The Land Park Pacific Little League opening ceremonies commemorated 30th anniversary of 1983 Little League World Series Team. The 1983 Pacific Little League team was just the second team in local history to make it all the way to Williamsport, PA, the birthplace of Little League Baseball and the at the opening ceremony, held Saturday, March 23, volunteers welcomed back the team and their coaches for special recognition of their amazing accomplishment.

The parade began in Land Park by the Tiny Tots Preschool/Playground and ended at Dooley Field for Opening Day Ceremonies. The event was a long-standing Land Park tradition.

The East Sacramento Little League held opening day festivities on Sunday, March 10. According to their website, the day was marked by beautiful weather, great attendance, and lots of excitement for the upcoming season. Scores of families turned out for the celebration, which included team introductions, an appearance by Dinger from the River Cats, and a series of exhibition games.

REMINDER:  Online registration ends on Tuesday, January 8th, 2013.  Register now for the coming 2013 season at www.lppll.com.

2013 Tryouts will be held at Dooley Field and are scheduled for Jan. 12 and Jan. 19, weather permitting.  Check www.lppll.com prior to tryouts for information on any last minute changes due to weather conditions.

Reminder that all players league age 8 or older (who will be 8 years old by April 30, 2013) MUST attend at least one tryout.

Tryout times: Please arrive 20 minutes prior to your tryout time to sign in.

12 year olds – 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Dooley 1

11 year olds – 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dooley 1

10 year olds – 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Dooley 1

9 year olds – 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Dooley 2

8 year olds – 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dooley 2

13 and 14 year olds – To Be Announced.

Softball times may change depending on need. Please check website prior to Jan. 12 for more information.

Editor’s note: This is part one of a two-part series highlighting local baseball players who live in the publishing area of Valley Community Newspapers.

For a group of mostly Sacramento natives who grew up playing baseball in this very rich baseball city and a few other places, a tradition was born about five years ago.

It was around this time that a group of seniors calling themselves the Noah’s Bagels Baseball Gang began meeting once a week at Noah’s Bagels in Town and Country Village.

Continuing their weekly gatherings since this time, this social group has grown to include 18 members.

The very first members of the group were Jim Westlake, Dick Alejo and the late Danny Mooradian, who are considered the founders of the group.

In speaking about the formation of the group, Dick said, “We just felt like every time we would go out and see some guy, we would say, ‘Hey, we meet here for coffee. Why don’t you join us.’ Pretty soon, here we are (as a large group).”

Joe Duarte, one of the earliest members to join the group, said that there are various ways that one can be eligible to become a member of the group.

“(To join the group, one should) know somebody, played ball with somebody (or) went to school with them and played ball with them,” Duarte said. “Some of these guys played minor league baseball. Only one – Cuno Barragan – played in the big leagues. He caught for the (Chicago) Cubs for (three) years. Almost all of them, except for two or three, played high school baseball. I never played high school baseball, because I went in the merchant Marines in 1944, when I was 15 years old.”

Duarte said that he eventually became a baker, but chuckled when asked about bagels, saying (back then, in the 1940s), I’d never heard of them.”

During one of the group’s recent gatherings, the following members of the group in attendance shared information about their connections to baseball.

Barragan: “I was born (on June 20, 1932) and raised in Sacramento. I graduated from Sacramento High School in January 1950, and I played football and baseball at Sacramento Junior College. I signed a contract with the Sacramento Solons in 1952, and I played my first year of professional baseball in 1953 for Idaho Falls and then came back and went in the service in 1954 and 1955. I did two years of active duty in the Navy. I went to spring training with the Solons in 1956, was optioned to Amarillo, Texas, Western League, and had a reasonably good year there, and played with the Sacramento Solons in 1957.”

Barragan added that after a brief retirement in 1958, he eventually was drafted from the Solons by the Chicago Cubs in 1961.

“My first at bat was (at Wrigley Field on) Sept. 1 against the San Francisco Giants and I hit a home run off of Dick LeMay on the first pitch. It was pretty exciting.”

Dick Alejo: “I was born in 1936. My professional career was not that big. I just went down to Mexico and played for a team, called Puebla, with Cuno Barragan and Sparky Anderson (who later played and managed in Major League Baseball). Besides that, I played for the American Legion Post 61, McClatchy High School and in the Winter League and at Sacramento Junior College. I did well, but I’m not going to (the National Baseball Hall of Fame in) Cooperstown!”

Nick Capachi: “I played on all the city leagues growing up – the 125-pound, 75-pound leagues – then I played for (American) Legion, high school, county leagues, the Placer-Nevada League and the KFBK all-star team,” said Capachi, who turned 77 last April. “I also played on the (Sacramento Junior) College team. We won the state championship in 1953. We beat Long Beach for the state championship right here at (William) Land Park. I also played in the Army, while I was stationed in the Presidio (in San Francisco).”

Augie Amorena: “I went to Sacramento High School and graduated in 1948. My parents (Amelia and Augustine Amorena) were immigrants from Spain. I started playing baseball when I was about 14. I played Summer League in the different weight divisions. I played (American) Legion, Sac JC and local Winter League, Spring League. We had a team in the Winter League, Julius Style Shop, and Joe Freitas was the manager. We were all young kids, just out of high school. The enthusiasm, the fun, we could hardly wait until Sunday to play ball. We did okay. We won a championship one year. And I played minor league baseball four years (including his time in the International League with the Edmonton Eskimos). I also played in the service for the Army team (in Hawaii).”

Mike Bakarich: “I was born on Mother’s Day, 1944, at Sacramento County Hospital. When we were younger, there was no Little League. You played in the 100-pound league, got weighed.  I grew up in West Sacramento and I had to take the Gibson bus and the streetcar to go to McClatchy Park to play baseball. They couldn’t remember my name, so they called me ‘the kid from across the river.’ I played with these guys since I was in the 7th grade, probably. I went to Grant Tech (College, which was located across the street from Grant High School) and I played all three sports there. Then I played baseball in the Winter League, in the National Division, played in the County League and the Rural League and I quit playing hard ball in 1960 or 1961, because I like to play fast-pitch softball. We were playing maybe 75 or 80 ball games a summer, and trying to play baseball and softball was kind of tough. With the fast-pitch softball, I’ve been to two world tournaments and two national tournaments. I played all over the United States. I’m in the fast-pitch hall of fame and the baseball hall of fame in Sacramento.”

Pocket Girls Softball had three teams participate in area All-Star tournaments during June and July and all teams represented the Pocket/Greenhaven area extremely well.

The league had three different age groups (8U, 10U and 12U) for All-Stars and began practicing in early June several times each week. All three teams competed in several weekend tournaments, which sometimes required the girls to play up to three games in one day and up to six games during one weekend.

The Pocket 10U (10 and under) All-Star team, the Crushers, won the Northern California (NorCal) Girls Softball Association tournament at Elk Grove Park on July 10. The team went undefeated (4–0) during the two-day tournament.

Pocket played two very close games against rival Natomas on Sunday. During the first game, Pocket rallied from a 5–3 deficit in the bottom of the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, a player stole home to win the game, 6–5. The team stormed the field to celebrate the victory after battling back to win. The Championship game was also very close, with the game tied 4–4 for several inning before Pocket scored two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to win 6–4.

The team also placed third in the American Softball Association (ASA) Championship tournament in Folsom on June 26. The team’s performance earned them a birth to the Pacific Coast Region “C” Regional All-Star Championship. The Pocket 10U All-Stars accepted the invitation to participate and travel to San Diego to battle the best teams in the Pacific Coast Region on Aug. 5-7.

Saturday fundraiser

To help support our team’s travel costs to San Diego, we are hosting a “Carwash and Rummage Sale” this Saturday, July 23, at Caroline Wenzel Elementary School on Greenhaven Drive, which is also the home of Pocket Girls Softball. The Rummage Sale will be from 6 a.m. to 1p.m., and the Carwash will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will also be food sales, with items donated by Starbucks, BelAir and Nugget. Please drop by and support the team.

Although the girls hail from many different Pocket and Land Park elementary schools (Martin Luther King, Jr., Matsuyama, Merryhill, Caroline Wenzel, Sutterville, Pony Express and Didion), the Pocket 10U All-Star team came together in only five weeks because they have fun playing together and fantastic team chemistry. Their performance during tournaments, under pressure, has been amazing to watch as a coach. The girls will never forget winning the NorCal All-Star Championship, but the friendships they have formed during practices and tournaments will endure long after the softball season ends.

Pocket 12U (12 and under) Team

The Pocket 12U All-Star team participated in several tournaments during June and July, including a second place finish in the Stars of Cordova tournament in Rancho Cordova, a second place finish in the American Softball Association (ASA) Championship tournament, and a third place finish in the Northern California (NorCal) All-Star Championship. The 12U All-Star team has formed a comp/travel ball team called the Havoc and will begin playing tournaments in July. They are looking forward to the challenge of travel ball and see this as a great way to improve their game both as individual players and as a team. Go Havoc!

Pocket 8U (8 and under) Team

The Pocket 8U team competed in the Crazy 8 tournament over three weekends in June. Natomas Girls Softball hosted the first weekend of pool play and Pocket went 3–0. The second weekend the team went 2–1 while playing at Sacramento Softball. The team’s performance during the first two weekends earned them a first-round bye for the third weekend. They faced Elk Grove in the Championship game and came in second place. These young girls are not used to playing three games in one day, they played tough and had smiles on their faces after every game.

The Land Park Pacific All Stars 9-10 girls softball team beat Consumnes 2 – 1, to win the District 7 Championship last week.

Both teams featured incredible pitching and defense in the 7-inning game. The game was tied, 1 – 1, after the first inning. The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 7th inning, when Kealani Burke singled – and then proceeded to steal second and third base. Cecelia Sidley walked and then Jessica Hennelly hit a single up the middle to drive in Burke for the winning run.

Hennelly was named Offensive MVP for her three singles in four at-bats – including scoring the team’s first run and the winning run.

Ginger Harris was named Defensive MVP for two great innings as catcher, for five shut-out innings as pitcher – including seven strike-outs – for fielding two bunts for throw-outs at first and for catching two pop flies.

“Everybody played well,” said Coach Michael Long.

Let’s play ball

In tracking the roots of the district, all signs lead to the sport of baseball, as the district’s beginnings can be pinpointed to the simple need for a local baseball facility.

Considering that Sacramento has been known as a baseball city throughout the majority of its existence, the district’s establishment through baseball is quite fitting.

The district’s connection with baseball begins with the name, Dan Donovan.

While residing in Carmichael, Donovan was seeking a location where his local baseball team could play its games.

Donovan, who is also known for establishing Carmichael’s first fire department, serving as the fire department’s first chief and operating a bar at Fair Oaks Boulevard and Garfield Avenue, led the drive to have a baseball field built in part of what is today’s Carmichael Park.

This baseball field, which had once been only a dream, became a reality for Donovan, who was part of the 1946 team that won the U.S.-Canadian Non-Professional Baseball Tournament in Wichita, Kan.

Carmichael Park was purchased in separate parcels and by the early 1960s, the park had been expanded to 38 acres.

Carmichael’s poolOne of the most popular attractions in the park’s history was its 50-foot by 100-foot swimming pool, which was constructed in 1952.

Originally, the pool featured both low and high diving boards and was accompanied by a nearby wading pool.

Unfortunately for the community, use of the pool was discontinued in 2004. The district, however, is exploring avenues for acquiring funding to replace the pool.

The petting zooEarly visitors of Carmichael Park may also remember another now-absent feature of the park – a petting zoo that was located on the site of the present day group picnic rental facility. The petting zoo included such animals as goats, a pig, a sheep, rabbits and chickens.

Today, the park, which CRPD Administrator Jack Harrison described as “Carmichael’s Central Park,” features five softball diamonds, six lighted tennis courts, a one-acre, off-leash dog park, a lighted basketball court, a pair of playgrounds, a public picnic shelter and a band shell, which serves as the site of free summer concerts. The park is also the site of a popular Easter Egg Hunt, which is held annually on the day prior to Easter.

Among the oldest buildings in the park is the community clubhouse, which is available for rent and is used for community organization meetings, district board meetings, weddings and receptions.

Other structures located at the park include the district’s administration building and the Veterans Memorial Building, which is used for local veteran gatherings, small-sized meetings, classes and a preschool program.

Del Campo Park

The district added the second of its now 14 park sites when it acquired the property for Del Campo Park in Fair Oaks in 1971. This was also the year that the district hired its first full-time administrator.

Ross Norberg, who has been employed as a maintenance worker for the district since 1976, said that Del Campo Park, which was developed in 1979, was nothing but a large lawn-covered area until about 1990.

Today, this 21.6-acre park, which is located near Del Campo High School, features a soccer field and a playground.

Additional parks

In addition to Del Campo Park, the district acquired 10 park sites during the 1970s.

These sites range in size from the one-acre Bird Track Park on Pheasant Road in Fair Oaks to Carmichael’s 13.6-acre Jan Drive Park, which is scheduled to open sometime next year.

Among the current CRPD park sites, which were not previously mentioned, are the 9.4-acre O’Donnell Heritage Park (property acquired in 1974) on Barrett Road in Carmichael, the 7.4-acre Cardinal Oaks Park (1974) on Cardinal Court at Kenneth Avenue in Carmichael, the three-acre Glancy Oaks Park (1977) on Sunny Lane in Carmichael and the three-acre Patriots Park (1976) on Palm Avenue, off Dewey Drive, in Fair Oaks.

One of the district’s most treasured acquisitions occurred in 1984, with its addition of the former La Sierra High School. This 37-acre site includes a pair of gymnasiums, soccer fields, Little League baseball fields, the Chautauqua Playhouse, the Sacramento Fine Arts Center and about 170,000 square feet of private rental space.

CRPD Park Maintenance Supervisor Ron Shilliday, who spends about 95 percent of his employment hours for the district at the La Sierra site, said that the former school serves as a great asset for the community.

“The enjoyment of all the facilities and the recreation for anyone, no matter what their age, (at the La Sierra site) is amazing,” Shilliday said. “You can enjoy the theater or the arts center or the many programs that are over there from chair yoga to Little League baseball to soccer to dance. On a good day when you have volleyball, baseball, theater and a wedding reception, there’s no parking to be found. It’s a great place for the community and the people who work here. It keeps us hopping to keep people happy.”

Also unique among the district’s sites are the 17.2-acre Schweitzer Grove Park and the 3.5-acre Charles C. Jensen Botanical Garden.

Schweitzer Grove Park, which is located at Sumter and Hussey drives, next to Albert Schweitzer Elementary School in Carmichael, is the site of a disc golf course and walking trails with five entrances.

The name Schweitzer Grove Park was selected 39 years ago through CRPD’s “Name a Park Contest.”

According to the May 27, 1971 edition of The Sacramento Union, the winners of the contest, which also provided the names Del Campo Park and Bird Track Park, were: Annette Ackerman, Kathryn Confer, Susan Emerson, Nancy Figenbaum, Kim Walker, Kevin Williams and Karen Zymwaht.

Jewel of the district

Undoubtedly a jewel of the park district, the Charles C. Jensen Botanical Garden at 8520 Fair Oaks Blvd. features a wide variety of plants and trees, manicured lawns, walkways, benches and a pair of bridges over a small creek bed.

The garden, which has been featured in a variety of newspapers, including the New York Times, is named after its founder, Charles C. Jensen, who placed the garden’s initial plants and trees at the site in 1958.

Jensen passed away in 1974 at the age of 80 and through the efforts of the Charles C. Jensen Botanical Garden, Inc., which was formed by a group of concerned, local citizens, his property was saved from being subdivided.

Two years later, CRPD took over the ownership of the property and through the assistance of the Friends of the Jensen Botanical Garden, the garden is maintained on a consistent basis.

As a longtime asset of the community, the district has offered many activities that are documented in the district’s archives.

Among the district’s earlier activities mentioned in these archives are the following 1970s activities: a trip to a San Francisco Giants game in 1970, a Mini Bike Day on March 11, 1972, a trip to Marine World on Aug. 9, 1972 and square dancing evenings by the Carmichael Park pool.

And of course, the district has provided the sites for many league baseball and softball games, swimming competitions, tennis matches and other sporting events.

Continuing its mission to “satisfy the recreational needs of the community by providing a wide range of facilities and opportunities to enrich the quality of life,” CRPD recently published its fall/winter 2010-11 activity guide, which is available at the district office at 5750 Grant Ave. in Carmichael Park or at the La Sierra Recreation Office at 5325 Engle Road in Carmichael.

Information regarding district-sponsored activities can also be obtained through the Web site www.carmichaelpark.com or by calling (916) 485-5322.

CRPD Administrative Analyst Lee Ann Yarber said that for a parks and recreation district that has grown from a site with one baseball field to 183 acres on 14 sites, the district’s current anniversary is special.

“We’re very proud of (the district’s) accomplishments,” Yarber said. “In recent years, we’ve opened two parks (and) we’ve got another one scheduled to (open) in 2011. We just keep evolving and continuing to grow.”

lance@valcomnews.com

Little League baseball came to Janey Way in 1959, the year I reached 12 years of age. That year, the East Sacramento Little League expanded into our area. In previous years, they played their games at the diamond in East Portal Park on Rodeo Way, but when they expanded into our area, they built a brand new diamond on the east end of the pit (the abandoned sand and gravel pit adjacent to Janey Way). They located the diamond at the intersection of 60th Street and M Street. The new diamond featured a forest green fence completely surrounding the field; perfectly manicured grass in the infield and outfield; built-in, screened dugouts; multi-level stands on each side of the field; an announcer’s box with a builtin public announcing system behind the plate; and a snack bar underneath the announcer’s box.

 

Prior to trying out for the league, we all practiced in front of the Ducray house. As the lines of boys practiced throwing the baseball, Justin, the Ducray boys’ father, walked through the ranks of boys saying things like, “Hold the ball this way Mart, step into your throw.” The air buzzed with anticipation. Finally the tryouts came, and I ended up playing for the Cardinals. Other teams in the league included the Giants, Dodgers, Pirates, Cubs and Yankees. Mr. Brown, a very nice man, coached my team. Justin Ducray coached the Giants.

 

My team practiced at Kit Carson Junior High School on 53rd Street as we readied for the season, which included twenty games divided into two halves. I played both second base and left field. My team competed well, but did not win the championship. Some other team ended up winning it all. What I recall is how much fun I had. The crowds, our neighbors, exhibited enthusiasm, but showed support and respect for all the players. I remember hitting a double and driving in a run in one game. I could never hit a home run out of the park, which had 200-foot-long outfield lines, but I got my fair share of hits.

 

At the end of the season, three players from each team participated in an All-Star selection game. My manager, Mr. Brown, picked me and two others to play in that game. In the game, I had a hit and made a fine leaping catch at second base. Sadly, I did not make the All-Star team, settling for selection as the first alternate.

 

I only played one year of Little League because the next year I turned 13, which exceeded the age limit. I chose not to follow up and play in the Babe Ruth League as it was too far away and none of my friends participated. High school sports at Sacramento High awaited.

 

I recall to this day the fun I had playing Little League, though I regret that it came so late to our neighborhood. Our motto was play hard, have fun, demonstrate sportsmanship. We shook hands with our competitors after every game. In an era where baseball has become highly competitive and very commercial, they could learn from the values we brought to the game.

 

E-mail Marty Relles at marty@valcomnews.com.