USC LEGENDS TEAM Marcus Allen (Heisman & NFL Hall of Fame) Charles White (Heisman, NFL) Anthony Davis (NFL) Johnnie Morton (NFL) Inger Miller (Olympic Gold /Track) Quincy Watts (Olympic Gold /Track) Fred Lynn (MLB) Bret Boone (MLB) Don Buford (MLB) Steve Kemp (MLB) Tom House (MLB) Vic Lapiner (USC Record Holder)
USC Heisman Trophy winners Marcus Allen and Charles White and the great USC star running back Anthony Davis will be playing. Baseball superstars Fred Lynn, Bret Boone, Don Buford, Tom House, Steve Kemp and Vic Lapiner will be playing. Others will help round out the team including two USC Olympic Gold medal winners. On Team Hollywood several notable actors and celebrities will be added at a latter date to the current list that includes Channel 4 Nancy O’Dell, of Access Hollywood, James Denton of Desperate Housewives, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Howie Mandel, and Art LaFleur. The softball game, promoted by the ALS Foundation along with USC Alumni Baseball Association, will also have earlier aftenoon events that include a youth baseball clinic, a youth home run contest, tours of the USC Athletic Hall of Fame, and the softball pregame opening ceremonies. The skills Clinic begins @ 3:30. Fred Lynn, the other baseball stars and the Trojan Coaching staff will be helping. Steve Garvey may be added to that group since he will be managing one of the team's in the tournament. So bring your family and come on out early to Dedeaux field, grab a hot dog, have your autograph book handy, and meet the stars. Tickets for the Team Hollywood vs. The USC Legends Softball Game are $10.00 for adults and $8.00 for children under 12, and are available by calling (818) 865-8067 x240. The game ceremonies begin at 7:00 P.M. Don't miss it, call today for your tickets, you will be talking about this non stop entertaining charity event for weeks. The USC Baseball Alumni Association is proud to play a part in the promotion of this event. Please mark your calendar and call today for tickets.
Team Hollywood proved to be a formidable team jumping off to a four run lead in their first at bat. Bret Boone also homered for the Trojans and 73 year old star Vic Lapiner was the winning pitcher. It was a hard fought game and everyone had a great time
May 2009, the 2009 season is over.
The Fat Lady stood up, sang and has left the stadium No Omaha again this year, the once proud Trojan program again fails to get the job done.
A team that played inconsistently all year needed to run the table the last 8 games to have a chance for the Regional's but couldn't quite do it. The team ended up 28 -28, the identical record as last year. In the last three years the team has 83 wins and 85 loses. Many former players have called and voiced their concerns and wanted to know what's wrong with the program. I'll leave that explanation on what's needed to get the program going to the Coaching staff and the Athletic department.
It's interesting, however, to look at the stats for the year. But stats alone are inconclusive and in many ways a lot like bikinis. They will show you a lot but they don't show everything. Let's look at the Pitching and Hitting stats. In hitting the team average was .274 which was better than the opponents .259 but a weak average for a good hitting college team in the aluminum era. In pitching the team ERA was 4.06, the lowest in the last 20 years for USC and a lot better than the opponents 4.85
Trojans had a better batting average and a better ERA than opponents but still only managed to win 50% of the games for the season. Team defense or in some cases the lack of defense was an issue this year with the team making 101 errors. Last year there was a problem with errors but this year was far worst. The Trojans were near the bottom in the nation in this category.
In looking at the bright spots, Grant Green was outstanding again this year hitting .374. Others that performed well at the plate were Ricky Oropesa .319, Anthony Vasquez .318 and Alex Sherrod at .296
The pitching was inconsistent at times but good overall. The best ERA's belonged to Robert Stock 2.90. Brad Boxberger 3.16 and Andrew Triggs 3.96
For those of you that can make it, UBAA will try to set up a luncheon in the near future and invite the Athletic department and Coaching staff to review with all you former jocks the status of where the current Baseball program is and the prospects for a better season next year. Stay tuned.
Fight on!
May 13, 2009 Cal State Northridge (20-29) wins two from USC (23-25)
On a weekend must win two game series where we needed to sweep both games in order to salvage a mediocre season, we lost both. The loses were devastating but one could hardly be too surprised. Experience tell us that games lost near seasons end are often reflections of earlier preparations on the practice field and of attitudes established well before that date.
Winning down the stretch and in "must win" games requires confidence and the belief that you will win. This attitude comes from training day in and day out and doing on the practice field over and over the things that it takes to win. And on game day, if necessary, driving your energy beyond the limits of pain because you will not accept defeat.
Vince Lombardi said it best, "Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-the-time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing."
This morning in the Sports section I read of our two loses to Cal State Northridge, a team that has less than a 500 record. I also viewed the baseball rankings of the top 25 teams in the country. How strange not to see USC listed. With our rich tradition as a Baseball powerhouse it is sad and disappointing to see our program struggling.
I've been to see our team play several times, they are good kids and there is a lot of talent on the team. Much more than their record would suggest. At this time as bad as they must feel they need to reach down and show their character. Eight games to go, the team needs to make the best of the rest of the season, believe in themselves, play with pride, play like Trojans. Kick some butt!
Still time to salvage the season
With the season 2/3 over our baseball team still has time to salvage the season. With a current record of 20 wins and 17 loses we are going to have to turn up the burners for the remaining 19 games. There is good talent on the team and the pitching is looking a lot better. Hitting will need to pick up although we hit well in the last game.
The most glaring problem the team needs to figure out is how to reduce the errors being made. Our opponents have committed a total of 36 errors to our 77. That's a big difference. Our fielding percentage is .947 compared to .974 by our opponents. We need defense to win the close games. Our hitting needs to pick up as well. Our .269 hitting average is not good considering the use of aluminum bats.
In addition to the need to win our conference games, we have two key games coming up at the end of this month. Winning both of these games against UC Irvine and CS Fullerton will go a long way in defining our team.
Tuesday April 28 6 PM at UC Irvine, drop by and support our team if you can
Wednesday April 29 6 PM at CS Fullerton, drop by and support our team if you can
Hank Workman to Hall of Fame
In the ninth class of USC's Athletic Hall of Fame to be held May 9, 2009 at the Galen Center, Hank Workman will be among them. Hank was a member of the great 1948 CWS baseball Championship team. Congratulations Hank, this is an honor over due and well deserved.
The Hall of Famers are selected by a 75-member panel consisting of media and USC alumni and athletic department supporters. To be eligible for election, athletes generally must have completed their last season of eligibility at USC 10 years ago.
We now have 17 Trojan baseball greats that have been selected to the USC Hall of Fame.
Hank Workman, Roy Smalley, John Werhas, Ed Hookstratten, John Beradino, Jim Brideweser, Rich Dauer, Bill Seinsoth, Steve Kemp, Wally Hood, Don Buford, Bill Thom, Mark McGwire, Ron Fairly, Tom Seaver, Rod Dedeaux, and Fred Lynn
Congratulations Pat!
It's now history, General Manager Pat Gillick, USC pitcher on our 1958 College World Series team led the Philadelphia Phillies to the 2008 World Series Title. This was the third World Series Title as Pat also led Toronto to two World Series Titles in 1992 and in 1993.
Pat also had five division titles for Toronto in 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992 and 1993. With all the accomplishments while having been the General Manager of four Major League Baseball teams Pat may very well be the best executive in the history of Major League baseball. Everyone of his teams at some point advanced to the league championship series and made multiple playoff appearances.
Back at USC Pat was a fine pitcher for our team but what really caught my attention was his recall ability for facts, figures and details. It was fun trying to quiz Pat on some obscure bit of trivia. I marveled at his ability to know the answers and wondered then how this talent might come into play later in his life.
After the 2008 World Series, Pat retired as General Manager for the Phillies and is living in Seattle with his wife Doris and for now is content for a slower pace. Pat, not yet ready to fully retire, keeps busy as an Advisor to the Phillies.
It's anyones guess what Pat will say when the telephone rings, and a baseball owner trys to lure him away from retirment. But one thing is for sure, with Pat's accomplishments, the phone will ring again.
1958 CWS Championship Team
- Their 29 - 3 record against college teams is shown on the Pac 10 baseball website as the best record ever in the Pac 10
- Their 9.3 runs per game is second in the USC record book only to the '59 team.
- Four USC Hall of Famers played on this team, Ron Fairly, Don Buford, Bill Thom, and John Werhas
- Seven College All Americans played on this team, Gerry Siegert, Mike Castanon, Bill Thom, John Werhas, Ken Miller, Bruce Gardner and Bill Heath over a period of '58, '59 and '60.
Former Trojan baseball players at rest and forever in our hearts...
Charley Ane, Hal Charnofsky, Tony Decarbo, Rod Dedeaux, William Edwards, Bruce Gardner, John Garten, Kent Hadley, John Herbst, Ed Isherwood, Al LaMont, Gary Robin, Bill Seinsoth, John Stevenson, Robert Zube
Please forward me other names that belong on this list so we can keep Members updated when team mates have passed on.
