THE LATEST ON CAMPBELL BASEBALL HERITAGE WEEKEND
Campbell Baseball Heritage Weekend is scheduled for April 9-11, 2010. Here are the details and plans that have been finalized as of February 16.
FRIDAY, APRIL 9
On Friday night, April 9, we will have a reception at the new Courtyard Marriott at the intersection of Hamilton Avenue and Creekside Way in Campbell. The hotel is across the street from the Hamilton stop on the Winchester light-rail line running from San Jose International Airport. The rate currently being offered is $89 per night for April 9 and 10; that could be lowered if demand is sufficient. The telephone number there is (408) 626-9590 and the manager is Mike McClintock.
No-host cocktails will be served at 7 p.m.; the hotel also has a lobby bar and an on-site restaurant. At 8 p.m., in the same conference room where the reception will be held, we will have a meeting, open to anyone who is interested, during which the Campbell Baseball Hall of Fame will be discussed. Those interested in helping to create procedures and criteria for future Hall of Fame inductions should plan to attend this meeting. To streamline the initial process, I have decided to designate 10 charter members of the Hall of Fame whose qualifications and contributions, in my opinion, have made them most synonymous with the first century of Campbell baseball. They are listed further down in this communication.
I realize that several people with comparable credentials are not on the list, and what I hope to achieve at this meeting is the formation of a committee that will take responsibility for the selection and induction of future Campbell Baseball Hall of Fame members. This committee would also be in charge of a Campbell Baseball Heritage Foundation, which would be tasked with maintaining the Hall of Fame and otherwise preserving the history and traditions of Campbell youth baseball. Anybody who is interested in either or both of these endeavors is invited to attend this reception and meeting.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON, APRIL 10
A barbecue/picnic will be held adjacent to the Campbell Pony League baseball diamond at John D. Morgan Park in Campbell, between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. We have reserved the picnic area next to the clubhouse, between the baseball diamond and the boundary between the park and the Campbell Junior High campus. Other tables and barbecue pits in the park will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. We hope to provide shuttle service between John D. Morgan Park, where parking is extremely limited, and the Courtyard Marriott. Whether this will be available will depend on how many event-related reservations are made at the hotel.
Food, including barbecue meats and salads, will be served at John D. Morgan Park beginning at noon. A highlight of the day will be a Bay Area Vintage Base Ball game on the Pony League field at 1 p.m. BAVBB is part of a national organization dedicated to acknowledging baseball’s deepest roots; its games are played under 1886 National League rules, with specially-made period uniforms and equipment. Its games are competitive contests and not re-enactments. For more information on BAVBB, log on to http://www.eteamz.com/bavbb/
SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 10
The inaugural Campbell Baseball Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Sonoma Chicken Coop, 200 E. Campbell Ave. in downtown Campbell. The banquet will honor the 10 charter members of the Campbell Baseball Hall of Fame:
RICH ALVAREZ - the pitcher who led Campbell Little League to the 1976 Little League World Series final, and completed a no-hitter in the 1978 Pony League World Series championship game. Later played at the University of Hawaii.
TED CAMPBELL - the star pitcher on Moreland Little League’s 1962 team, which remains the only Northern California team ever to win the Little League World Series, and on the Campbell Moreland Pony League team that won the 1964 Pony League World Series.
STEVE DAVIS - a Campbell Little League and Campbell Moreland Pony-Colt product who went on to star at Campbell High and Stanford University, and in 1979 became the first former Campbell Little League player to reach the major leagues, with the Chicago Cubs.
GORDON HUNTZE - Campbell High’s baseball coach from 1965 until its closure in 1980, winning Central Coast Section championships in 1972 and 1973 and never suffering a losing season while producing dozens of college players.
JOHN OLDHAM - a 1950 Campbell High graduate who reached the major leagues with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956, then embarked on a four-decade coaching career at Campbell and Westmont high schools, San Jose City College and Santa Clara University
JIM SAEGER - continuously active in Quito Little League as a manager, coach, league official and umpire for 47 years.
BUD STALLINGS - long-time, much-beloved Campbell Moreland Pony League manager who directed Campbell Moreland to the Pony League World Series title in 1978.
BOB STRAIGHT - the focal-point position player on the 1976 Campbell Little League and 1978 Campbell Moreland Pony League national championship teams, and later a standout at Campbell and Westmont and at San Jose State.
VAUGHN TAKAHA - a central player on three World Series title teams: Moreland Little League in 1962, Campbell Moreland Pony League in 1964, and West Valley Colt League in 1966.
JACK ZOGG - a Campbell Little League major division manager for more than 20 years, and manager of Campbell Little League’s 1976 national championship team.
The dinner will be held in the Sonoma Chicken Coop’s upstairs banquet room, which can accommodate up to 200 people. Diners can choose from one of these three entrees: Parsley Lemon Crusted Salmon, Bistro Filet, and Chicken in White Wine Butter Sauce. Salad, starch and vegetables are included in the ticket price, as is a choice between coffee, hot tea and iced tea. A full bar is available in the banquet room.
The food price for the day will be $30 per person, which includes the food at the picnic as well as the banquet meal. Each attending member of the Hall of Fame will receive two free tickets, along with an appropriate plaque commemorating the honor. Checks should be made out to “Campbell Baseball Heritage Fund" and sent to:
Campbell Baseball Heritage Fund
P.O. Box 110014
Campbell CA 95011-0014
Please indicate, either in a note accompanying the check or (preferably) by e-mail to charles_hildebrand@att.net, how many tickets you are buying, which banquet entree you prefer, and a e-mail or regular address to which you want me to send purchase confirmation. (Tickets will not be mailed; we’ll have your name on an entrance list at the banquet.) Although I don’t need the check until April 1, I do need the ticket-request and mail information as soon as possible so that we can begin coordinating seating and meal planning with the Sonoma Chicken Coop.
Please note that the Sonoma Chicken Coop banquet room seats only 200 people, and based on initial response, I think we’ll sell most if not all of the available tickets. The Sonoma Chicken Coop has a large bar on its main floor, and if there’s enough interest, they can set up a dance floor for us in the banquet room after dinner.
OTHER REUNION NEWS
The City of Campbell has made a display case in the foyer of the gym at the Campbell Community Center (the former Campbell High) available for the Campbell Baseball Hall of Fame, and that will be its initial location. (I will revamp TheLastBaseballTown.com to give the Hall of Fame an online presence as well.) Space in that display window is limited, and at some point we may want a larger display area. One possibility is a classroom at the Community Center, which I’m told has several rooms available for long-term rental. The room could be opened for public view at pre-determined times by designated volunteers from the Campbell Baseball Heritage committee that I hope will be established at the April 9 reception/meeting described above.
Any donations of photos, trophies, programs and other appropriate Campbell baseball artifacts will be welcomed once we have the site in place, although whether we can accept all of them will depend on the space available. Let me know if you have any items that you might be interested in donating.
As I indicated previously, the Hall of Fame selection process is not intended to be exclusionary, and if you believe that deserving players, managers, coaches and contributors have been left out, I strongly urge you to attend the April 9 meeting and become part of the future process. I think the 10 charter nominees’ credentials are indisputable; it will be up to others to determine whether they are the first 10 Hall of Fame members, or the only 10. My intent is to put the process into other hands as completely as possible after this event, and hopefully that will be achieved during the April 9 meeting.
If you plan to attend any or all of the Campbell Baseball Heritage Weekend events, please let me know as soon as possible. This project is not for financial gain; in fact, the food price quoted above is significantly lower than the actual cost. I will pay the difference and all the other associated expenses because I want this celebration to become an annual event that honors and acknowledges Campbell’s rich baseball history, and I want future generations to be aware that world-class baseball was played in our city over a very long period of time. (The Campbell Baseball Heritage Fund will continue after this event as a fund-raising arm for future events and other activities to promote and preserve the youth baseball heritage in Campbell.) At the same time, I don’t want to take a huge financial bath either, and I need to know well in advance what kind of turnout to expect. So the sooner you can finalize your plans, the better.
That’s where we stand on this end. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at charles_hildebrand@att.net or (408) 879-9208.
Chuck Hildebrand
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"THE LAST BASEBALL TOWN" NOW ON SALE
"The Last Baseball Town," which chronicles the history of the Campbell youth baseball program that reached 14 World Series from 1960-87, is now on sale on Amazon.com; the direct link is http://www.amazon.com/Last-Baseball-Town-unprecedented-unduplicated/dp/1439234442/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242687223&sr=8-3, The book also can be purchased on www.booksurge.com, and at Recycle Bookstore West. 275 E. Campbell Avenue in downtown Campbell. We are grateful to Recycle Bookstore West for carrying the book. Please check them out next time you're in downtown Campbell. The phone number there is (408) 370-3514.charles_hildebrand@att.net
The Last Baseball Town” is the story of an otherwise-ordinary middle-class suburban California community that became the youth baseball capital of America without any of the trappings usually associated with a sports dynasty. From 1960-87, the Campbell youth baseball system sent 14 teams to World Series play, including four Little League World Series, winning six and finishing second in five. Yet there was no master plan, and Campbell never intended to become what it became in youth baseball. It happened because of qualities beyond talent, facilities, money and obsession – personal qualities and altruism that were translated into baseball excellence. This book chronicles the history of youth baseball in Campbell from its origins before World War I through the late 1970s when it won four national championships in four years. It examines in detail Campbell’s greatest teams and achievements, and the individuals whose accomplishments and personalities shaped Campbell baseball. It also details some of the reasons that the magic dissipated, and offers insights about the nature of youth baseball that will resonate with anyone who has children involved in the sport.
Author Chuck Hildebrand grew up in Campbell and was involved with the youth baseball program there in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later coached youth baseball in several communities during his career as a sports journalist. A native of Palo Alto, Hildebrand worked for the now-defunct Peninsula Times Tribune in Palo Alto from 1979-92 before moving to Nevada in 1997 and establishing NevadaPrep.com, a pioneering on-line publication that covered high school sports throughout Nevada. Hildebrand also is the author of “Bronco Sundays,” a book about the history of Santa Clara University’s football program; and “Dick Davey: A Basketball Life Richly Led, a biography of the former Santa Clara basketball coach.” He sold NevadaPrep.com and returned to Campbell in 2008, and works as a free-lance writer.
Google
Yahoo
Email
RSS Feed
Email Subscription