1953 Baseball: La Jolla Almost Wins It All With “Pupil” Coach
Walt Harvey was a football and track coach and once confessed he “didn’t know anything about baseball.”
Harvey was a 1936 Hoover High classmate and friend of Les Cassie, who was a successful baseball coach at San Diego High. Cassie didn’t know it but he deserved an assist when Harvey found himself coaching the varsity at La Jolla and figuritively went to school.
Harvey took his self-described lack of knowledge to the San Diego State library and borrowed books detailing baseball strategy and made it a point to read the baseball-oriented master’s degree thesis of his old friend, Les Cassie.
That La Jolla won the City Prep League championship and beat Cassie’s San Diego team, was only part of the Vikings’ success.
Behind pitcher Art Weber, who posted a 16-3 record and wielded a powerful bat, La Jolla and Harvey, who coached the Vikings’ football team to playoff appearances in 1951 and ’52, went all the way to the CIF Southern Section championship game.
Weber was the Southern California player of the year and teammate and first baseman Eddie Olsen was a second-team choice.
Cassie would continue to have outstanding teams at San Diego, but Harvey moved on, leaving baseball and building championship football and track programs at fledglings Lincoln and Crawford.
Despite a loss to Compton in the CIF finals, La Jolla became the third different team in three seasons from San Diego to reach the big game. Grossmont won in 1951 and San Diego in 1952.
2/28/53
Twenty-four teams, including outsiders Fullerton, Inglewood, Santa Monica, and Glendale Hoover, were announced as participants in the third annual Lions Tournament at the end of March.
A 16-team, large-school division would be accompanied by an eight-team small-schools’ division.
–San Diego exploded for eight runs in the first two innings and defeated Sweetwater, 12-2. It was the Hillers’ second straight over the well-regarded Metropolitan League team.
Tony Asaro and Horace Tucker each had two hits and Lee Babbitt allowed the Red Devils three hits.
3/17/53
San Diego moved to 8-0 behind a one-hit pitching performance by Rudy Venzor, who stopped the 8-1 Los Angeles Loyola Cubs, 10-1.
City Prep League middle-of-the-road Hoover took it to Metro power Chula Vista, 14-0, on the Spartans’ diamond.
3/24/53
Chula Vista opened the Metro League campaign with a 10-0 win at Escondido. Bobby Handley scattered eight hits and Bob West hit four singles in four times at bat.
Point Loma scored 10 runs in the first inning and routed the visiting San Diego State frosh, 13-1.
Ronnie Robertson had three hits including a home run and double for the Pointers; Bill Martin had three hits and four runs batted in, and Bob Roeder held the collegians to four hits.
3/30/53
LIONS TOURNAMENT
Dialing down from nine innings, games were scheduled for seven with no time limit.
One exception.
Play was terminated after five innings with San Dieguito ahead of Julian, 18-3, in the small schools’ division.
San Diego teams banished all five visiting clubs into the consolation bracket.
Sophomores Ron Wilkins and Dick Mesa of Hoover combined to hurl a no-hitter in an 11-2 win over Montebello.
Southpaw Wilkins was relieved by right-hander Mesa after a wild streak in the fifth inning as the Oilers scored twice.
–San Diego’s Rudy Venzor pitched a two-hitter and the Hillers topped Inglewood, 6-0.
–St. Augustine edged Glendale Hoover, 3-2; La Jolla whipped Santa Monica, 10-2, and Point Loma nipped Fullerton, 3-2.
3/31/53
It was doubleheader day. Quarterfinals in the morning, lunch, and the afternoon semifinal in the large schools’ division, and championship game for the small schools
Mar Vista won the eight-team small schools’ bracket, 9-0 over Oceanside and 6-2 over Yuma at Point Loma High.
Jesus Morales’ and Jim Bragg’s three-hit pitching checked the Pirates in the morning and Morales followed with a three-hitter that stopped the Arizona entry.
If there was an 11-run rule, Ramona would have sued for relief. Fallbrook butchered the Bulldogs, 26-0, including a 10-run fifth inning.
4/1/53
HILLERS, POINTERS IN FINAL
San Diego pounded St. Augustine, 15-1 in the quarterfinals. Rudy Venzor outdueled Art Weber in a 2-1 semifinals victory over La Jolla.
Richie Johnson’s two-run single in the top of the sixth at San Diego State offset an RBI single by La Jolla’s Joe Barrington in the bottom of the seventh.
Of Vikings pitcher Weber, San Diego coach Les Cassie said, “We’ll have to be lucky to beat that boy again. He’s really good.”
(Cassie was prophetic. Weber would lead La Jolla to a sweep of the teams’ two-game league series).
Bill Martin went the distance in Point Loma’s morning, 4-2 win over Chula Vista and Bob Snelling tamed Hoover, 6-0, in the afternoon, both games at San Diego State.
FINALS
San Diego and Point Loma were the undercard on a scheduled Pacific Coast League game at Lane Field between the San Diego Padres and Hollywood Stars.
The Hillers opened a 5-0 lead after two innings and cruised to their 15th win without loss, 9-1, behind Lee Babbitt’s four-hit pitching.
Eddie Boyle and Al Weymiller each had two hits and were the tandem that produced perhaps the play of the tournament.
Weymiller raced in to make a diving, one-handed catch of Frank Stevenson’s fly to shallow right field. Weymiller then made a throw from a kneeling position to Boyle at first base to double a runner.
Fullerton edged Inglewood, 4-2, for consolation honors.
4/8/53
Lee Babbitt allowed five hits and San Diego scored 3 runs in the fifth inning and defeated Helix, 3-2, in a CPL opener on the Helix diamond.
Dick Greenfield homered and Art Weber held visiting Hoover to two hits in a 3-2 La Jolla victory.
Chula Vista and San Dieguito each improved to 2-0 in the Metropolitan League, the Spartans dominating Mar Vista, 10-4, and the Mustangs pounding out 16 hits in a 21-6 win over North County neighbor Vista.
4/9/53
It was military day in the Southern Prep League.
Luis Marquez pitched a four-hitter and Brown Military shut out visiting Ramona, 12-0.
Pitcher Martinez struck out a reported 19 batters, which was virtually impossible. Army-Navy’s 19-4 victory at home over Mountain Empire went only five innings and Martinez would have faced only 15 hitters who made out.
Perhaps four batters reached first base after striking out but the catcher was charged with passed balls. Perhaps.
Chula Vista’s Bob Handley and Earl Jenson combined to pitch a one-hitter as the Spartans whipped San Dieguito, 9-3, to take the Metropolitan League lead with a 3-0 record.
Escondido handed Vista an 11-4 defeat, no doubt aided by the Panthers’ 10 errors.
4/10/53
The game story lede win in The San Diego Union:
“La Jolla High’s Art Weber exploded the myth of San Diego High invincibility with a slow curve, an occasional fastball, and a deceptive change of pace that limited the Hillers to three hits…”
Weber did not allow a hit until Floyd Robinson singled with two out in the eighth inning and the Vikings ahead, 7-0.
The 9-2 victory on the San Diego diamond represented the Hillers’ first loss after 16 victories and their third in the last 54 games.
Vikings first baseman Eddie Olsen had two hits in three times at bat, including a 350-foot home run.
4/13/53
Chula Vista and Sweetwater each improved to 4-0 in the Metropolitan League, the Spartans beating Vista, 18-4, and the Red Devils measuring San Dieguito, 7-1.
4/14/53
Art Weber hurled a three-hit, 8-2 win over Helix, helped in no small part by Highlanders pitchers, who issued 13 bases on balls and a defense which committed seven errors.
San Diego bounced back from its loss to La Jolla with a 20-hit attack that smothered Grossmont, 20-7. Hoover beat Point Loma, 15-4.
4/17/53
San Diego and Hoover each moved to 3-1 in the CPL, a half-game behind La Jolla, with victories of 8-1 and 6-3.
Rudy Venzor stopped the Point Loma on four hits and Frank Powell went the distance in Hoover’s 12-inning win over Kearny.
5/2/53
Horace Tucker’s grand slam home run in the sixth inning widened a 2-0 San Diego lead and led to a 9-1 victory over Helix and 6-1 Hillers league record.
Art Weber allowed five hits and hit a home run in La Jolla’s 9-3 win at Hoover.
Vikings Dick Greenfield, Jack Cravens, and Joe Barrington also took advantage of Hoover’s inviting ball park dimensions (short right field) with four-base hits.
5/4/53
Bob Handley and Earl Jenson combined to pitch a no-hitter in Chula Vista’s 1-0 shutout of Mar Vista. Lavon Baker singled home Al Aleman in the seventh inning.
At the end of the day the Spartans were 8-1, a game behind Sweetwater in the Metro.
5/12/53
Hoover and Kearny, tied at 4-4 after nine innings, had lengthening daylight on their side as they went another eight innings before the Cardinals pulled out a 5-4 victory.
Ron Wilkins went the first 11 innings for Hoover and then gave way to Frank Powell. Jim Schaubel scored the winning run.
The battery of Duke Hottell and Flaming went all the way for the Komets.
Sweetwater’s 10th straight win without a loss, 5-4 over San Dieguito, kept the Red Devils a game ahead of 9-1 Chula Vista, which beat Vista, 7-2.
5/15/53
Jack Lepore pitched a five-hitter and San Diego stayed mathematically alive in the CPL with an 8-0 win over Kearny. Days before La Jolla had gained a share of the title with a 6-0 win over Grossmont.
Chula Vista earned a tie for first in the Metro with a 3-0 win over Sweetwater that left both clubs with 10-1 records.
5/19/53
Chula Vista beat Oceanside, 5-2, and Vista shocked Sweetwater 5-2, as the Metropolitan League race ended amid a dramatic, 10-day swing.
The Spartans (11-1) trailed Sweetwater by one game with two remaining, but Sweetwater lost its last two to finish 10-2.
Bob Wilson hit a two-run home run and Lavon Baker drove in two with two singles in Chula Vista’s victory.
La Jolla became the third team in three seasons, following Grossmont and San Diego, to win the CPL as Art Weber advanced the Vikings to 10-1 in league play with a 6-0 win over Point Loma while San Diego (8-3) was losing to Hoover (7-4), 4-3.
Weber struck out seven, allowed six hits, and was 2 for 3 at the plate. Joe Barrington supported with a home run and Art Luppino singled, doubled, and tripled.
5/22/53
Art Weber’s two-run home run in the sixth inning erased a 1-0 Kearny lead and La Jolla finished the CPL season with a 3-1 victory and 11-1 record.
Hoover’s 11-4 win over Helix moved the Cardinals into a second-place tie with San Diego, each with an 8-4 record.
The Hillers finished 23-4 overall and out of the playoffs.
5/26/52
Fallbrook forfeited its first-round playoff to Chula Vista in the Southern Section small schools’ division playoffs.
La Jolla opened the major division playoffs at the home of the Citrus Belt League champion and left with a 12-6 win over San Bernardino.
The Vikings scored five runs in the fifth inning to break a 2-2 tie and added four more in the seventh.
Coach Walt Harvey relieved Art Weber with the Cardinals leading 12-2 after seven innings, saving the La Jolla ace for a quarterfinals test against Fullerton.
Dick Greenfield and Jack Cravens each had four hits and Eddie Olsen and Weber each drove in four runs.
5/28/53
Eddie Olsen and Joe Barrington ensured La Jolla’s home diamond, 10-8 win over Fullerton before about 1,100 persons at Scripps Field in the playoff quarterfinals.
The Vikings’ Art Weber had developed a sore arm after the game at San Bernardino and was restricted to playing shortstop.
Olsen, who delivered a run-producing, tie-breaking single in the sixth inning, was called on by coach Walt Harvey to relieve sophomore Dave Jordan in the eighth after Jordan had given up a two-run home run and loaded the bases on walks.
Olsen got a third out in the eighth and gave up a double to the lead-off batter in the ninth but then retired the next three hitters for the victory.
Joe Barrington’s three-run homer in the sixth gave the Vikings a 10-6 lead.
Chula Vista took a 5-3 lead in the top of the 10th inning at El Centro Central, but the host Spartans eliminated the visiting Spartans, 6-5.
Chula Vista ended the season with a 17-8 record.
6/3/53
Art Weber was relegated to outfield duty because of a sore arm, which had been receiving treatment from San Diego Padres trainer Les Cook, so Vikings coach Walt Harvey again turned to sophomore Dave Jordan for the semifinals test against the visiting, 20-7 Lynwood Knights.
Jordan responded with a tidy, six-hit, seven-strikeout performance as the Vikings broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning and scored three runs for a 5-2 victory.
Weber was hit by a pitch leading off the eighth, advanced on Eddie Olsen’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on reserve Hal Maler’s single
Maler had entered the game in the sixth inning after Jack Cravens was forced to retire when Cravens reinjured a groin muscle.
6/6/53
Almost 2,000 persons filled the Scripps Field stadium and the Vikings took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning of the CIF championship game against the Compton Tarbabes.
Art Weber, making his first start in 10 days, gave up a walk and a two-run homer to Mike Yeager that gave Compton a 3-2 lead in the seventh.
The visitors (23-2) scored two more runs in the ninth to clinch the championship, 5-2.
Weber, who homered in the second inning for the 24-4 Vikings, went the distance, his arm aching with every pitch he attempted.