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In the Pipeline: Pacific Coast League alumni, fans have a ball at reunion

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The group may get smaller each year, but it’s no less passionate in its enthusiasm. That’s what happens when a bunch of old players and fans get together to talk baseball. And not just any baseball, but the charming and mythical Pacific Coast League.

In the first half of the 20th century, the Pacific Coast League was a premier collection of West Coast baseball teams, including the Hollywood Stars, Los Angeles Angels, Oakland Oaks, San Francisco Seals, San Diego Padres, Sacramento Solons and Seattle Rainiers.

Future major-league stars such as Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams came up through the PCL. But by the late 1950s, when the big-league Dodgers and Giants migrated west, the PCL’s status as a near-major league was over. It is now a Triple A minor league with 16 teams, only two of which — Fresno and Sacramento — are in California.

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Today, the spirit of the league’s heyday is kept alive by Richard Beverage, founder and president of the historical society dedicated to the PCL. For decades he has held a reunion event, the past two years in Huntington Beach.

At the Central Library on Saturday, memories and stories were served up like so many sliders and curveballs. Paul Pettit held court through most of the morning until lunch. And why wouldn’t people want to hear his stories? After all, he was baseball’s first true “bonus baby” after signing a $100,000 contract in 1951 with the Pittsburgh Pirates. And no wonder. In high school, he had pitched six no-hitters. And in one 12-inning game, he struck out 27 batters.

But the left-handed pitcher didn’t quite pan out in the majors. His best days as a player were in the PCL as an outfielder for the Hollywood Stars.

Pettit, now in his mid-80s, described for me what he felt made the old league so special.

“I think a lot of it had to do with how close fans could get to the players, especially at Gilmore Field, where we played in Hollywood,” he said. “When we came off the field, you could almost touch a fan. You could have little conversations with people in the stands. Of course, you also had to watch your language if there were women and children around, but that was OK. People would root you on if you were having a rough day, and you could really hear them. There was a great relationship between the players and fans.

“Today, I think it’s gotten very impersonal. A lot of the magic was lost when the Dodgers moved to California [from Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1958], because all of a sudden the fans got pushed back away from the field. I still follow baseball today and I love my Angels. But I miss those days when the players and fans could actually talk to each other during a game.”

The biggest memorabilia display at the event belonged to Jessica Harris, granddaughter of legendary PCL center fielder Arnold “Jigger” Statz. Even today, Statz’s numbers are impressive. When he retired in 1942 at age 45, he held the baseball record for most games played as a professional: 3,473. Of those games, 683 were in the majors and the rest in the PCL, including 18 seasons with the Los Angeles Angels. He was a charter member of the league from 1903 through 1957.

Statz is one of only seven players, along with Pete Rose, Ty Cobb, Julio Franco, Hank Aaron, Ichiro Suzuki and Stan Musial, to amass at least 4,000 combined hits in major and other pro leagues.

For Statz’s granddaughter, preserving his legend is very important.

“I grew up with him. We had three generations of family members living under one roof in Los Angeles. And it was wonderful,” she said. “It wasn’t until 1976, when my grandfather was invited to play at an old-timers game at Dodger Stadium, that it really hit me the kind of baseball career he had had.”

Harris brought one of Statz’s outfield gloves. The palm is famously cut out so he could feel the impact of the ball against his skin. There also was a get-well letter from President Reagan from 1983. Statz had served as a technical advisor in the 1950s when Reagan portrayed Grover Cleveland Alexander in the film “The Winning Team.”

Statz’s jerseys, cleats and other artifacts were carefully laid out so longtime fans could connect with one of the league’s top players.

I think my favorite story of the day came from Bud Gardner, a former standout college player in San Diego who as a boy had the opportunity to serve as a batboy for the PCL’s San Diego Padres at old Lane Field.

“One day, another kid working for the team ran out to the field and told me that Joe DiMaggio was actually in the Padres dugout,” he said. “I just didn’t believe it. Joe DiMaggio? But as it turned out, it was true. The great Lefty O’Doul was managing the Padres then, and he and DiMaggio were business partners up in San Francisco. When I came in off the field, there he was right in front of us. He was signing some baseballs and he was nice enough to give me one.

“After the game, DiMaggio motioned out to his car, which he was able to park right next to the home plate entrance behind our dugout. ‘Hey, my wife, Marilyn Monroe, is waiting for me in the car,’ he said. ‘We’re driving down to Ensenada for a little vacation. Would you like her to sign your baseball too?’

“‘No thanks,’ I told him. I mean, what was better than just having Joe DiMaggio’s autograph on a baseball?”

With a smile, Gardner added that he recently saw a ball signed by DiMaggio and Monroe go for $65,000 at an auction.

But it’s not like he never added anything to the ball. It is now adorned with the signatures of 12 Hall of Famers.

Gardner’s son Jeffrey became a major-league baseball player for the San Diego Padres — who supplanted the PCL team in 1969 — the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos. Today he scouts for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

As Yogi Berra said, “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.”

Especially when fans of the old Pacific Coast League get together.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 25 books, including “Legendary Locals of Huntington Beach.” You can follow him on Twitter @chrisepting or at facebook.com/hbindependent.

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