The History of Santa Monica Boys Baseball

In 1952 a few enthusiastic Santa Monicans attempted to organize a boy's baseball program. Due to a lack of parental support, their venture failed. However, their efforts were not in vain. The ground work had been laid.

In 1953, with the help of the Santa Monica City Parks and Recreation Department, the Southern League (SL) was born. The new league's home field was Los Amigos Park (Spanish for: "My Friends Park.") The park was located off Hollister Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets; one block north of Ocean Park Boulevard. The League at that time was governed by the rules of "Little League Baseball, Inc."

The birth of the Western Boys Baseball Association (WBBA)

In 1956 the city of Santa Monica gave birth to WBBA. It was a program for boys 9 through 12. The intent was to provide the best program possible for kids who lived in the Pacific Time Zone, just as the name implies. The first league president was Lloyd Kaplan. He was the true father of boy's baseball in Santa Monica. Some have attributed that title to me. Lloyd was there when I arrived nine years later. The league had four teams; "Braves, Hiefs, Comets, and Hawks." The concept was; a program for boys supervised and administered by adults. (Not a program for adults using boys.) It was Baseball for all boys 9 throug 12 regardless of skill or other factors."

Most of the early organizational activities took place in late 1955. Through great effort, much time, and many meetings, rules, bylaws, and a constitution were adopted and incorporated under California state law in early 1956. Among the rules were:

1. The top priority must be child safety.
2. No member or officer at any level could be salaried. It must be a volunteer program.
3. WBBA must remain a democratic organization. Any League could submit a rules change 90 days prior to the annual president's meeting. At that meeting, the league representative could present their proposal. They could answer questions concerning it, lobby it, and cast their vote. All leagues had one vote.
4. No trophies could be awarded to any individual participant or player.

Their reasoning was that if God had blessed one kid with greater natural abilities that the others, his blessing was his reward. Nothing mankind would give him could compare to his original gift. Indiviuals shouldn't be rewarded with a gift for their gift. Later, the league agreed to permit a best sportsmanship award. Their reason being: utilizing good sportsmanship was a kid's choice, not a gift from above.

Duane Espy, the Colorado Rockies hitting coach was the first kid to receive a sportsmanship award. Duane and I became good friends a few years later. I could see they made a great choice.

The original WBBA Board of Directors were: Lloyd Kaplan and four other guys from Santa Monica, Ronald Brocking, Ron Pickering, Charles Smith, and Robert Ward. Additionally, there were four members from Utah. William Coltrin (a Salt Lake Tribune sports writer); Gayle Nielson, Salt Lake City; Andy Roberts; Toole and Merlin Lack of Provo. WBBA began at Los Amigos Park and expanded throughout California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and British Columbia.

In 1956, Santa Monica Southern hosted the first WBBA World Series at Los Amigos Park. The participants consisted of teams from Santa Monica's National League, Woodland Hills, CA; Provo, UT; and Idaho Falls, ID. Woodland Hills emerged as the champions.

In 1957, the Southern League traveled to Salt Lake City and won the WBBA World Series. A member of that team, Skippy Quinn, later pitched for the Milwaukee Braves and Houston Astros. Other Santa Monica Southern League boys who have since played professionally are: Frank Casarez, Pitcher (S.F. Giants org.); Albert Curtis, 3rd base (Oakland As org.); Duane Espy, 2nd base (Milwaukee Brewers org.); Garry Humpson, 1st base (Canada's Victoria Blues); Mel Kaufman, line backer (Washington Redskins); Joe Lovitto, OF (Cleaveland Indians); Rick Monday, OF (Chicago Cubs & LA Dodgers); Dennis Smith, Safety (Denver Broncos); and James Cooper, OF (NY Yankees org.).

I became involved in WBBA in 1965. At that time the team names were: CArdinals, Cubs, Giants, and Pirates. Lloyd Kaplan and his wife Doris were still actively involved at the time. Lloyd was a good man, a smart man, and a darn good baseball coach. He coached the major Cubs.

Other good friends I came to know were Jim Smith, Pirates coach; Gene Cleough, Cardinals coach (Gene was a top Dodger prospect in the Brooklyn era. He played for Montreal, Canada, the AAA affiliate in the Dodgers farm system. He couldn't break into a Dodger outfield consisting of Jackie Robinson in left field, Duke Snyder in center field (both Hall of Fame inductees) and batting champion Carl Furillo in right field); Les Hymes, league president; Elmer Thompson, treasurer; and Walt Dawson. Walt became my coaching assistant with the mojor Giants team. Walt was a big help to me. He believed in me as a coach and a board member at a time when I was green and inexperienced.