Sports : Wednesday, June 07, 2000

by Danny O'Neil
Seattle Times Eastside bureau

SEATTLE - Coach Jim Stewart doesn't hold tryouts for his Chaffey Baseball Club.

Spots on the summer-league team are by invitation.

"He calls you," said Mark Verbon.

Verbon's son, Nick, is in his first season with Chaffey. A sophomore at Marysville-Pilchuck, Nick Verbon commutes 45 minutes to games at Husky Ballpark, a small price to play for one of the state's elite summer-league teams.

Chaffey's legacy of baseball talent is reason enough to make the trip. In 20 years, at least four Chaffey alumni have reached the major leagues. Seven members of this year's team will play Division I college baseball next season. Catcher Mike Russell of Bothell was chosen in the ninth round of the major-league baseball draft on Monday.

Seven of the 21 players are from the Eastside, led by Division I scholarship signees Mike Wagner, Josh Conover, Brian Carter and Mike Hass. Sophomores Nick Hundley (Lake Washington) and Mike Stoves (Juanita) are the prospects for the future.

But Chaffey is more than a high-caliber program in the 16-team Greater Seattle Youth Baseball League. For the past eight seasons, the team's cumulative grade average has been above 3.5. The players don't wear jewelry, and facial hair is a no-no as Kentridge's Andy Iddings found out earlier this year.

"I had to lose a very nice goatee," Iddings said. "We were having a contest at school, who could grow the nicest one, and I was cut off about three days into it."

The back-to-basics attitude starts at the top with Herb Chaffey, owner of one of the most prestigious home-building corporations in the state. He started as co-sponsor 20 years ago, and the team has worn his name for 19 seasons. He missed only five of the more than 70 games Chaffey played last summer.

Chaffey played Seattle Arsenal in a practice game at Safeco Field last year, the first game at the facility. Chaffey practices and plays at Husky Ballpark, a Division I facility that becomes easy to get used to, said Woodinville left-hander Brian Carter.

"At first, it was pretty awesome," Carter said. "You would run around to see how bouncy the turf is, but I've kind of gotten used to it. Now, you get kind of spoiled."

Carter is a 6-foot-5 left-hander, one of four players on the team who has signed a baseball scholarship with Washington.

Stewart said this year's team is one his best defensive squads ever, quite a compliment considering the legacy of talent that has come through. From major leaguers Tom Lampkin to Glendon Rusch to up-and-coming prospects like the Mariners' Willie Bloomquist, the honor roll is distinguished. In 1995, Chaffey won 43 consecutive games with a team that included pitchers Brian Falkenborg and David Riske, who both made their major-league debuts last season.

But Stewart is just as proud of Scott Hormel and Christian Shuey as he is of major-league achievements. Hormel played on the first Chaffey team in 1980, and he is now an orthopedic surgeon. Shuey played for the team in '92 and has graduated from dental school.

Hormel played college baseball at Washington and Lewis-Clark State before beginning medical school in 1986. For two summers he worked as part of Stewart's coaching staff.

"It was a way to give something back," Hormel said. "They had given me so much over the years, this was a way of giving something back to the game and to them by working with the players."

The program is a magnet for top talent from the area. The players come from as far north as Abe Silvestri, a senior at Stanwood. John Otness drives north from Tacoma, and four players commute by ferry from Kitsap County.

Mark Verbon and son, Nick, come from Marysville for the game, which is a no-brainer of a decision. Verbon was a minor-league pitcher for the Mariners, who advanced as far as Class AA, and he appreciates how Stewart teaches the players to respect the game.

"Every one of these kids should be thankful for what they're getting," Verbon said. "And I think they are."

		West still sponsors team

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