Legion baseball led to a life-changing move

I have made my home in Spokane for 35 years. How I came to be in Spokane is my American Legion Baseball memory.

My sophomore and junior years at Pasco High School, I was the starting third baseman on the varsity baseball team. My senior year the coach and I had a “difference of opinion” and I didn’t play baseball at all. Had it not been for American Legion Baseball the summer after I graduated from high school, I would probably still be working on the farm in the basin near the Tri-Cities.

That summer, 1975, I was asked to play on the first “Pasco-Kennewick Dusters” American Legion baseball team. The team was made up of guys from Pasco, Kennewick and Kamiakin. We also had one guy each from Prosser and Connell. We were a really good team, but could never manage to get past the Yakima Beetles, but no one else could either that year.

That year the Yakima Beetles won the American Legion World Series! Dave Edler, who played for the Beetles that year, a former Seattle Mariner and former mayor of Yakima said: “The toughest team we ever faced was back home; the Dusters!”

We had an awards banquet for our American Legion team at the end of the season. The CBC (Columbia Basin College) football coach Larry Hattemer was the guest speaker. After the banquet he asked me where I was going to college.

“I’m not,” I responded.

He asked me to come by his office so we could talk about it.

I went to see him the following week and while I was there he called Bill Johnson, the baseball coach at Spokane Falls Community College. He told him he had a player he’d like to find a place to play.

“Do you need any players for the fall, Bill?” he asked.

“I need a catcher.” Coach Johnson replied.

Coach Hattemer cupped the phone, turned to me and asked me in a whisper, “Can you catch?”

“I play third base.” I said.

Taking his hand off the phone Coach Hattemer proudly told Coach Johnson; “Yeah, this kid’s a catcher!”

Coach Johnson took me sight unseen.

Long story short, I played catcher two years at Spokane Falls Community College, set the record that year for most home runs in a single season, and ended up being drafted by Major League Baseball’s California Angels.

I stayed in Spokane and raised my family. Continuing the baseball legacy, both my sons have played American Legion baseball. My oldest son, Grant, attended Mead High School where he was the MVP in the GSL and still holds the record for most RBIs in a single season with 46.

My youngest son, Cody, played for Lakeside High School. He then went to Spokane Falls Community College. In his sophomore year at the Falls, he tied the record for most hits in a single season with 71 and batted .432. He just finished his college career at Western Oregon University where he was on the all-conference team. Cody is coaching an American Legion team in Salem, Ore., this summer.

We all benefited from American Legion Baseball. They were some of the best times of our lives. We are hoping Cody’s team makes it to the World Series here in Spokane. Before long my grandson Cy will be swinging a bat as well to continue the family tradition.