donovan, Greg "Gig" Harris, S. Wheat.
2nd Row: S. Larson, M. Marron, Doug Garnero, Bob Ivers, Jim Flagg.
1st Row: K. O'Donovan, M. Silva, Batboy Mike Avila, Batboy S. Avila.
3rd Row: B. Walters, M. Avila, Paul O'Donovan, Greg "Gig" Harris, S. Wheat.
2nd Row: S. Larson, M. Marron, Doug Garnero, Bob Ivers, Jim Flagg.
1st Row: K. O'Donovan, M. Silva, Batboy Mike Avila, Batboy S. Avila.
1967 Monterey Little League - Optimists
Back Row: Coach R. D'Acquisto, Manager Joe Russo, Coach J. Aliotti.
3rd Row: John LaSalla, Don D'Acquisto, P. Sawford.
2nd Row: K. Lewis, Steve Soares, B. Phelps, Tom Storelli, Paul Mitchell.
1st Row: A. Davi, Dave Russo, J. Aliotti, P. Balesteri, J. Mead. Missing: Bill Cameron.
3rd Row: John LaSalla, Don D'Acquisto, P. Sawford.
2nd Row: K. Lewis, Steve Soares, B. Phelps, Tom Storelli, Paul Mitchell.
1st Row: A. Davi, Dave Russo, J. Aliotti, P. Balesteri, J. Mead. Missing: Bill Cameron.
1967 Monterey Little League - Larkin
Back Row: Manager Pete Nakasako, J. Noto, Mark Brown, Joe Portuando, Coach Jack Corn.
2nd Row: Ray Cardinale, Jeff Bennett, Spencer Nakasako, Danny Monar.
1st Row: Jerry Brown, Tim Rivera, Batboy Joe Cardinale, Tom Rye, Frank Corn.
2nd Row: Ray Cardinale, Jeff Bennett, Spencer Nakasako, Danny Monar.
1st Row: Jerry Brown, Tim Rivera, Batboy Joe Cardinale, Tom Rye, Frank Corn.
1967 Monterey Little League - Wester Motors
Back Row: Coach Stoney Bruno, Manager Frank Rombi, Coach Bert Colletto.
3rd Row: Vince Lucido, Mike Nelson, Vince Cardinale, Joe Rombi, Pepe Cardinale.
2nd Row: Mark Pelley, Meith Nakamura, Mike McHenry, John Szody, Robbie Neece, Frank Bruno.
1st Row: Mark St. Laurence, Batboy Frankie Rombi, Batboy Mike Aldrete, Vince Riso.
3rd Row: Vince Lucido, Mike Nelson, Vince Cardinale, Joe Rombi, Pepe Cardinale.
2nd Row: Mark Pelley, Meith Nakamura, Mike McHenry, John Szody, Robbie Neece, Frank Bruno.
1st Row: Mark St. Laurence, Batboy Frankie Rombi, Batboy Mike Aldrete, Vince Riso.
1967 Monterey Little League - Maylans Mens Wear
Back Row: Coach Tony Moltiwi, Manger Jim Russo.
3rd Row: David Andrews, Chris Smith, Larry Ward, Coach Pete Calabrese.
2nd Row: Jesse Paredes, Mike Smith, Byron Jackson, Mike Sciouchetti, Anthony Poltini.
1st Row: Batboy Steve Moltini, Jeff Lynn, Mascot Mike Lucido, Mike Firstman, Junior Dacit, Mike Calabrese.
3rd Row: David Andrews, Chris Smith, Larry Ward, Coach Pete Calabrese.
2nd Row: Jesse Paredes, Mike Smith, Byron Jackson, Mike Sciouchetti, Anthony Poltini.
1st Row: Batboy Steve Moltini, Jeff Lynn, Mascot Mike Lucido, Mike Firstman, Junior Dacit, Mike Calabrese.
1967 Monterey Little League - Monterey Peninsula Herald
Back Row: Coach Fred Forrest, Jim Blakely, Steve Gerdes, Steve Burdick, Tim Tannehill, Scott Hawes, Manager Kelly Kageyama.
2nd Row: Wynn Kageyama, Ben Norwood, Steve Gunnels, Allan Andrews, Carmelo Patania.
1st Row: Chuck Della Sala, Batboy Bob Tannehill, Don Blakely, Kelly Robinson. Missing: Coach Steve Rios.
2nd Row: Wynn Kageyama, Ben Norwood, Steve Gunnels, Allan Andrews, Carmelo Patania.
1st Row: Chuck Della Sala, Batboy Bob Tannehill, Don Blakely, Kelly Robinson. Missing: Coach Steve Rios.
1967 Monterey Little League - American Legion Post 41
Back Row: Manager John Lupo, Sal Francis, Coach Jack Riso, Jan Matthews, Chris Cocker, Coach Pete Riso.
2nd Row: Gary Whitaker, Richard Andante, Richard Attebury, Michael Tilly.
1st Row: Richard Shook, Batboy Billy Riso, Batboy Mitch Matthews, Jerry Bradford, John Lee. Missing: Peter Giroux, Michael Ruskamp.
2nd Row: Gary Whitaker, Richard Andante, Richard Attebury, Michael Tilly.
1st Row: Richard Shook, Batboy Billy Riso, Batboy Mitch Matthews, Jerry Bradford, John Lee. Missing: Peter Giroux, Michael Ruskamp.
1967 Monterey Little League - Rasmussen & Moody
Back Row: Coach Ted Ursino, Manager Mike Baroni Sr.
3rd Row: Dave Summers, Doug Nail, Mike Moore, Kim Johnson.
2nd Row: Erick Olinger, Gilbert Souza, Mike Baroni Jr., Randy Sena, Gary Beardon.
1st Row: Roy Nail, Sid McNichol, David Page, Frank Macera.
3rd Row: Dave Summers, Doug Nail, Mike Moore, Kim Johnson.
2nd Row: Erick Olinger, Gilbert Souza, Mike Baroni Jr., Randy Sena, Gary Beardon.
1st Row: Roy Nail, Sid McNichol, David Page, Frank Macera.
1967 Monterey Little League - Elks
Back Row: Coach H. Hanezowski, Paul Dubrasich, Mike Colburn, Tim Muniz, Dennis Vilcone, Manager Swede Maxwell.
2nd Row: Hugh Thurston, Don Slocomb, Danny Maxwell, Sal DeMaria, Bob Maxwell.
1st Row: Ramiro Garza, Robert Garza, Batboy Mike Maxwell, Joe Cricchio, Steve Nadolski.
2nd Row: Hugh Thurston, Don Slocomb, Danny Maxwell, Sal DeMaria, Bob Maxwell.
1st Row: Ramiro Garza, Robert Garza, Batboy Mike Maxwell, Joe Cricchio, Steve Nadolski.
1967 Monterey Little League - C.W.A.
Back Row: Coach Howard McHugh, Manager Don Howard.
3rd Row: Ken Ehrmann, John Holmes, Neno Martino, Mark Albert.
2nd Row: Robbie Fisher, Gary Colburn, Danny Albert, Kurt Bush.
1st Row: Dorne Colburn, Jerry Wilson-Chowder, Mike Colburn, Danny Albert, Robbie Howard.
3rd Row: Ken Ehrmann, John Holmes, Neno Martino, Mark Albert.
2nd Row: Robbie Fisher, Gary Colburn, Danny Albert, Kurt Bush.
1st Row: Dorne Colburn, Jerry Wilson-Chowder, Mike Colburn, Danny Albert, Robbie Howard.
1967 Monterey Little League - Lombardo Golf Shop
Back Row: Manager Bob Caro, Mike Cummins, Paul Green, Ed Spears, Dan Diedrickson.
2nd Row: Rod Riddleburger, Pete Schelenz, Tracy Ushon, Jim Spears, Sam Balesteri.
1st Row: Larry Carol, Dow Carol, Batboy Steve Carol, Don Honda, Hal Pusateri.
2nd Row: Rod Riddleburger, Pete Schelenz, Tracy Ushon, Jim Spears, Sam Balesteri.
1st Row: Larry Carol, Dow Carol, Batboy Steve Carol, Don Honda, Hal Pusateri.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to those who have contributed to this site so far: Robert Stanton, Jeanne Stanton, Don Davison, Mark Smith, Denis Simard, Joan Chapin, Kyle Wyatt, Martin Bradley, Marla Martin Anderson, Debbie Langdon Bradford, Lilly Hespen Menezes, Alan Herren, Mike Welch, Mary Jane Porter Perna, Susan Turner Pohlmann, Mark Bibler, Joe Cutrufelli, Jeff Sumida, Alice Valdez Gerschler, Jon Wren, Duke Quinones, Susie Rochon Henderson, Pat Duffy, Gerald Armstrong, Carl Becker, Dennis Taylor, Mike Ventimiglia, Jack Frost, Steve Martin, Tom Russo Sr., Chuck Della Sala, Mel Hagio, Rick Hattori, Randall Harris, Eddie Van Houtte, Pat Hathaway, Victor Henry and Dennis Copeland. We expect to be hearing from others soon!
Special thanks to those who have contributed to this site so far: Robert Stanton, Jeanne Stanton, Don Davison, Mark Smith, Denis Simard, Joan Chapin, Kyle Wyatt, Martin Bradley, Marla Martin Anderson, Debbie Langdon Bradford, Lilly Hespen Menezes, Alan Herren, Mike Welch, Mary Jane Porter Perna, Susan Turner Pohlmann, Mark Bibler, Joe Cutrufelli, Jeff Sumida, Alice Valdez Gerschler, Jon Wren, Duke Quinones, Susie Rochon Henderson, Pat Duffy, Gerald Armstrong, Carl Becker, Dennis Taylor, Mike Ventimiglia, Jack Frost, Steve Martin, Tom Russo Sr., Chuck Della Sala, Mel Hagio, Rick Hattori, Randall Harris, Eddie Van Houtte, Pat Hathaway, Victor Henry and Dennis Copeland. We expect to be hearing from others soon!
Monterey Little League Park - (Peter J. Ferrante Park)
Garden & Palo Verde - Monterey, California
Garden & Palo Verde - Monterey, California
Monterey Little League Park - (Peter J. Ferrante Park)
Garden & Palo Verde - Monterey, California
Garden & Palo Verde - Monterey, California
Jacks Park Baseball Field
Franklin, Adams, Pearl & Figueroa Streets - Monterey, California
Franklin, Adams, Pearl & Figueroa Streets - Monterey, California
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Monterey Athletic Park (later Jacks Park) - Photo from 1922
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Monterey Athletic Park (later Jacks Park) - Photo from 1922
Above 1922 photo is from the book:
Monterey Peninsula's Sporting Heritage
by John W. (Jack) Frost
Published in 2007
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #: 978-0-7385-5589-8
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2007933018
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928.)
Monterey Peninsula's Sporting Heritage
by John W. (Jack) Frost
Published in 2007
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #: 978-0-7385-5589-8
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2007933018
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928.)
Jacks Park / Monterey Athletic Park Aerial View - 1950
Jacks Park / Monterey Athletic Park Aerial View - 1950
Here is a 1950 aerial photo of Jacks Park, with its wooden 7000-person capacity bleachers built in 1928, along with the massive PG&E natural gas tanks in the background.
The Jacks Park bleachers expansion project was done "on spec" in 1928 by the City of Monterey in hopes of attracting the San Francisco Seals minor league team. Monterey was to be the Seals' "spring training headquarters." The bleachers were completed in 1928, just in time for the 1929 stock market crash that threw the country into the Great Depression followed by World War II.
How did such a large project get built with City funds in 1928, when Monterey's population at the time was only 9150 people? Well, remember that it was the "roaring 20's" and in that era baseball was experiencing its "golden age." Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and the the Yankees "Murderers Row" were constantly in the news. Baseball was "America's national pastime" and was growing rapidly in popularity. Every city had active local baseball programs. The minor league San Francisco Seals were the closest professional baseball organization to Monterey from the 20's until the later 50's and the Seals had a lot of Monterey fans, many of which were local movers and shakers with professional and college baseball backgrounds themselves. One of the movers and shakers was legendary professional player and San Francisco native Lefty O'Doul. O'Doul was an active golfer on Monterey Peninsula courses and and was a presence in the local community. He was undoubtedly influential with the City of Monterey.
As it turned out, after the ballpark expansion was completed, the anticipated spring training arrangement with the San Francisco Seals never materialized. Monterey ended up with a huge-capacity ballpark that was well used by local baseball programs but never attracted any minor league teams and large crowds as was the original intent.
The huge wooden bleachers were finally torn down in 1954. And the unsightly massive gas tanks, which had ceased operations in 1928, were also finally dismantled in the late 50's. ~ DM
The Jacks Park bleachers expansion project was done "on spec" in 1928 by the City of Monterey in hopes of attracting the San Francisco Seals minor league team. Monterey was to be the Seals' "spring training headquarters." The bleachers were completed in 1928, just in time for the 1929 stock market crash that threw the country into the Great Depression followed by World War II.
How did such a large project get built with City funds in 1928, when Monterey's population at the time was only 9150 people? Well, remember that it was the "roaring 20's" and in that era baseball was experiencing its "golden age." Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and the the Yankees "Murderers Row" were constantly in the news. Baseball was "America's national pastime" and was growing rapidly in popularity. Every city had active local baseball programs. The minor league San Francisco Seals were the closest professional baseball organization to Monterey from the 20's until the later 50's and the Seals had a lot of Monterey fans, many of which were local movers and shakers with professional and college baseball backgrounds themselves. One of the movers and shakers was legendary professional player and San Francisco native Lefty O'Doul. O'Doul was an active golfer on Monterey Peninsula courses and and was a presence in the local community. He was undoubtedly influential with the City of Monterey.
As it turned out, after the ballpark expansion was completed, the anticipated spring training arrangement with the San Francisco Seals never materialized. Monterey ended up with a huge-capacity ballpark that was well used by local baseball programs but never attracted any minor league teams and large crowds as was the original intent.
The huge wooden bleachers were finally torn down in 1954. And the unsightly massive gas tanks, which had ceased operations in 1928, were also finally dismantled in the late 50's. ~ DM
(Above 1950 photo is from the book:)
Italians of the Monterey Peninsula
by Mike Ventimiglia
Published in 2015
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #978-1-4761-3306-7
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2014949021
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928. The original photo is archived in the California Historic Room at the Monterey Library.)
Italians of the Monterey Peninsula
by Mike Ventimiglia
Published in 2015
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #978-1-4761-3306-7
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2014949021
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928. The original photo is archived in the California Historic Room at the Monterey Library.)
Monterey Athletic Park / Jacks Park - 1944
Above is photo of Monterey Athletic Park - later re-named Jacks Park, circa 1944. Note the 7000-person capacity wood bleachers! It was an ambitiously large ballpark which turned out to be "too big" for the needs of Monterey. But those bleachers stood for over twenty-five years!
Pictured here is Jack Frost, whose father, local civic leader Charlie Frost (along with his wife Mrs. Dorothy Hare Frost, who helped make team uniforms by hand!) was instrumental in creating, sponsoring and managing a number of youth baseball teams in Monterey in the 1930's, 1940's and early 1950's. Charlie Frost donated money for equipment and uniforms and even donated his business "gasoline allocation" during WWII to enable his players to travel to play against teams in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area. So his earlier teams and the "Frost Bombers" teams (first formed in 1942) existed way before Monterey Little League, Babe Ruth, Bronco, Pony or any other organized local baseball organizations!
(And Charlie's son Jack Frost himself went on to become a nationally-ranked champion tennis player who played Wimbledon and was on the US Davis Cup Team.)
So thank you Charlie Frost! You got the ball rolling! (Many more Monterey sports photos and stories are in Jack Frost's excellent book, referenced below.)
Pictured here is Jack Frost, whose father, local civic leader Charlie Frost (along with his wife Mrs. Dorothy Hare Frost, who helped make team uniforms by hand!) was instrumental in creating, sponsoring and managing a number of youth baseball teams in Monterey in the 1930's, 1940's and early 1950's. Charlie Frost donated money for equipment and uniforms and even donated his business "gasoline allocation" during WWII to enable his players to travel to play against teams in San Francisco and other parts of the Bay Area. So his earlier teams and the "Frost Bombers" teams (first formed in 1942) existed way before Monterey Little League, Babe Ruth, Bronco, Pony or any other organized local baseball organizations!
(And Charlie's son Jack Frost himself went on to become a nationally-ranked champion tennis player who played Wimbledon and was on the US Davis Cup Team.)
So thank you Charlie Frost! You got the ball rolling! (Many more Monterey sports photos and stories are in Jack Frost's excellent book, referenced below.)
Monterey Athletic Park / Jacks Park - 1944
Above 1944 photo is from the book:
Monterey Peninsula's Sporting Heritage
by John W. (Jack) Frost
Published in 2007
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #: 978-0-7385-5589-8
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2007933018
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928.)
Monterey Peninsula's Sporting Heritage
by John W. (Jack) Frost
Published in 2007
Arcadia Publishing ISBN #: 978-0-7385-5589-8
Library of Congress Catalogue #: 2007933018
(At the time of this photo, the park's name was "Monterey Athletic Park." The City of Monterey later changed the name to "Jacks Park" sometime in the 1950's. The land had been donated by Mary Jacks Thomas and the David Jacks Estate in 1928.)
Jacks Park Baseball Field
Franklin, Adams, Pearl & Figueroa Streets - Monterey, California
Franklin, Adams, Pearl & Figueroa Streets - Monterey, California
Pacific Grove High School Baseball Field
Sunset Drive & Forest Avenue - Pacific Grove, California
Sunset Drive & Forest Avenue - Pacific Grove, California
Pacific Grove High School Baseball Field
Sunset Drive & Forest Avenue - Pacific Grove, California
Sunset Drive & Forest Avenue - Pacific Grove, California
Walter Colton Jr. High Baseball Field
Mar Vista Drive & Toda Vista - Monterey, California
Mar Vista Drive & Toda Vista - Monterey, California
Walter Colton Jr. High Baseball Field
Mar Vista Drive & Toda Vista - Monterey, California
Mar Vista Drive & Toda Vista - Monterey, California
Monterey High School Baseball Field
Pacific Street & Logan Lane - Monterey, California
Pacific Street & Logan Lane - Monterey, California
Monterey High School Baseball Field
Pacific Street & Logan Lane - Monterey, California
Pacific Street & Logan Lane - Monterey, California
Peter J. Aldrete Ballfield / Via Paraiso Park
Via Paraiso, Via Gayuba & Herrmann Drive - Monterey, California
Via Paraiso, Via Gayuba & Herrmann Drive - Monterey, California
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Peter J. Aldrete Ballfield / Via Paraiso Park
Via Paraiso, Via Gayuba & Herrmann Drive - Monterey, California
Via Paraiso, Via Gayuba & Herrmann Drive - Monterey, California
"LITTLE LEAGUE:
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
"LITTLE LEAGUE:
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
A CONTRIBUTION TO THE AMERICAN COMMUNITY"
This great "Vision Statement" is on the inside cover of the 1957 Monterey Little League Yearbook.
1964 LITTLE LEAGUE SEASON
*** ALL-STARS ***
*** 1964 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS - MONTEREY LITTLE LEAGUE ***
*** 1964 AMERICAN LEAGUE ALL-STARS ***
Top Row: Curtis Monar (Ed Williams), Derek Morris (Herald), Sal Rombi (Schulken), Bob Stanton (Saunders), Joe Solis (Schulken), John Pira (Saunders).
Middle Row: Louie Banka (Schulken), Mike Cardinalli (Rotary), Mark Smith (Optimists), Tim DiMaggio (Schulken), Mark Riso (Optimists), Dave Evans (Rotary).
Bottom Row: Alan Martin (Herald), Mike Muniz (Elks), Robert Mehlert (Collins), Danny Dent (Ed Williams), Manager Frank "Stoney" Bruno (Schulken), Sal Costanza (Ed Williams).
Middle Row: Louie Banka (Schulken), Mike Cardinalli (Rotary), Mark Smith (Optimists), Tim DiMaggio (Schulken), Mark Riso (Optimists), Dave Evans (Rotary).
Bottom Row: Alan Martin (Herald), Mike Muniz (Elks), Robert Mehlert (Collins), Danny Dent (Ed Williams), Manager Frank "Stoney" Bruno (Schulken), Sal Costanza (Ed Williams).
YOUTUBE VIDEO CLIPS + PHOTOS OF ALL-STAR GAMES
The Monterey American League All-Stars defeated the National League team 3-games-to-1 in a best-of-five tournament at Monterey Little League Park in July of 1964. Game scores were 13-2, 7-0, 3-4, and 8-3. (Newspaper articles from the all-star games are in the "Clippings" section of this site.)
The "still" photos below were "extracted" from a recently-converted "Super 8" film of the Monterey Little League All-Star Tournament. The YouTube video is below also.
Special thanks to Mark Smith for providing the film and arranging for the conversion to DVD. And thanks also to Mark's parents Mr. & Mrs. Wilson Smith for making the great effort in doing the filming quite a long time ago!
Note that there was very limited all-star footage to begin with - a total of about 4 minutes! In the extracted "still" photos, we made every effort to show all members of our American League team who appear in the footage. And many National League players are still unidentified; please email me if you can provide any names. ~DM
The "still" photos below were "extracted" from a recently-converted "Super 8" film of the Monterey Little League All-Star Tournament. The YouTube video is below also.
Special thanks to Mark Smith for providing the film and arranging for the conversion to DVD. And thanks also to Mark's parents Mr. & Mrs. Wilson Smith for making the great effort in doing the filming quite a long time ago!
Note that there was very limited all-star footage to begin with - a total of about 4 minutes! In the extracted "still" photos, we made every effort to show all members of our American League team who appear in the footage. And many National League players are still unidentified; please email me if you can provide any names. ~DM
Also, the song "Curve Ball" is written and performed by Robert Stanton, a member of our American League All-Star team and 1964 American League Home Run Champ!
(NOTE: the video below has embedded captions identifying all the players and what is happening on the field. The captions can be viewed while using the browser on a Mac or PC or Chromebook, but captions may not appear on Android or IOS mobile devices even in "desktop" viewing mode. So best to view the video on a desktop computer!)
(Click arrows above and below to view video as well as hear the music.)
"Curve Ball"
A Song Written & Performed by Robert Stanton
A Song Written & Performed by Robert Stanton
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Life can change in the blink of an eye
It can wipe you out You’re never sure you can take it Until you start to see a way out Sometimes you gotta scream You’ve gotta scream and shout Cause when life throws you a curve ball It takes you by surprise You gotta swing for the home run Cause you never know until you try Sometimes it’s a hit Sometimes it’s a strike You think you’ve got all the answers You’ve got it all figured out Just when you least expect it You find yourself down for the count You can’t believe How hard you hit the ground Cause when life throws you a curve ball It takes you by surprise |
You gotta swing with all of your might
To smash your fears down to size You do what it takes For you to survive SOLO Cause when life throws you a curve ball It takes you by surprise You gotta swing from deep down inside Step up to the plate, take it in stride Trust your heart And open it wide When life throws you a curve ball It all becomes such a blur When life throws you a curve ball You feel it rattle your nerves When life throws you When life throws you a curve When life throws you a curve When life throws you a curve When life throws you a curve ball |
Robert Stanton - Pitcher; Curtis Monar - Shortstop
Derek Morris (#8) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; Ichiro "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire
(L to R): Derek Morris - Shortstop (handing ball to Curtis Monar); Curtis Monar - Pitcher; John PIra - Catcher; Sal Rombi - Centerfielder; Robert Stanton - 2nd Baseman.
Derek Morris (#8) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; Unidentified - Centerfielder (Baserunner John Pira - not shown - is advancing to 3rd from 2nd base on a wild pitch/passed ball).
(L to R) Louie Banka - 3rd Baseman; Derek Morris - Shortstop; John PIra - Catcher; Curtis Monar - Pitcher; Bob Stanton - 2nd Baseman; Sal Rombi - Centerfielder; Joe Solis - 1st Baseman; Batter (#13) - Unidentified
John Pira - Runner on 3rd Base who just advanced on wild pitch/passed ball; Bob Howell - 3rd Baseman; Bob Stanton (#15) - On Deck.
Sal Rombi (#12) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman
Curtis Monar - Pitcher; Ral Rombi - Centerfielder, Bob Stanton, 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire; Batter - Unidentified
Bob Stanton (#15) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; Ichiro Miyagawa - Umpire
Louie Banka (#13) - Baserunner - stealing 2nd after hitting a hard single to right field. David Evans (#6) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman; Other fielders - Unidentified
Louie Banka (#13) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire
Mark Smith (#4) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - Second Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire
Sal Rombi (#12) scores on Louie Banka (#13) (not in photo) single. "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire; John Casas - Catcher; First Baseman - Unidentified
Robert Stanton (#15) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire; John Casas - Catcher
Mark Riso (#1) - Baserunner; John Casas - Catcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman
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Sal Costanza (#14) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman
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(L to R): Louie Banka - 3rd Baseman; Derek Morris - Shortstop; John PIra - Catcher; Curtis Monar - Pitcher, Bob Stanton - 2nd baseman; Sal Rombi - Centerfielder
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Mark Smith (#4) - Batter
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Bob Stanton (#15) - Baserunner - crosses home plate. John Casas - Catcher; "Ichi" Miyagwa - Umpire
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Mark Riso (#1) - Batter - watches his high foul ball sail over and behind backstop. Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman, "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire.
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Mark Smith (#4) - Batter
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Curtis Monar (#1) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire
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Curtis Monar - Pitcher; Sal Rombi - Centerfielder; Bob Stanton - 2nd Baseman; Batter - Unidentified; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire; John Casas - Catcher; Batter - Unidentified
Derek Morris (#8) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Miyagawa - Umpire
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Bob Stanton - Pitcher
Bob Stanton - Pitcher
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David Evans (#6) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman; Ichiro Mayagawa - Umpire
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Sal Costanza (#14) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Mike Marotta - 2nd Baseman; "Ichi" Mayagawa, Umpire
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Curtis Monar (#1) - Baserunner
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Derek Morris (#8) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman
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Bob Stanton (#15) - Baserunner; First Baseman (fielding ball) - Unidentified; 2B - Mike Marotta
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Louie Banka (#13) - Baserunner stealing 2nd; Eddie Torres - Pitcher, Mike Marotta - 2B; John Casas - C
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Curtis Monar (#1) - Batter; John Casas - Catcher
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Mark Smith (#4) - Baserunner; John Casas - Catcher
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Robert Stanton (#15) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman
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Derek Morris (#8) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - 2nd Baseman
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Mark Riso (#1) - Batter; Eddie Torres - Pitcher; Jeff Sumida - Second Baseman
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Sal Rombi (#12) - Batter; Catcher - John Casas
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Mark Smith (#4) is "walked" on four straight "high and inside" pitches. (Pitcher unknown).
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American League All-Stars throw gloves up in air in celebration after winning the best-of-five series 3-to-1. Identified Players in the video clip are: Sal Rombi (#12), Curtis Monar (#1), Sal Costanza (#14), Derek Morris (#8), Mark Smith (#4), and Bob Stanton (#15). Others in photo: Mike Cardinalli, Dave Evans, Joe Solis, John Pira, Robert Mehlert, Louie Banka, Tim Dimaggio, Danny Dent, Alan Martin, Mark Riso, Mike Muniz, and Manager Stoney Bruno.
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(L to R): Louie Banka - 3rd Baseman; Derek Morris - Shortstop; John Pira - Catcher; Curtis Monar - Pitcher; Bob Stanton - 2nd Baseman; Sal Rombi - Centerfielder; Joe Solis - 1st Baseman; National League Batter (#13) - Unidentified
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URL address of above YouTube clips:
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The Monterey American League All-Stars defeated the National League team 3-games-to-1 in a best-of-five tournament at Monterey Little League Park. Game scores were 13-2, 7-0, 3-4, and 8-3.(Newspaper articles from the all-star games are in the "Clippings" section of this site and some embedded YouTube video footage and still pictures from the games are above.)
Unfortunately, that was the first and last all-star tournament for our 1964 American League team. We did not go on to play in the next-level sanctioned Northern California regional L.L. tournament - which ultimately leads to the World Series in Williamsport, PA. This is because Monterey Little League (and many other L.L. organizations all over the country) had dropped out of the national L.L. organization a year earlier.
The reason: a dispute over excessive fees and other expenses imposed by national - many called it a "money grab." The last straw: when national required the purchase of their own liability insurance at a ridiculous markup, rather than a blanket policy obtained in the free market as had been done in the past. The actions by national angered many local L.L. operations including Monterey and led to defections all over the country. For some local L.L operations the break lasted a few years and some came back. For some others (including Monterey) it was a permanent break that resulted in the creation of new local/regional youth baseball programs. (Carmel had already broken away from national and created their own excellent youth baseball program many years earlier, for example.)
More about the relationship with the national Little League organization in the "Stories, Comments & Opinions" section at the end of this page.
Unfortunately, that was the first and last all-star tournament for our 1964 American League team. We did not go on to play in the next-level sanctioned Northern California regional L.L. tournament - which ultimately leads to the World Series in Williamsport, PA. This is because Monterey Little League (and many other L.L. organizations all over the country) had dropped out of the national L.L. organization a year earlier.
The reason: a dispute over excessive fees and other expenses imposed by national - many called it a "money grab." The last straw: when national required the purchase of their own liability insurance at a ridiculous markup, rather than a blanket policy obtained in the free market as had been done in the past. The actions by national angered many local L.L. operations including Monterey and led to defections all over the country. For some local L.L operations the break lasted a few years and some came back. For some others (including Monterey) it was a permanent break that resulted in the creation of new local/regional youth baseball programs. (Carmel had already broken away from national and created their own excellent youth baseball program many years earlier, for example.)
More about the relationship with the national Little League organization in the "Stories, Comments & Opinions" section at the end of this page.
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STORIES, COMMENTS & OPINIONS
Do You Have The 1963 Monterey Little League Yearbook?
We're looking for a copy of the 1963 Little League Yearbook with team photos for that season. Please contact me if you have a copy!
We're looking for a copy of the 1963 Little League Yearbook with team photos for that season. Please contact me if you have a copy!
Email: derekcmorris (at) gmail (dot) com
Ages of Little League Players - Then and Now
Note that when I started playing Little League in the early and mid 1960's, the ages of Little Leaguers was 9-12. That is a huge age range when you think about it. Nine-year-olds typically in third grade often batting against pitchers as old as twelve who were in sixth grade. Of course at the time we all just thought this was normal and just dealt with it and didn't know the difference; though I do remember at age 9 feeling a little intimidated by some of the bigger 12 year old pitchers. But I held my own and again didn't even think there was any "alternative." But this mixing of such a large age range of players did not work for everybody.
These days, the common practice is to split up the ages. For Little League, they divide kids into "Minors" (age 9-10) and "Majors" (age 11-12). I was surprised to see that the national Little League organization, based in Williamsport, PA, did not officially adopt "Major and Minors" until 1994! But it seems like this had been practiced unofficially in many regions prior to 1994; Carmel had a majors and minors programs for a number of years before I started playing Little League in 1961. And at that time Carmel was not part of the official national Little League organization.*
The kids I knew from Carmel back then seemed to like the majors-minors arrangement; many younger players got to play more. And fences were even a little shorter at the Carmel Little League Minor League ballfields.
Fast forward to the present: today Carmel Youth Baseball (the name of the overall program) really has an extensive range of leagues, starting at Shetland T-ball at age 4 up to Pony (age 14) and Colt (age 15-16). For younger players there are "coach pitch" leagues and all kinds of combinations depending on age and skill level and even "effective grade level." It is an excellent volunteer-based program, with reasonable fees charged to participants. There seem to be separate leagues for practically every year of a player's age, with the ability for players to try out to join leagues above their age level through a specific "skills assessment" test conducted by the division director where the kid wants to try out. My impression is that Carmel continues to have the best overall youth baseball program in the Monterey Peninsula.
This seems to be proven by the results: for a relatively smaller population, Carmel has always produced some good baseball players. For example, Carmel High's baseball team, with a student body size of maybe 650, is always very competitive with Monterey High's team, with a student population maybe three times larger. The competitiveness of the Carmel players over the years I believe is related to a combination of strong talent, good coaches, and a system that allowed all kids to get more playing experience at a younger age. With the system that Carmel has had in place since the early 60's, there continue to be simply more playing opportunities for younger players and better chances for skill development
*Addendum: I recently received clarification on the age issue from a friend whose father was a coach in that era. Beginning in 1964 only kids 10 years old and above were drafted. There were still occasional exceptions made for talented 9-year-olds who had an older brother on the same team - but in general beginning in 1964, Monterey Little League was limited to 10, 11 and 12 year olds. There were no try-outs or drafts involving 9 year olds beginning in 1964, though as mentioned above a few good players were able to get on teams directly if 1) they were very good players and 2) if they had an older brother already on the same team who was also strong player.
I also recently found out that in 1964 our Herald team had seven 10-year-olds, five 11-year-olds, and only three 12-year-olds. It is surprising that we still finished with a .500 record (7 wins/ 7 losses) in 1964 given how young the team was. For example, in 1964, league chamption Schulkens had at least six and maybe seven 12-year-olds that season.
So the final season of Monterey Little League where 9 year olds were officially drafted and comprised about one-fourth of every team was 1963.
Note that when I started playing Little League in the early and mid 1960's, the ages of Little Leaguers was 9-12. That is a huge age range when you think about it. Nine-year-olds typically in third grade often batting against pitchers as old as twelve who were in sixth grade. Of course at the time we all just thought this was normal and just dealt with it and didn't know the difference; though I do remember at age 9 feeling a little intimidated by some of the bigger 12 year old pitchers. But I held my own and again didn't even think there was any "alternative." But this mixing of such a large age range of players did not work for everybody.
These days, the common practice is to split up the ages. For Little League, they divide kids into "Minors" (age 9-10) and "Majors" (age 11-12). I was surprised to see that the national Little League organization, based in Williamsport, PA, did not officially adopt "Major and Minors" until 1994! But it seems like this had been practiced unofficially in many regions prior to 1994; Carmel had a majors and minors programs for a number of years before I started playing Little League in 1961. And at that time Carmel was not part of the official national Little League organization.*
The kids I knew from Carmel back then seemed to like the majors-minors arrangement; many younger players got to play more. And fences were even a little shorter at the Carmel Little League Minor League ballfields.
Fast forward to the present: today Carmel Youth Baseball (the name of the overall program) really has an extensive range of leagues, starting at Shetland T-ball at age 4 up to Pony (age 14) and Colt (age 15-16). For younger players there are "coach pitch" leagues and all kinds of combinations depending on age and skill level and even "effective grade level." It is an excellent volunteer-based program, with reasonable fees charged to participants. There seem to be separate leagues for practically every year of a player's age, with the ability for players to try out to join leagues above their age level through a specific "skills assessment" test conducted by the division director where the kid wants to try out. My impression is that Carmel continues to have the best overall youth baseball program in the Monterey Peninsula.
This seems to be proven by the results: for a relatively smaller population, Carmel has always produced some good baseball players. For example, Carmel High's baseball team, with a student body size of maybe 650, is always very competitive with Monterey High's team, with a student population maybe three times larger. The competitiveness of the Carmel players over the years I believe is related to a combination of strong talent, good coaches, and a system that allowed all kids to get more playing experience at a younger age. With the system that Carmel has had in place since the early 60's, there continue to be simply more playing opportunities for younger players and better chances for skill development
*Addendum: I recently received clarification on the age issue from a friend whose father was a coach in that era. Beginning in 1964 only kids 10 years old and above were drafted. There were still occasional exceptions made for talented 9-year-olds who had an older brother on the same team - but in general beginning in 1964, Monterey Little League was limited to 10, 11 and 12 year olds. There were no try-outs or drafts involving 9 year olds beginning in 1964, though as mentioned above a few good players were able to get on teams directly if 1) they were very good players and 2) if they had an older brother already on the same team who was also strong player.
I also recently found out that in 1964 our Herald team had seven 10-year-olds, five 11-year-olds, and only three 12-year-olds. It is surprising that we still finished with a .500 record (7 wins/ 7 losses) in 1964 given how young the team was. For example, in 1964, league chamption Schulkens had at least six and maybe seven 12-year-olds that season.
So the final season of Monterey Little League where 9 year olds were officially drafted and comprised about one-fourth of every team was 1963.
Joe Cutrufelli & Tom Segali - Started Little League At Age 8!
Speaking of "ages of players:" I recently learned from my Herald teammate Joe "Zeppi" Cutrufelli that he had begun playing Little League baseball at age 8 in 1959 when he was in second grade! Monterey Little League was growing and was adding two expansion teams (Herald and Rotary) and players were needed. Because Zep was very good to begin with, during tryouts they made an exception for his younger age. So he was an 8-year-old in second grade, sometimes facing 12-year-old pitchers in sixth grade. Zeppi was a year older than I, so when I started Little League at the typical age of 9, he was already beginning his third season as a veteran 10-year-old Little Leaguer!
I also just found out from Tom Segali (who played for Granite Construction in the National League and who was a childhood friend of Joe Cutrufelli and who also was a very good player) that Tom also started Little League at age 8 in 1959 while in second grade! So both Tom and Joe as 8-year-olds were facing 12-year-old pitchers! ~ DM
Speaking of "ages of players:" I recently learned from my Herald teammate Joe "Zeppi" Cutrufelli that he had begun playing Little League baseball at age 8 in 1959 when he was in second grade! Monterey Little League was growing and was adding two expansion teams (Herald and Rotary) and players were needed. Because Zep was very good to begin with, during tryouts they made an exception for his younger age. So he was an 8-year-old in second grade, sometimes facing 12-year-old pitchers in sixth grade. Zeppi was a year older than I, so when I started Little League at the typical age of 9, he was already beginning his third season as a veteran 10-year-old Little Leaguer!
I also just found out from Tom Segali (who played for Granite Construction in the National League and who was a childhood friend of Joe Cutrufelli and who also was a very good player) that Tom also started Little League at age 8 in 1959 while in second grade! So both Tom and Joe as 8-year-olds were facing 12-year-old pitchers! ~ DM
*Carmel & Monterey Little Leagues
And The National Little League Organization
Note that back when we were playing, Carmel Little League was separate from Monterey Little League and was already not affiliated with the national L.L. organization. The Monterey Little League also ended their affiliation with the national organization during my time as a player. The reasons: basically money. The Williamsport headquarters was requiring that local programs purchase high-priced liability insurance from national rather than buy insurance locally; there were also other fees demanded by national that were unjustified; basically it as a "money-grab." As the story goes, many Little League operations all over the country, including Monterey, rebelled and simply dropped out. I remember hearing about this issue a lot back then because my father was president of Monterey Little League at the time.
"Dropping out" of the national Little League organization didn't really affect us players much, with one exception: our 12-year-old all-star team, which I was on, wasn't able to go on and play in any "sanctioned" Little League World Series qualifying tournaments. Our Monterey American League team did have a local tournament with the sister Monterey National League All-Star team, and we won "3-games-to-1" in a "best-of-5" series. But that was it.
There was a tournament proposed between the Monterey Little League and Seaside; the proposed tournament was even mentioned in the local newspaper. But it never happened and I don't know why. Maybe Seaside was still at the time officially part of the national L.L. organization and they were only permitted to play in sanctioned tournaments? Eventually somebody who played for Seaside back then will read this and clarify what happened. If Seaside's team did play in any sanctioned tournaments, I don't recall hearing or reading about it. And we can confirm that Seaside did not go on to win in Williamsport, PA! Per Wikipedia, in 1964 Staten Island, NY won the U.S. title and then beat Monterrey, Mexico 4-0 to win the World Series. ~DM
And The National Little League Organization
Note that back when we were playing, Carmel Little League was separate from Monterey Little League and was already not affiliated with the national L.L. organization. The Monterey Little League also ended their affiliation with the national organization during my time as a player. The reasons: basically money. The Williamsport headquarters was requiring that local programs purchase high-priced liability insurance from national rather than buy insurance locally; there were also other fees demanded by national that were unjustified; basically it as a "money-grab." As the story goes, many Little League operations all over the country, including Monterey, rebelled and simply dropped out. I remember hearing about this issue a lot back then because my father was president of Monterey Little League at the time.
"Dropping out" of the national Little League organization didn't really affect us players much, with one exception: our 12-year-old all-star team, which I was on, wasn't able to go on and play in any "sanctioned" Little League World Series qualifying tournaments. Our Monterey American League team did have a local tournament with the sister Monterey National League All-Star team, and we won "3-games-to-1" in a "best-of-5" series. But that was it.
There was a tournament proposed between the Monterey Little League and Seaside; the proposed tournament was even mentioned in the local newspaper. But it never happened and I don't know why. Maybe Seaside was still at the time officially part of the national L.L. organization and they were only permitted to play in sanctioned tournaments? Eventually somebody who played for Seaside back then will read this and clarify what happened. If Seaside's team did play in any sanctioned tournaments, I don't recall hearing or reading about it. And we can confirm that Seaside did not go on to win in Williamsport, PA! Per Wikipedia, in 1964 Staten Island, NY won the U.S. title and then beat Monterrey, Mexico 4-0 to win the World Series. ~DM
Looking for 1964 Monterey Little League
All-Star Team Photos
I'm trying to locate team photos of the 1964 Monterey American and National Little League All-Star teams or any game photos/videos of the American vs National Leagues all-star tournament at Monterey Little League Park.
Email: derekcmorris [at] gmail [dot] com
All-Star Team Photos
I'm trying to locate team photos of the 1964 Monterey American and National Little League All-Star teams or any game photos/videos of the American vs National Leagues all-star tournament at Monterey Little League Park.
Email: derekcmorris [at] gmail [dot] com
Tribute Planned For Ichi Miyagawa
To Be Honored With A Plaque Placed
At Monterey's Little League Park
(Peter J. Ferrante Park)
Update: Sept 26, 2017
We are pleased to announce that the fundraising site for the tribute plaque honoring beloved Little League Umpire Ichi Miyagawa is now active and accepting donations.
Here is the link:
gofundme.com/ichi-tribute
Our fundraising campaign is for $1800, which covers all costs relating to plaque design, fabrication, gofundme.com fundraising fees and related expenses.
The plaque will be 17" x 17" with a single-beveled border, in the exact size and shape of a regulation "home plate" used in all organized baseball, from Little League to the Major Leagues.
A plaque dedication ceremony and celebration will take place on a Saturday afternoon in May at Peter J. Ferrante Park in Monterey prior to a regularly scheduled PONY league game. Date and details "to be announced" soon, when the PONY season schedule is finalized.
We believe that the home plate theme is a perfect way to honor Ichi. The plaque will be mounted on the building wall facing the ballfield behind the backstop, in alignment with the pitcher's mound, second base, and the home plate where Ichi volunteered as an umpire for eighteen years!
We are very excited about the engraved bronze technology being used here, which is perfect for our application. This process is best when including photos and a significant amount of text. Engraved plaques can accomodate more text than cast plaques and the photos and textures tend to be sharper. The fonts used here are 'sans serif' to improve readability, plus engraved fonts visually "pop" better than text on cast plaques. The sophisticated CNC machining process used for bronze engraving allows for more subtle gradations of textures, and after CNC machining the plaque is hand rubbed to better bring out the relief design. The result is that the entire plaque has "relief" and "texture," from Ichi's "in action" photo, to the crosshatch in the baseball diamond infield, to the home plate and batter's box, to the radiating stripes of the outfield.
(Note: A recent problem within this website creation software does not enable us to create new clickable links to websites and email addresses. We are expecting the host to soon get this resolved. Meanwhile, simply copy and paste gofundme.com/ichi-tribute into your browser window.)
________________________________
Update: Sept. 14, 2017
The City of Monterey Monterey Parks & Recreation Department, after months of discussion, recently gave us formal written approval for all elements of the plaque design, wording, and size. The City has also generously offered to install the plaque at its own expense and to repaint the entire building prior to installation. This is the first tribute plaque ever to be approved for the ballpark since it was completed in 1955.
Costs of plaque fabrication itself must be privately funded and that is why we are putting together an online fundraising site to be announced soon. We have worked closely with the plaque designer / fabricator / foundry which was recommended by the City of Monterey. Together we've created a unique plaque design that incorporates state-of-the-art bronze engraving technology.
Thanks to the Monterey community leaders and Little League alumni who were supporters of the final plaque design which was presented to the City of Monterey. Signatories of the final submission letter included former Monterey Mayors Chuck Della Sala and Dan Albert, former Monterey Councilman Frank Sollecito, former Monterey Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mike Marotta Jr., former Monterey PONY President Joe DeRuosi, former Del Rey Oaks Councilman Mike Ventimiglia, former Monterey Little League Coach Eddie Leonard, Mel Hagio, Rick and Ellie Hattori, Steve Guerra, Robert and Annamarie Della Sala Stanton, and Derek Morris.
Special thanks also to City of Monterey / Parks & Recreation staff Cindy Vierra, Kim Bui-Burton, and Louie Marcuzzo.
________________________________
Update: June 30, 2017
We are close to receiving final approvals from the City of Monterey. We continue to receive endorsements from many Monterey community leaders, Monterey Little League alumni who knew and loved Ichi, as well as support and a contribution pledge from Monterey PONY Baseball/Softball, Inc., Monterey's primary youth baseball organization.
At this point we are finalizing the bid for plaque fabrication and putting together a final project budget. The fundraising phase is expected to begin hopefully in August and will take place via an established dedicated online fundraising service which will be selected soon. Stay tuned!
________________________________
Date Posted: April 4, 2017
In late 2016, Robert Stanton and I began a campaign to honor Ichi Miyagawa. Ichi had a strong positive impact on us as Little Leaguers. Many others who played under Ichi are strongly supporting this idea.
A plaque placed in a highly visible location at the Little League Ballpark is what we are working on, and we are making progress in terms of formal City of Monterey approvals. The plaque will be placed at a prominent location at the park, or perhaps on the "food concession" building itself. It would be highly visible there and would be a fitting location since Ichi was so famous for the $1 worth candy as a reward that he gave out to home run sluggers for eighteen years!
A lot of great men in Monterey have been involved with organizing and coaching and supervising Monterey youth baseball over the years. But nobody more directly or more positively influenced so many Little League players at the Monterey Little League Park than Ichi Miyagawa. He was one of the founders of the Monterey Little League that began in 1952. He was a local legend, known and respected and beloved by everybody. He was a positive influence and role model for the estimated 2500-3000 LIttle Leaguers he umpired for eighteen years. And as the 1999 article by Dennis Taylor of The Herald reports, he volunteered his services for free, never being paid anything for his umpiring work.
And also, as the Dennis Taylor 2002 Herald obituary implies, city officials were at the time apparently considering naming the park after Ichi. But the momentum and political will somehow will did not develop to make this happen. Well, now is the time to finally honor Ichi Miyagawa!
So the campaign has begun. Talk it up among your friends who were in Little League and who knew and loved Ichi. There are still an estimated 2500-3000 "Monterey Little League Alumni" out there who would probably all agree that there should be some sort of a significant, long-overdue tribute given to Ichi Miyagawa.
We are also collecting personal stories and remembrances of Little League alumni who played under Ichi between 1955 and 1972. We'll be adding their stories to this site and to our gofundme.com fundraising page when it goes "live" sometime around July of 2017. If you have an Ichi story or any comments or suggestions, please email us at:
[email protected]
[email protected]
~ Derek Morris
more info at: www.derekmo.net/ichi
To Be Honored With A Plaque Placed
At Monterey's Little League Park
(Peter J. Ferrante Park)
Update: Sept 26, 2017
We are pleased to announce that the fundraising site for the tribute plaque honoring beloved Little League Umpire Ichi Miyagawa is now active and accepting donations.
Here is the link:
gofundme.com/ichi-tribute
Our fundraising campaign is for $1800, which covers all costs relating to plaque design, fabrication, gofundme.com fundraising fees and related expenses.
The plaque will be 17" x 17" with a single-beveled border, in the exact size and shape of a regulation "home plate" used in all organized baseball, from Little League to the Major Leagues.
A plaque dedication ceremony and celebration will take place on a Saturday afternoon in May at Peter J. Ferrante Park in Monterey prior to a regularly scheduled PONY league game. Date and details "to be announced" soon, when the PONY season schedule is finalized.
We believe that the home plate theme is a perfect way to honor Ichi. The plaque will be mounted on the building wall facing the ballfield behind the backstop, in alignment with the pitcher's mound, second base, and the home plate where Ichi volunteered as an umpire for eighteen years!
We are very excited about the engraved bronze technology being used here, which is perfect for our application. This process is best when including photos and a significant amount of text. Engraved plaques can accomodate more text than cast plaques and the photos and textures tend to be sharper. The fonts used here are 'sans serif' to improve readability, plus engraved fonts visually "pop" better than text on cast plaques. The sophisticated CNC machining process used for bronze engraving allows for more subtle gradations of textures, and after CNC machining the plaque is hand rubbed to better bring out the relief design. The result is that the entire plaque has "relief" and "texture," from Ichi's "in action" photo, to the crosshatch in the baseball diamond infield, to the home plate and batter's box, to the radiating stripes of the outfield.
(Note: A recent problem within this website creation software does not enable us to create new clickable links to websites and email addresses. We are expecting the host to soon get this resolved. Meanwhile, simply copy and paste gofundme.com/ichi-tribute into your browser window.)
________________________________
Update: Sept. 14, 2017
The City of Monterey Monterey Parks & Recreation Department, after months of discussion, recently gave us formal written approval for all elements of the plaque design, wording, and size. The City has also generously offered to install the plaque at its own expense and to repaint the entire building prior to installation. This is the first tribute plaque ever to be approved for the ballpark since it was completed in 1955.
Costs of plaque fabrication itself must be privately funded and that is why we are putting together an online fundraising site to be announced soon. We have worked closely with the plaque designer / fabricator / foundry which was recommended by the City of Monterey. Together we've created a unique plaque design that incorporates state-of-the-art bronze engraving technology.
Thanks to the Monterey community leaders and Little League alumni who were supporters of the final plaque design which was presented to the City of Monterey. Signatories of the final submission letter included former Monterey Mayors Chuck Della Sala and Dan Albert, former Monterey Councilman Frank Sollecito, former Monterey Parks and Recreation Commissioner Mike Marotta Jr., former Monterey PONY President Joe DeRuosi, former Del Rey Oaks Councilman Mike Ventimiglia, former Monterey Little League Coach Eddie Leonard, Mel Hagio, Rick and Ellie Hattori, Steve Guerra, Robert and Annamarie Della Sala Stanton, and Derek Morris.
Special thanks also to City of Monterey / Parks & Recreation staff Cindy Vierra, Kim Bui-Burton, and Louie Marcuzzo.
________________________________
Update: June 30, 2017
We are close to receiving final approvals from the City of Monterey. We continue to receive endorsements from many Monterey community leaders, Monterey Little League alumni who knew and loved Ichi, as well as support and a contribution pledge from Monterey PONY Baseball/Softball, Inc., Monterey's primary youth baseball organization.
At this point we are finalizing the bid for plaque fabrication and putting together a final project budget. The fundraising phase is expected to begin hopefully in August and will take place via an established dedicated online fundraising service which will be selected soon. Stay tuned!
________________________________
Date Posted: April 4, 2017
In late 2016, Robert Stanton and I began a campaign to honor Ichi Miyagawa. Ichi had a strong positive impact on us as Little Leaguers. Many others who played under Ichi are strongly supporting this idea.
A plaque placed in a highly visible location at the Little League Ballpark is what we are working on, and we are making progress in terms of formal City of Monterey approvals. The plaque will be placed at a prominent location at the park, or perhaps on the "food concession" building itself. It would be highly visible there and would be a fitting location since Ichi was so famous for the $1 worth candy as a reward that he gave out to home run sluggers for eighteen years!
A lot of great men in Monterey have been involved with organizing and coaching and supervising Monterey youth baseball over the years. But nobody more directly or more positively influenced so many Little League players at the Monterey Little League Park than Ichi Miyagawa. He was one of the founders of the Monterey Little League that began in 1952. He was a local legend, known and respected and beloved by everybody. He was a positive influence and role model for the estimated 2500-3000 LIttle Leaguers he umpired for eighteen years. And as the 1999 article by Dennis Taylor of The Herald reports, he volunteered his services for free, never being paid anything for his umpiring work.
And also, as the Dennis Taylor 2002 Herald obituary implies, city officials were at the time apparently considering naming the park after Ichi. But the momentum and political will somehow will did not develop to make this happen. Well, now is the time to finally honor Ichi Miyagawa!
So the campaign has begun. Talk it up among your friends who were in Little League and who knew and loved Ichi. There are still an estimated 2500-3000 "Monterey Little League Alumni" out there who would probably all agree that there should be some sort of a significant, long-overdue tribute given to Ichi Miyagawa.
We are also collecting personal stories and remembrances of Little League alumni who played under Ichi between 1955 and 1972. We'll be adding their stories to this site and to our gofundme.com fundraising page when it goes "live" sometime around July of 2017. If you have an Ichi story or any comments or suggestions, please email us at:
[email protected]
[email protected]
~ Derek Morris
more info at: www.derekmo.net/ichi
"Ichi" - The Umpire
by Derek Morris
Ichiro “Ichi" Miyagawa was the legendary umpire at the Monterey Little League Park for eighteen continuous seasons, from the mid 1950’s to early 1970’s. His involvement with Monterey Little League actually spanned more than twenty years; he was part of the group that founded the Monterey Little League program, which completed its first season in 1952.
Ichi immediately became the “head umpire” at Monterey Little League Park (now Peter J. Ferrante Park) when construction was completed in 1955. He remained there as head umpire through the 1972 season. It is estimated that Ichi had direct interaction with between 2500 and 3000 individual Little League players over that eighteen-year period.
Every youth baseball player, along with their parents and coaches, knew of Ichi. He was an institution and was inextricably tied to that park. The Little League Park was his domain - it really felt like it was "Ichi’s Field" - the Little League Park and Ichi were inseparable in everyone’s minds. If you had a game scheduled at Little League Park, you looked forward to knowing that Ichi was going to be your umpire! Little Leaguers loved playing at that park because it was a great facility and especially because it was Ichi’s field. He was respected and beloved by all.
Ichiro Henry Miyagawa was born in the US but moved to Japan at age six and grew up in Japan before moving back to America with his family at age sixteen. He spoke with a thick accent but his communications were clear and authoritative. He dressed so "professionally" that he reminded everybody of an umpire right out of the major leagues, always wearing a well-tailored official black "umpire suit," a black chest protector and a black facemask. When the facemask was off between innings and before and after games, he often had on a pair of dark black sunglasses. This "look" added to his mystique.
He was a positive influence, a role model, and helped elevate everybody’s game. Ichi raised the level of our game just by looking and acting like a professional umpire. We all tried a little bit harder because of Ichi. And although Ichi was serious about his job of umpiring, he always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a positive, encouraging vibe to him. He was an authoritative and commanding presence who ran a tight ship, while at the same time subtly encouraging and bringing out the best in the players.
He obviously had a baseball playing background, because when he brought out a fresh baseball during a game he didn't just hand it to the catcher to be lobbed to the pitcher. He threw it directly to the pitcher, and that ball was thrown hard and with precision accuracy in a smooth overhand motion - a perfect strike every time. A pitcher had to be on his toes just to catch one of Ichi's throws! This was perhaps Ichi's brief chance to subtly let everybody know that yes, he too could play the game!
And Ichi as an umpire was excellent - by far the best umpire in the league. His calls of "balls and strikes" were accurate and consistent and he had a strong sense of each batter's strike zone. I don't recall ever seeing him make a bad decision on a close play. And his decision was final. Neither players nor coaches ever successfully argued a call with Ichi!
Now Ichi did have a reputation among some coaches (as we found out very recently) for sometimes "leveling the playing field" and "expanding the strike zone" on teams that were way ahead in a particular game. Ichi wanted every player to enjoy the game. His intent was honorable; he wanted to make all the kids feel good about themselves and to avoid any team feeling that they had really lost badly and embarrassingly. I never saw this happen myself, but if Ichi indeed occasionally did “level the playing field” it was subtle and selective and rare. But some coaches from that era do believe this did take place occasionally.
Another example of Ichi's "protective attitude" towards kids: if a “wild pitch” was headed towards a batter, Ichi would shout out "Waatch Eet!" in a strong Japanese accent to get the batter to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Ichi would even occasionally reach out to block a pitch that was about to hit a kid if the kid could not get out of the way in time. And Ichi would occasionally pause briefly between pitches to correct a young inexperienced player’s stance if Ichi felt the kid needed a little bit of instruction. Everybody accepted this and knew Ichi was just trying to help.
One last important point that was mentioned in a Herald feature article about him in 1999: Ichi Miyagawa reportedly never accepted any payment from Monterey Little League for his umpiring over those eighteen years. He was donating his time!
To us kids, Ichi was a bit of a mystery man. Nobody seemed to know what he did for his day job; not that we gave it much thought since we were just kids. I do recall rumors that he taught Japanese language somewhere like the Defense Language Institute or Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies or Fort Ord, but none of us kids knew. As we found out recently, Ichi actually worked for the Pebble Beach Company / Del Monte Properties as a gardener/landscaper for 35 years. He held a black belt in karate and taught martial arts for many years to the Monterey Police Department. Another interesting element that added to Ichi's mystique: he rode a large and very well-equipped black Honda motorcycle that was as dark as his umpire's uniform and he wore a black leather jacket. He parked the motorcycle not on the street, but in an out-of-the-way section of the ballpark grounds, away from cars, people, and from errant foul balls. I can still remember seeing him "riding off into the sunset" after a game on that black motorcycle, dressed in that black leather jacket and wearing a black motorcycle helmet.
Of course the one thing that Ichi was legendary for was awarding $1 worth of candy to every slugger who hit a home run over the fence at the Monterey Little League Park! Everybody seemed to know about Ichi's $1 candy home run reward. And the reward was immediate! As soon as the home run hitter crossed home plate after taking the "home run trot" around the bases, Ichi would congratulate him and then gently grab his shoulder and point him towards the "snack shack" behind the home plate bleachers. Some home run hitters would go to the dugout with the intent of picking up the candy later, but most immediately headed straight towards the snack shack! And the nice lady operating the concession always seemed to know who had just hit the home run; Ichi "ran an account" there. And the concession stand lady always gave the home run hitter priority; other customers would have to wait while he hurriedly chose his candy so he could get back to the dugout while his team remained at bat.
(According to "inflation" calculation websites, in 2017 dollars, that $1 in 1964 would be equivalent to $7.79 today. A dollar's worth of candy perhaps did not buy as much in 1964 as $7.79 does today because sugar and high fructose corn syrup products overall do seem relatively "cheaper" now as is all food. But $1 worth of candy back then was still a lot of candy!)
Looking back, Ichi's one dollar's worth of candy for home runs was probably the most direct, tangible and immediate type of validation that we ever received for outstanding hitting performance in a game. Everybody knew about Ichi's $1 home run candy. It was an "edible trophy" and a reward that could be both "conspicuously consumed" and shared with teammates on the spot. It was an earned reward, though as fleeting and ephemeral as a dollar's worth of candy.
Ah, those were the days ... when sugar was innocent and fun and non-toxic and not a known cause of Type-2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome!
Ichi Henry Miyagawa was born in 1913 and passed away in 2002 at the age of 89. His 2002 obituary and a 1999 feature article, both written by Dennis Taylor of the Herald, are shown below. So looking back at that time period, in 1964, which for many of us was our final year of Little League, Ichi was 51 years old. This was a bit of a surprise because most of us kids then would have guessed that he was quite a bit younger, though we didn't really then have much of a concept of adult "ages." Ichi almost seemed like an "older brother." But at the time, Ichi was actually older than most of our parents!
Thank you Ichi! You helped make Little League an even more fun experience!
by Derek Morris
Ichiro “Ichi" Miyagawa was the legendary umpire at the Monterey Little League Park for eighteen continuous seasons, from the mid 1950’s to early 1970’s. His involvement with Monterey Little League actually spanned more than twenty years; he was part of the group that founded the Monterey Little League program, which completed its first season in 1952.
Ichi immediately became the “head umpire” at Monterey Little League Park (now Peter J. Ferrante Park) when construction was completed in 1955. He remained there as head umpire through the 1972 season. It is estimated that Ichi had direct interaction with between 2500 and 3000 individual Little League players over that eighteen-year period.
Every youth baseball player, along with their parents and coaches, knew of Ichi. He was an institution and was inextricably tied to that park. The Little League Park was his domain - it really felt like it was "Ichi’s Field" - the Little League Park and Ichi were inseparable in everyone’s minds. If you had a game scheduled at Little League Park, you looked forward to knowing that Ichi was going to be your umpire! Little Leaguers loved playing at that park because it was a great facility and especially because it was Ichi’s field. He was respected and beloved by all.
Ichiro Henry Miyagawa was born in the US but moved to Japan at age six and grew up in Japan before moving back to America with his family at age sixteen. He spoke with a thick accent but his communications were clear and authoritative. He dressed so "professionally" that he reminded everybody of an umpire right out of the major leagues, always wearing a well-tailored official black "umpire suit," a black chest protector and a black facemask. When the facemask was off between innings and before and after games, he often had on a pair of dark black sunglasses. This "look" added to his mystique.
He was a positive influence, a role model, and helped elevate everybody’s game. Ichi raised the level of our game just by looking and acting like a professional umpire. We all tried a little bit harder because of Ichi. And although Ichi was serious about his job of umpiring, he always seemed to have a twinkle in his eye and a positive, encouraging vibe to him. He was an authoritative and commanding presence who ran a tight ship, while at the same time subtly encouraging and bringing out the best in the players.
He obviously had a baseball playing background, because when he brought out a fresh baseball during a game he didn't just hand it to the catcher to be lobbed to the pitcher. He threw it directly to the pitcher, and that ball was thrown hard and with precision accuracy in a smooth overhand motion - a perfect strike every time. A pitcher had to be on his toes just to catch one of Ichi's throws! This was perhaps Ichi's brief chance to subtly let everybody know that yes, he too could play the game!
And Ichi as an umpire was excellent - by far the best umpire in the league. His calls of "balls and strikes" were accurate and consistent and he had a strong sense of each batter's strike zone. I don't recall ever seeing him make a bad decision on a close play. And his decision was final. Neither players nor coaches ever successfully argued a call with Ichi!
Now Ichi did have a reputation among some coaches (as we found out very recently) for sometimes "leveling the playing field" and "expanding the strike zone" on teams that were way ahead in a particular game. Ichi wanted every player to enjoy the game. His intent was honorable; he wanted to make all the kids feel good about themselves and to avoid any team feeling that they had really lost badly and embarrassingly. I never saw this happen myself, but if Ichi indeed occasionally did “level the playing field” it was subtle and selective and rare. But some coaches from that era do believe this did take place occasionally.
Another example of Ichi's "protective attitude" towards kids: if a “wild pitch” was headed towards a batter, Ichi would shout out "Waatch Eet!" in a strong Japanese accent to get the batter to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit. Ichi would even occasionally reach out to block a pitch that was about to hit a kid if the kid could not get out of the way in time. And Ichi would occasionally pause briefly between pitches to correct a young inexperienced player’s stance if Ichi felt the kid needed a little bit of instruction. Everybody accepted this and knew Ichi was just trying to help.
One last important point that was mentioned in a Herald feature article about him in 1999: Ichi Miyagawa reportedly never accepted any payment from Monterey Little League for his umpiring over those eighteen years. He was donating his time!
To us kids, Ichi was a bit of a mystery man. Nobody seemed to know what he did for his day job; not that we gave it much thought since we were just kids. I do recall rumors that he taught Japanese language somewhere like the Defense Language Institute or Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies or Fort Ord, but none of us kids knew. As we found out recently, Ichi actually worked for the Pebble Beach Company / Del Monte Properties as a gardener/landscaper for 35 years. He held a black belt in karate and taught martial arts for many years to the Monterey Police Department. Another interesting element that added to Ichi's mystique: he rode a large and very well-equipped black Honda motorcycle that was as dark as his umpire's uniform and he wore a black leather jacket. He parked the motorcycle not on the street, but in an out-of-the-way section of the ballpark grounds, away from cars, people, and from errant foul balls. I can still remember seeing him "riding off into the sunset" after a game on that black motorcycle, dressed in that black leather jacket and wearing a black motorcycle helmet.
Of course the one thing that Ichi was legendary for was awarding $1 worth of candy to every slugger who hit a home run over the fence at the Monterey Little League Park! Everybody seemed to know about Ichi's $1 candy home run reward. And the reward was immediate! As soon as the home run hitter crossed home plate after taking the "home run trot" around the bases, Ichi would congratulate him and then gently grab his shoulder and point him towards the "snack shack" behind the home plate bleachers. Some home run hitters would go to the dugout with the intent of picking up the candy later, but most immediately headed straight towards the snack shack! And the nice lady operating the concession always seemed to know who had just hit the home run; Ichi "ran an account" there. And the concession stand lady always gave the home run hitter priority; other customers would have to wait while he hurriedly chose his candy so he could get back to the dugout while his team remained at bat.
(According to "inflation" calculation websites, in 2017 dollars, that $1 in 1964 would be equivalent to $7.79 today. A dollar's worth of candy perhaps did not buy as much in 1964 as $7.79 does today because sugar and high fructose corn syrup products overall do seem relatively "cheaper" now as is all food. But $1 worth of candy back then was still a lot of candy!)
Looking back, Ichi's one dollar's worth of candy for home runs was probably the most direct, tangible and immediate type of validation that we ever received for outstanding hitting performance in a game. Everybody knew about Ichi's $1 home run candy. It was an "edible trophy" and a reward that could be both "conspicuously consumed" and shared with teammates on the spot. It was an earned reward, though as fleeting and ephemeral as a dollar's worth of candy.
Ah, those were the days ... when sugar was innocent and fun and non-toxic and not a known cause of Type-2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, obesity and metabolic syndrome!
Ichi Henry Miyagawa was born in 1913 and passed away in 2002 at the age of 89. His 2002 obituary and a 1999 feature article, both written by Dennis Taylor of the Herald, are shown below. So looking back at that time period, in 1964, which for many of us was our final year of Little League, Ichi was 51 years old. This was a bit of a surprise because most of us kids then would have guessed that he was quite a bit younger, though we didn't really then have much of a concept of adult "ages." Ichi almost seemed like an "older brother." But at the time, Ichi was actually older than most of our parents!
Thank you Ichi! You helped make Little League an even more fun experience!
Veteran Umpire "Ichi" Miyagawa Dies At 89
Written By Dennis Taylor
Monterey County Herald, Wednesday, November 20, 2002
When he rolled up at the ballpark on his Honda 250 motorcycle and pulled on his chest protector and mask, no one doubted who was in charge. Ichiro Henry Miyagawa - known to friends and acquaintances as "Ichi" - had a personality and presence. He was an umpire. In Monterey, he was the umpire.
Miyagawa was 89 when he died Friday at his Del Rey Oaks home. Three decades after he retired from umpiring, the Monterey youth baseball community has vivid memories of the man who affected so many lives.
"I used to get mad at him," veteran Monterey youth league coach Ben Omoto told The Herald in 1999. "If my team was leading by a lot of runs, he'd change the strike zone to the point that my guys would be striking out a lot, and their guys wouldn't. He'd try to even the score. And I'd say, "You can't do that to the kids!’"
Miyagawa had a standard response.
"Says who?" he would retort. “This isn't college or high school - this is Little League ... I am the boss. Now sit down and SHADDAP!"
"Ichi" had his own rulebook for baseball and for life. He wanted every team to enjoy the game. He wanted every player to have success. He wasn't shy about calling timeout to adjust the batting stance of a player who needed coaching. If a pitch sailed toward a batter, he would break from his umpire character and shout "Watchit!" He cared deeply about people, especially children.
"I was bedridden with polio for about six months when I was 10,” remembered Donnie Enea. “Ichi, who was my neighbor, brought (local barber) Mas Hagio to my house to give me a haircut."
When Enea balked at treatment for his polio, which included wrapping him in hot, wet blankets, Ichi took charge.
"I say, 'Oh, you don't wanna get well - don't wanna play baseball?’ " Miyagawa remembered in a 1999 interview. “ ‘You wanna play next year, put on a blanket.’"
Miyagawa was born Feb 14, 1913 in Portland, Ore. At age 6, he moved with his family to Japan, where he lived 10 years before moving back to the United States. He lived in Monterey County for 54 years.
He worked as a landscaper for the Pebble Beach Co. for 35 years. He was an avid bowler, and belonged to the Nisei, Nakayoshi and Mixed Senior bowling leagues. He was one of the founders of the Monterey Peninsula Little League, and was active in Little League baseball from 1955-72. The youth league ballpark in the Casa Verde area of Monterey is named Ichi's Ballpark in his honor.
Miyagawa held a black belt in martial arts and was a self-defense instructor for the Monterey Police Department for many years. He also was an active member of the Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple and was remembered for the elaborate costumes he wore to the Obon Festival on the Monterey Peninsula and in Salinas and Watsonville.
Miyagawa is survived by his wife of 34 years, Setsuko Miyagawa of Del Rey Oaks; two daughters, Susan Sako of Marina and Carol Lancaster of Seaside; three sons, Robert Mendez of Marina, Charles Mendez of Del Rey Oaks, and Del Brown of Seaside; a brother, Kiyoshi Miyagawa of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple. Paul Mortuary will handle the arrangements.
(By Dennis Taylor Monterey County Herald, Wednesday, November 20, 2002)
Written By Dennis Taylor
Monterey County Herald, Wednesday, November 20, 2002
When he rolled up at the ballpark on his Honda 250 motorcycle and pulled on his chest protector and mask, no one doubted who was in charge. Ichiro Henry Miyagawa - known to friends and acquaintances as "Ichi" - had a personality and presence. He was an umpire. In Monterey, he was the umpire.
Miyagawa was 89 when he died Friday at his Del Rey Oaks home. Three decades after he retired from umpiring, the Monterey youth baseball community has vivid memories of the man who affected so many lives.
"I used to get mad at him," veteran Monterey youth league coach Ben Omoto told The Herald in 1999. "If my team was leading by a lot of runs, he'd change the strike zone to the point that my guys would be striking out a lot, and their guys wouldn't. He'd try to even the score. And I'd say, "You can't do that to the kids!’"
Miyagawa had a standard response.
"Says who?" he would retort. “This isn't college or high school - this is Little League ... I am the boss. Now sit down and SHADDAP!"
"Ichi" had his own rulebook for baseball and for life. He wanted every team to enjoy the game. He wanted every player to have success. He wasn't shy about calling timeout to adjust the batting stance of a player who needed coaching. If a pitch sailed toward a batter, he would break from his umpire character and shout "Watchit!" He cared deeply about people, especially children.
"I was bedridden with polio for about six months when I was 10,” remembered Donnie Enea. “Ichi, who was my neighbor, brought (local barber) Mas Hagio to my house to give me a haircut."
When Enea balked at treatment for his polio, which included wrapping him in hot, wet blankets, Ichi took charge.
"I say, 'Oh, you don't wanna get well - don't wanna play baseball?’ " Miyagawa remembered in a 1999 interview. “ ‘You wanna play next year, put on a blanket.’"
Miyagawa was born Feb 14, 1913 in Portland, Ore. At age 6, he moved with his family to Japan, where he lived 10 years before moving back to the United States. He lived in Monterey County for 54 years.
He worked as a landscaper for the Pebble Beach Co. for 35 years. He was an avid bowler, and belonged to the Nisei, Nakayoshi and Mixed Senior bowling leagues. He was one of the founders of the Monterey Peninsula Little League, and was active in Little League baseball from 1955-72. The youth league ballpark in the Casa Verde area of Monterey is named Ichi's Ballpark in his honor.
Miyagawa held a black belt in martial arts and was a self-defense instructor for the Monterey Police Department for many years. He also was an active member of the Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple and was remembered for the elaborate costumes he wore to the Obon Festival on the Monterey Peninsula and in Salinas and Watsonville.
Miyagawa is survived by his wife of 34 years, Setsuko Miyagawa of Del Rey Oaks; two daughters, Susan Sako of Marina and Carol Lancaster of Seaside; three sons, Robert Mendez of Marina, Charles Mendez of Del Rey Oaks, and Del Brown of Seaside; a brother, Kiyoshi Miyagawa of Los Angeles; and two grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Monterey Peninsula Buddhist Temple. Paul Mortuary will handle the arrangements.
(By Dennis Taylor Monterey County Herald, Wednesday, November 20, 2002)
His Way
For 17 years, Ichiro “Ichi” Miyagawa wore black as a local umpire. But because of his unique spirit, Ichi was revered by kids like a hero in a white hat
Generous official will throw out first ball at Bronco Series
Written by Dennis Taylor, Monterey Herald, August 1, 1999
"Hey, ichi can you still reach home plate from the pitcher's mound?"
Seemed like a legitimate question to ask the 87-year-old man scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch on Friday, the second night of the Bronco League World Series at Monterey's Jacks Park.
But Ichiro Miyagawa’s eyes widened in surprise.
"Pitcher's mound!" he exclaimed in thickly accented English. “I throw from ... DEEP SHORTSTOP! You watch!"
The man who asked the question, Peter Casas, probably should've known better. One of his vivid childhood memories is the way Ichi, the home-plate umpire, would zip the ball back to the mound after a foul ball 30-some years ago.
Sssss — WHAP!
"He'd throw BB’s at you --- absolute bullets," Casas recollects. "It was always kind of scary for an 11- or 12-year-old pitcher. Everybody you talk to seems to have five or six memories of Ichi’s days as an umpire in Monterey -- who he was, how he handled the games — and that's definitely one of mine."
Those who played, coached or watched youth baseball in Monterey from 1955-72 remember Ichi almost before they remember anything else. They recall his quirks, his generosity, his command of virtually every situation. When Ichi was the plate ump, the rules and procedures were his. And every one was for the good of the game, for the good of the kids.
"I used to get mad at him," says veteran, Monterey youth league coach Ben Omoto. "If my team was leading by a lot of runs, he'd change the strike zone to the point that my guys would be striking out a lot and their guys wouldn’t. He'd try to even out the score. And I'd say, You can't do that to the kids!’"
Ichi did it anyway. He wanted both learns to enjoy the game. He wanted every player to have success.
“Two teams ... one black manager (Charles Drummond), one man - an Italian ... hot temper! What his name? Hmm … Bruno! "Stoney Bruno!" Ichi recollects. "Always fighting. One batter stand up like this. Ball here, bat swing here. No good."
Ichi remembers how he called time out and adjusted the player's stance. Drummond, he says, became annoyed.
"He said, 'You can't do that!' And I say, 'Says who? This isn't college or high school, this is Little League team. Over here, I am the boss. Now sit down and SHADDAP!'"
Bruno, now 64, says Ichi was the right man for the job at that time. Whatever he did was for the love of the game, the love of the kids. He went by the book, unless the book wasn't good for youth league ball.
"I don't know if he knew all the rules, but he knew the main rules. He'd call for the book when things got complicated”; Bruno recalls. "And he had a bigger strike zone than most umpires, which was right for Little League."
Ichi’s authoritarian approach normally ended any dispute. Coaches and fans rarely stayed on Ichi’s case for long, partly because he was also a commanding physical presence. And in an era when men occasionally "settled" their differences later, in the parking lot, Ichi, a black belt in both judo and karate, was more than willing
"One game, behind Navy School, trouble. One kid, third strike — called out,"' Ichi remembers. "Outside the fence, man hollered; and I said, ‘Shaddap! Who the umpire, you or me? Keep quiet!' But he won't keep quiet. So I say, 'After game, you wait. I want to talk to you.’“
The man waited, became belligerent and push came to shove — which was OK with Ichi.
— “I love fight — more than eat," he says. "I flip him. He stand up, I flip him again, say ‘Stay down.’ He stand up again — whap! whap! — two black eye. I don't see him five, six weeks."
Casas was a 7-year-old batboy the day Ichi gave the heave-ho to his father for arguing a call.
“Ichi ran him right out of the park,” Casas says. "He kicked him out of the game and my dad went and sat in the bleachers and started yelling from there. So Ichi kicked him out of the bleachers. Dad went outside the fence on the first-base side, and was yelling from there. Then Ichi stopped the game and wouldn't start it again until Dad left the whole area. My mother was so embarrassed.”
The kids marveled. They imitated his stance — way down low, with one leg stretched far behind him so he could call every pitch from a boy's perspective. And they impersonated his calls.
"On strikes, he'd yell, Steeeeeee! Casas says. "If a pitch was inside, he'd holler, Watchit! And after a third strike, it would be, Battasout!
Mostly, they remember how many ways he gave.
Casas recalls many a day when he waited on Prescott Street for a bus to take him to the ballpark. Suddenly, Ichi, dressed entirely in black, would pull over on his Honda 250 motorcycle and offer a ride. "And I’d hop on the back, holding my bat and glove, and off we'd go."
Ichi nods. "I give ride lots of kids," he says.
Home run hitters received 50 cents from Ichi as they crossed home plate; but the umpire eventually changed that policy to help the man who ran the snack shop, an ex-Brooklyn Dodger who, Ichi says, had fallen on hard times.
"When a kid hit a home run, he'd circle the bases and Ichi would say, `You wait right here,'” Casas remembers. "Then he'd go out the gate behind the backstop; cap with candy; come back onto the field and put all the candy into the kid's cap."
Donnie Enea, now 56, says he hit the first-ever regular season homer in 1955 at what now is called Peter J. Ferrante Park, and the umpire gave him more than candy. Ichi took him out for cheeseburgers. (By the way, Ichi never accepted a penny over the years for his work as an ump.)
But that was nothing.
"I was bedridden with polio for about six months when I was 10," Enea says. "Ichi, who was my neighbor, brought (local barber) Mas Hagio to my house to give me a haircut." The umpire did more than that. Enea was resisting treatment for his polio, part of which involved wrapping him in hot wet blankets. Ichi stopped by to help.
"I say, 'Oh, you don't wanna get well? Don't wanna play baseball?' He say, 'I don't like the blanket' I say, 'Your father and uncle ... tough Italians. You not tough — you little chicken ---! You wanna play next year, put on blanket.’ So I put the blanket on. Ten minutes later, another one. Couple of days later, he get up, get outta bed."
Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is how Ichi has maintained his own superb health beyond his mid-80’s. His stomach muscles are washboard-rigid: His handshake is a bone-cruncher. His energy is boundless.
Ichi, who lives in Del Rey Oaks with his wife of 22 years, Setsuko, credits judo and karate (he taught into his 60’s) for much of his conditioning, but he has other secrets.
"Walk," he says: "Bowl, three times a week, 16-pound ball. Fifteen, no good."
And, of course, there's his diet.
"Eat good … anything I like. Doctor ask, `Ichi, you still eating fat?' I say, 'I love fat!’ Fruits and vegetables, little bit -- tomato, lettuce, big scoop o' mayonnaise. V.0. on the rocks, but never get drunk. Fifty years of drinking, never drunk."
Ichi also plays catch once in a while with the neighbor kids just to keep his arm in shape for occasions like Friday night's ceremonial first pitch. Which, if Ichi gets his way, will be thrown from deep shortstop.
~ Written by Dennis Taylor, Monterey Herald, August 1, 1999
For 17 years, Ichiro “Ichi” Miyagawa wore black as a local umpire. But because of his unique spirit, Ichi was revered by kids like a hero in a white hat
Generous official will throw out first ball at Bronco Series
Written by Dennis Taylor, Monterey Herald, August 1, 1999
"Hey, ichi can you still reach home plate from the pitcher's mound?"
Seemed like a legitimate question to ask the 87-year-old man scheduled to throw the ceremonial first pitch on Friday, the second night of the Bronco League World Series at Monterey's Jacks Park.
But Ichiro Miyagawa’s eyes widened in surprise.
"Pitcher's mound!" he exclaimed in thickly accented English. “I throw from ... DEEP SHORTSTOP! You watch!"
The man who asked the question, Peter Casas, probably should've known better. One of his vivid childhood memories is the way Ichi, the home-plate umpire, would zip the ball back to the mound after a foul ball 30-some years ago.
Sssss — WHAP!
"He'd throw BB’s at you --- absolute bullets," Casas recollects. "It was always kind of scary for an 11- or 12-year-old pitcher. Everybody you talk to seems to have five or six memories of Ichi’s days as an umpire in Monterey -- who he was, how he handled the games — and that's definitely one of mine."
Those who played, coached or watched youth baseball in Monterey from 1955-72 remember Ichi almost before they remember anything else. They recall his quirks, his generosity, his command of virtually every situation. When Ichi was the plate ump, the rules and procedures were his. And every one was for the good of the game, for the good of the kids.
"I used to get mad at him," says veteran, Monterey youth league coach Ben Omoto. "If my team was leading by a lot of runs, he'd change the strike zone to the point that my guys would be striking out a lot and their guys wouldn’t. He'd try to even out the score. And I'd say, You can't do that to the kids!’"
Ichi did it anyway. He wanted both learns to enjoy the game. He wanted every player to have success.
“Two teams ... one black manager (Charles Drummond), one man - an Italian ... hot temper! What his name? Hmm … Bruno! "Stoney Bruno!" Ichi recollects. "Always fighting. One batter stand up like this. Ball here, bat swing here. No good."
Ichi remembers how he called time out and adjusted the player's stance. Drummond, he says, became annoyed.
"He said, 'You can't do that!' And I say, 'Says who? This isn't college or high school, this is Little League team. Over here, I am the boss. Now sit down and SHADDAP!'"
Bruno, now 64, says Ichi was the right man for the job at that time. Whatever he did was for the love of the game, the love of the kids. He went by the book, unless the book wasn't good for youth league ball.
"I don't know if he knew all the rules, but he knew the main rules. He'd call for the book when things got complicated”; Bruno recalls. "And he had a bigger strike zone than most umpires, which was right for Little League."
Ichi’s authoritarian approach normally ended any dispute. Coaches and fans rarely stayed on Ichi’s case for long, partly because he was also a commanding physical presence. And in an era when men occasionally "settled" their differences later, in the parking lot, Ichi, a black belt in both judo and karate, was more than willing
"One game, behind Navy School, trouble. One kid, third strike — called out,"' Ichi remembers. "Outside the fence, man hollered; and I said, ‘Shaddap! Who the umpire, you or me? Keep quiet!' But he won't keep quiet. So I say, 'After game, you wait. I want to talk to you.’“
The man waited, became belligerent and push came to shove — which was OK with Ichi.
— “I love fight — more than eat," he says. "I flip him. He stand up, I flip him again, say ‘Stay down.’ He stand up again — whap! whap! — two black eye. I don't see him five, six weeks."
Casas was a 7-year-old batboy the day Ichi gave the heave-ho to his father for arguing a call.
“Ichi ran him right out of the park,” Casas says. "He kicked him out of the game and my dad went and sat in the bleachers and started yelling from there. So Ichi kicked him out of the bleachers. Dad went outside the fence on the first-base side, and was yelling from there. Then Ichi stopped the game and wouldn't start it again until Dad left the whole area. My mother was so embarrassed.”
The kids marveled. They imitated his stance — way down low, with one leg stretched far behind him so he could call every pitch from a boy's perspective. And they impersonated his calls.
"On strikes, he'd yell, Steeeeeee! Casas says. "If a pitch was inside, he'd holler, Watchit! And after a third strike, it would be, Battasout!
Mostly, they remember how many ways he gave.
Casas recalls many a day when he waited on Prescott Street for a bus to take him to the ballpark. Suddenly, Ichi, dressed entirely in black, would pull over on his Honda 250 motorcycle and offer a ride. "And I’d hop on the back, holding my bat and glove, and off we'd go."
Ichi nods. "I give ride lots of kids," he says.
Home run hitters received 50 cents from Ichi as they crossed home plate; but the umpire eventually changed that policy to help the man who ran the snack shop, an ex-Brooklyn Dodger who, Ichi says, had fallen on hard times.
"When a kid hit a home run, he'd circle the bases and Ichi would say, `You wait right here,'” Casas remembers. "Then he'd go out the gate behind the backstop; cap with candy; come back onto the field and put all the candy into the kid's cap."
Donnie Enea, now 56, says he hit the first-ever regular season homer in 1955 at what now is called Peter J. Ferrante Park, and the umpire gave him more than candy. Ichi took him out for cheeseburgers. (By the way, Ichi never accepted a penny over the years for his work as an ump.)
But that was nothing.
"I was bedridden with polio for about six months when I was 10," Enea says. "Ichi, who was my neighbor, brought (local barber) Mas Hagio to my house to give me a haircut." The umpire did more than that. Enea was resisting treatment for his polio, part of which involved wrapping him in hot wet blankets. Ichi stopped by to help.
"I say, 'Oh, you don't wanna get well? Don't wanna play baseball?' He say, 'I don't like the blanket' I say, 'Your father and uncle ... tough Italians. You not tough — you little chicken ---! You wanna play next year, put on blanket.’ So I put the blanket on. Ten minutes later, another one. Couple of days later, he get up, get outta bed."
Perhaps the greatest mystery of all is how Ichi has maintained his own superb health beyond his mid-80’s. His stomach muscles are washboard-rigid: His handshake is a bone-cruncher. His energy is boundless.
Ichi, who lives in Del Rey Oaks with his wife of 22 years, Setsuko, credits judo and karate (he taught into his 60’s) for much of his conditioning, but he has other secrets.
"Walk," he says: "Bowl, three times a week, 16-pound ball. Fifteen, no good."
And, of course, there's his diet.
"Eat good … anything I like. Doctor ask, `Ichi, you still eating fat?' I say, 'I love fat!’ Fruits and vegetables, little bit -- tomato, lettuce, big scoop o' mayonnaise. V.0. on the rocks, but never get drunk. Fifty years of drinking, never drunk."
Ichi also plays catch once in a while with the neighbor kids just to keep his arm in shape for occasions like Friday night's ceremonial first pitch. Which, if Ichi gets his way, will be thrown from deep shortstop.
~ Written by Dennis Taylor, Monterey Herald, August 1, 1999
Monterey Little League Park vs. The Other Local Ballparks
Regarding the ballpark where Ichi umpired: note that back in the 1960's the outfield fence at the Monterey Little League Park was four feet high. This can be seen by some of the team photos here (such as American League's "Phinney's 707" 1961 team photo). And the outfield fence distance was a regulation (and still is) 200 feet from home place. Back then, it was actually possible to hit one "out of the park" ... and some of us did! Even while using wooden bats... that old-school traditional technology! But if you look at the present day pictures at that park, the fences are now 20-30 feet high!
What happened? Well, for one, the technology changed. There was a period in the late 80's-to-2011 where more and more powerful composite and metal bats were being developed and continued to be allowed in official Little League play. The result was that the balls traveled much farther and came off the bat much faster. (The composite bats were also always controversial because they can be a danger to the pitcher who might not have enough time to react to a ball hit back towards the mound.) At some point in the era of composite and metal bats, the official recommended Little League fence distance got extended from 200 to 225 feet. Of course, there was no room at this Monterey Little League park to actually extend the fence length, so they had to raise the fence height to deal with the more powerful bats!
And meanwhile, the neighborhood surrounding the Little League park over the years has also expanded up to the edges of the park; a "kiddie playground" was carved out of the space behind the left field fence and there are also now more cars parked in the neighborhood. So the park has had to become more "self-contained."
Then the technology "changed back." In 2011, the national Little League organization headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania finally decided to stop the "bat arms race" and reverted to a policy of requiring that all bats, regardless of construction, perform like regular wood bats based on certain established testing standards. Effectively metal and composite bats were banned for Little League unless they were designed and certified to perform exactly like wood bats. So today, the distance that Little League baseballs can potentially travel when hit by batters is about the same as it was "back in the old days." The official Little League fence distance is now again back at 200 feet. But those tall fences at the Monterey Little League Park remain. Today, I don't know what today constitutes a "home run" at Monterey Little League Park (I'm hoping to find out); presumably today the umps declare it a "home run" if the hit ball "clears" a certain height (?), like maybe 4-6 feet (?) at the super tall 20 to 30 foot high fence? I hope so; otherwise the high fences take some of the fun out of playing in an official size Little League ballpark!
I might note that of the four parks we played our games in, only the Monterey Little League Park was built to Little League standards and was truly a regulation-sized ballfield; it not only had the standard sized diamond as did all our fields (60 foot distance between bases and 45 feet from pitcher's mound to home plate), but it also had a regulation sized dirt infield and a regulation distance from home plate to where the infield ended and outfield grass started. And it had a pitcher's mound; none of the other parks had mounds or regulation sized infields. It just felt right to play at the Monterey Little League Park! And very importantly: it had regulation length outfield fences of 200 feet, with a standard 4-foot height. Plus the field was very well maintained by a good crew from the City of Monterey Parks and Recreation Dept. It wasn't just a big grass field to be occasionally mowed by some landscape crew working for a school district or contracted from the outside. So it really was special to play at that Little League park!
On the other hand, the other local ballparks were not so great. We still looked forward to all the games regardless, but the fields at Colton, Jacks Park, P.G. High, and Monterey High were all pretty lame in comparison. All the other parks at the time (some have improved since then) were either modified adult softball fields with unlimited length fences (Jacks Park), or worse they were general purpose school athletic fields with poorly built backstops and practically zero or "unlimited" outfield fences (Colton, Monterey High, and P.G. High). The "batter's boxes" were often pretty bad - often with an uneven surface and sometimes with holes and crevices that would get in the way of the batter smoothly "stepping in" to the pitch. And none of the other parks except the Little League Park had pitcher's mounds or "standardized" infield dimensions (i.e., the bases were standard 60 foot distances, but in each park the dirt infields, if they even were dirt, were different lengths before meeting with the outfield grass). And in the other parks, if a player hit a hard drive deep between two outfielders, he could have a chance of just "running it out" for a home run because there was no fence to stop the ball from rolling and rolling out of reach from the outfielders. The outfielders wouldn't have a chance to field it and throw it back in like they would if it had bounced off a regulation outfield fence, preventing an "inside the park home run." Plus, at the three school fields, since they were at the time general purpose grass athletic fields, there were sometimes potholes and gopher holes and even sprinkler heads for outfielders to deal with. And the quality of the infields was often pretty poor - balls could take a bad hop on poorly maintained dirt or grass infield or outfield, while the bounces were more predictable at the nicely manicured dirt infields and nice outfields of the Monterey Little League Park. Also, how recently the grass was mowed at Colton, PG High, Monterey High, and even Jacks Park could have a big affect on the bounce of the ball and even the ability of outfielders to navigate their way around the outfield.
But the "unlimited" fence lengths of Jacks Park, Colton, Monterey High, and Pacific Grove High could sometimes work against good hitters, also. For a power hitter, the outfielders could simply "back up," sometimes way back far beyond the length of a regulation Little League fence, to protect against the ball getting past them. That way, if a real long ball was hit, the outfielders could limit the hitter to maybe a double but still prevent a home run. Or worse (for the hitter!) they could catch a long, hard hit fly ball for an "out" which in an official size Little League park would have sailed "over the fence" for a home run. Alternatively, a powerful hitter might also get on base with a "Texas league single" or a short pop fly that normally might be caught for an out but instead drops between the infield and the outfielders playing way farther back than normal. So the types of hits and types of defenses and even game outcomes were different in the "other parks;" the Monterey Little League park was the only consistent one!
Interestingly, I always was under the assumption, based on my experience playing four years of Little League, that about one fourth of each team's scheduled games were at the Monterey Little League Park. That is how I remember it - we seemed to play just about every fourth game at the Little League Park, and the others were played at the "lesser" fields. However, I just discovered something. In the only printed schedule that I still have - which was printed right within the 1962 yearbook (the other yearbooks had no printed game schedule), I recently noticed for the first time that our American League played less than 1/4 of our games at the Little League Park - while the National League teams played half of their games there! I'm hoping that there was some sort of rotation going on between Leagues each year and that I was just looking at a schedule where during that year it was National League's "turn," but frankly I always remember that we played about every 4th game at Little League Park. I never remember a time when half of our games were played there - in any of my four years as a Little Leaguer! And I would have remembered! We all looked forward to playing on that field so much I would have remembered it. We all looked forward to the pleasure of playing on that field, of having Ichi as an umpire, and also to the potential of hitting a home run and getting a dollar's worth of candy from Ichi! (see article about Ichi above). So was the fix in from the "powers that be?" Did National League (which was an "older league" - it appears American was a newer league with more expansion teams) get some sort of "grandfathering in" or "preference" with the use of the Little League Park every season? More research of past schedules is needed but so far I think that the National League got to play at the better park for over half their games every year when I was in L.L. in the 1961-1964 era - while we got less than 1/4 of our games there. This is an outrage! Scandalous! I've got to get to the root of this and will contact some people who might know (ie past managers and coaches who I am in touch with - I doubt if any kids would know or remember!)
Here is an example: In the 1962 season National League's Del Monte Properties and Granite Construction and all the other National League teams played exactly 7 of their 14 games at Little League Park. My team, Herald, as well as Saunders in American League, played 3 or our 14 games at Little League Park! It appears that about half of our American League teams played 4 games at LL park and the other half (such as Herald and Saunders) played 3 games at LL park in the 1962 season. That difference of "one" is just a luck of the draw. But 7 games versus 3 or 4 is a huge difference! It turns out that our American League teams played 1/4 of our games at Jacks Park - while the National League had no games at Jacks. So we got LL Park 1/4 of the time and Jacks 1/4 of the time and National got LL 1/2 of the time. Of course perhaps there is an explanation for this but I can't think of one except the fact that American League was the "new guys" - the "expansion league" which gets lower priority for the nice field! (And just think, the fact the our expansion leage was "American" shows the bias! The SF Giants and LA Dodgers were both National League teams - the only California baseball teams in existence at the time - way before the Oakland A's and Anaheim/LA Angels. Of course the first Monterey Little League "league" would be named "National!" The fix was in! haha)
Here is another odd thing I noticed: In 1962 (again the only schedule I have), for National, they would schedule 2 games on one day at LL park with four separate teams. I remember all of our games starting at 5:30PM. But to squeeze in two games in one day on the same field, National's games at LL Park would have had to start at say 3:30PM and 5:30PM! How this worked and why is a mystery to me.
**Update: In recently looking through some old Heralds from that era, I noticed a 1964 article (which I'll eventually post in the clippings section) which said that there was a problem with the availability of the Monterey High field as the season was starting in 1964 - some sort of maintenance issue at the MHS field - and that National League was moving their games from Monterey High to Little League Park by doubling up the Tuesday and Thursday games rather than having one game per evening. So for at least some portion of 1964, National League again played more games at the Little League Park than American League. At least it was a legitimate maintenance issue. But if they could double up the NL games at LL Park, why not American League also! The American League gets discriminated against again!**
But in looking back, despite the long list of complaints detailed above about the other fields, the other parks were really decent enough; we learned to adjust to them. In some ways you could say they even helped us develop as players and taught us how to adapt. Though I do think a little more attention could have been paid to upgrading some of the fields, we were still fortunate to have a strong Little League program going in the Monterey area, with lots of volunteer coaches and managers and sponsors and involved parents helping to make it all work. And I should emphasize the support from the team sponsors (Herald, Saunders, Rotary, Optimists, Schulken, Elks, Kiwanis, 20-30, Post 41, Del Monte Properties, Rasmussen & Moody, etc.) and the City of Monterey Parks and Recreation Department. The sponsors paid for team registration fees, insurance, dues to the national Little League organization (until they parted ways, which is a separate story discussed here), miscellaneous team equipment like bats, practice balls, catchers masks, chest protectors, etc, team uniforms (that were passed on and "recycled" to new players from year to year), and custom baseball caps (which we got to keep). Sponsors also paid for fees related to renting the fields, hiring umpires, purchasing game balls etc. What the sponsors didn't pay for, the City of Monterey seemed to absorb. Anyway, it was super-affordable for all players involved. All a kid had to provide was a baseball mitt to be able to play. These days, players and their families typically have to go "out of pocket" and can spend a lot just to participate in youth sports; so we had it pretty good back then. And though I am critical of the less than perfect fields, our experience was probably typical of youth baseball programs everywhere; not every community has the resources or prioritizes making every field a pristine, perfectly manicured regulation-sized Little League ballpark! And at least we had one official-sized ballpark in our area; some towns don't have any!
Regarding the ballpark where Ichi umpired: note that back in the 1960's the outfield fence at the Monterey Little League Park was four feet high. This can be seen by some of the team photos here (such as American League's "Phinney's 707" 1961 team photo). And the outfield fence distance was a regulation (and still is) 200 feet from home place. Back then, it was actually possible to hit one "out of the park" ... and some of us did! Even while using wooden bats... that old-school traditional technology! But if you look at the present day pictures at that park, the fences are now 20-30 feet high!
What happened? Well, for one, the technology changed. There was a period in the late 80's-to-2011 where more and more powerful composite and metal bats were being developed and continued to be allowed in official Little League play. The result was that the balls traveled much farther and came off the bat much faster. (The composite bats were also always controversial because they can be a danger to the pitcher who might not have enough time to react to a ball hit back towards the mound.) At some point in the era of composite and metal bats, the official recommended Little League fence distance got extended from 200 to 225 feet. Of course, there was no room at this Monterey Little League park to actually extend the fence length, so they had to raise the fence height to deal with the more powerful bats!
And meanwhile, the neighborhood surrounding the Little League park over the years has also expanded up to the edges of the park; a "kiddie playground" was carved out of the space behind the left field fence and there are also now more cars parked in the neighborhood. So the park has had to become more "self-contained."
Then the technology "changed back." In 2011, the national Little League organization headquartered in Williamsport, Pennsylvania finally decided to stop the "bat arms race" and reverted to a policy of requiring that all bats, regardless of construction, perform like regular wood bats based on certain established testing standards. Effectively metal and composite bats were banned for Little League unless they were designed and certified to perform exactly like wood bats. So today, the distance that Little League baseballs can potentially travel when hit by batters is about the same as it was "back in the old days." The official Little League fence distance is now again back at 200 feet. But those tall fences at the Monterey Little League Park remain. Today, I don't know what today constitutes a "home run" at Monterey Little League Park (I'm hoping to find out); presumably today the umps declare it a "home run" if the hit ball "clears" a certain height (?), like maybe 4-6 feet (?) at the super tall 20 to 30 foot high fence? I hope so; otherwise the high fences take some of the fun out of playing in an official size Little League ballpark!
I might note that of the four parks we played our games in, only the Monterey Little League Park was built to Little League standards and was truly a regulation-sized ballfield; it not only had the standard sized diamond as did all our fields (60 foot distance between bases and 45 feet from pitcher's mound to home plate), but it also had a regulation sized dirt infield and a regulation distance from home plate to where the infield ended and outfield grass started. And it had a pitcher's mound; none of the other parks had mounds or regulation sized infields. It just felt right to play at the Monterey Little League Park! And very importantly: it had regulation length outfield fences of 200 feet, with a standard 4-foot height. Plus the field was very well maintained by a good crew from the City of Monterey Parks and Recreation Dept. It wasn't just a big grass field to be occasionally mowed by some landscape crew working for a school district or contracted from the outside. So it really was special to play at that Little League park!
On the other hand, the other local ballparks were not so great. We still looked forward to all the games regardless, but the fields at Colton, Jacks Park, P.G. High, and Monterey High were all pretty lame in comparison. All the other parks at the time (some have improved since then) were either modified adult softball fields with unlimited length fences (Jacks Park), or worse they were general purpose school athletic fields with poorly built backstops and practically zero or "unlimited" outfield fences (Colton, Monterey High, and P.G. High). The "batter's boxes" were often pretty bad - often with an uneven surface and sometimes with holes and crevices that would get in the way of the batter smoothly "stepping in" to the pitch. And none of the other parks except the Little League Park had pitcher's mounds or "standardized" infield dimensions (i.e., the bases were standard 60 foot distances, but in each park the dirt infields, if they even were dirt, were different lengths before meeting with the outfield grass). And in the other parks, if a player hit a hard drive deep between two outfielders, he could have a chance of just "running it out" for a home run because there was no fence to stop the ball from rolling and rolling out of reach from the outfielders. The outfielders wouldn't have a chance to field it and throw it back in like they would if it had bounced off a regulation outfield fence, preventing an "inside the park home run." Plus, at the three school fields, since they were at the time general purpose grass athletic fields, there were sometimes potholes and gopher holes and even sprinkler heads for outfielders to deal with. And the quality of the infields was often pretty poor - balls could take a bad hop on poorly maintained dirt or grass infield or outfield, while the bounces were more predictable at the nicely manicured dirt infields and nice outfields of the Monterey Little League Park. Also, how recently the grass was mowed at Colton, PG High, Monterey High, and even Jacks Park could have a big affect on the bounce of the ball and even the ability of outfielders to navigate their way around the outfield.
But the "unlimited" fence lengths of Jacks Park, Colton, Monterey High, and Pacific Grove High could sometimes work against good hitters, also. For a power hitter, the outfielders could simply "back up," sometimes way back far beyond the length of a regulation Little League fence, to protect against the ball getting past them. That way, if a real long ball was hit, the outfielders could limit the hitter to maybe a double but still prevent a home run. Or worse (for the hitter!) they could catch a long, hard hit fly ball for an "out" which in an official size Little League park would have sailed "over the fence" for a home run. Alternatively, a powerful hitter might also get on base with a "Texas league single" or a short pop fly that normally might be caught for an out but instead drops between the infield and the outfielders playing way farther back than normal. So the types of hits and types of defenses and even game outcomes were different in the "other parks;" the Monterey Little League park was the only consistent one!
Interestingly, I always was under the assumption, based on my experience playing four years of Little League, that about one fourth of each team's scheduled games were at the Monterey Little League Park. That is how I remember it - we seemed to play just about every fourth game at the Little League Park, and the others were played at the "lesser" fields. However, I just discovered something. In the only printed schedule that I still have - which was printed right within the 1962 yearbook (the other yearbooks had no printed game schedule), I recently noticed for the first time that our American League played less than 1/4 of our games at the Little League Park - while the National League teams played half of their games there! I'm hoping that there was some sort of rotation going on between Leagues each year and that I was just looking at a schedule where during that year it was National League's "turn," but frankly I always remember that we played about every 4th game at Little League Park. I never remember a time when half of our games were played there - in any of my four years as a Little Leaguer! And I would have remembered! We all looked forward to playing on that field so much I would have remembered it. We all looked forward to the pleasure of playing on that field, of having Ichi as an umpire, and also to the potential of hitting a home run and getting a dollar's worth of candy from Ichi! (see article about Ichi above). So was the fix in from the "powers that be?" Did National League (which was an "older league" - it appears American was a newer league with more expansion teams) get some sort of "grandfathering in" or "preference" with the use of the Little League Park every season? More research of past schedules is needed but so far I think that the National League got to play at the better park for over half their games every year when I was in L.L. in the 1961-1964 era - while we got less than 1/4 of our games there. This is an outrage! Scandalous! I've got to get to the root of this and will contact some people who might know (ie past managers and coaches who I am in touch with - I doubt if any kids would know or remember!)
Here is an example: In the 1962 season National League's Del Monte Properties and Granite Construction and all the other National League teams played exactly 7 of their 14 games at Little League Park. My team, Herald, as well as Saunders in American League, played 3 or our 14 games at Little League Park! It appears that about half of our American League teams played 4 games at LL park and the other half (such as Herald and Saunders) played 3 games at LL park in the 1962 season. That difference of "one" is just a luck of the draw. But 7 games versus 3 or 4 is a huge difference! It turns out that our American League teams played 1/4 of our games at Jacks Park - while the National League had no games at Jacks. So we got LL Park 1/4 of the time and Jacks 1/4 of the time and National got LL 1/2 of the time. Of course perhaps there is an explanation for this but I can't think of one except the fact that American League was the "new guys" - the "expansion league" which gets lower priority for the nice field! (And just think, the fact the our expansion leage was "American" shows the bias! The SF Giants and LA Dodgers were both National League teams - the only California baseball teams in existence at the time - way before the Oakland A's and Anaheim/LA Angels. Of course the first Monterey Little League "league" would be named "National!" The fix was in! haha)
Here is another odd thing I noticed: In 1962 (again the only schedule I have), for National, they would schedule 2 games on one day at LL park with four separate teams. I remember all of our games starting at 5:30PM. But to squeeze in two games in one day on the same field, National's games at LL Park would have had to start at say 3:30PM and 5:30PM! How this worked and why is a mystery to me.
**Update: In recently looking through some old Heralds from that era, I noticed a 1964 article (which I'll eventually post in the clippings section) which said that there was a problem with the availability of the Monterey High field as the season was starting in 1964 - some sort of maintenance issue at the MHS field - and that National League was moving their games from Monterey High to Little League Park by doubling up the Tuesday and Thursday games rather than having one game per evening. So for at least some portion of 1964, National League again played more games at the Little League Park than American League. At least it was a legitimate maintenance issue. But if they could double up the NL games at LL Park, why not American League also! The American League gets discriminated against again!**
But in looking back, despite the long list of complaints detailed above about the other fields, the other parks were really decent enough; we learned to adjust to them. In some ways you could say they even helped us develop as players and taught us how to adapt. Though I do think a little more attention could have been paid to upgrading some of the fields, we were still fortunate to have a strong Little League program going in the Monterey area, with lots of volunteer coaches and managers and sponsors and involved parents helping to make it all work. And I should emphasize the support from the team sponsors (Herald, Saunders, Rotary, Optimists, Schulken, Elks, Kiwanis, 20-30, Post 41, Del Monte Properties, Rasmussen & Moody, etc.) and the City of Monterey Parks and Recreation Department. The sponsors paid for team registration fees, insurance, dues to the national Little League organization (until they parted ways, which is a separate story discussed here), miscellaneous team equipment like bats, practice balls, catchers masks, chest protectors, etc, team uniforms (that were passed on and "recycled" to new players from year to year), and custom baseball caps (which we got to keep). Sponsors also paid for fees related to renting the fields, hiring umpires, purchasing game balls etc. What the sponsors didn't pay for, the City of Monterey seemed to absorb. Anyway, it was super-affordable for all players involved. All a kid had to provide was a baseball mitt to be able to play. These days, players and their families typically have to go "out of pocket" and can spend a lot just to participate in youth sports; so we had it pretty good back then. And though I am critical of the less than perfect fields, our experience was probably typical of youth baseball programs everywhere; not every community has the resources or prioritizes making every field a pristine, perfectly manicured regulation-sized Little League ballpark! And at least we had one official-sized ballpark in our area; some towns don't have any!
Comments, Stories, Etc. To Contribute?
If you have any Monterey Little League stories or comments to contribute - or if you know the full names of any unidentified players in team photos, let me know!
Email: derekcmorris [at] gmail [dot] com
If you have any Monterey Little League stories or comments to contribute - or if you know the full names of any unidentified players in team photos, let me know!
Email: derekcmorris [at] gmail [dot] com
