Copyright © 2000 The Seattle Times
Company
Sports : Wednesday, June 14, 2000
A
tradition of excellence
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," Mark Verbon said.
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
recently chosen in the ninth round of the major-league baseball
draft.
Verbon joins Zach Kimball of Shorewood, Chris Minaker of
Edmonds-Woodway and Abe Silvestri on the Chaffey roster this
summer. Silvestri, who has a scholarship to pitch for Edmonds Community
College next season, is the only graduated senior among the four.
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-point 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 is 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
signed a baseball scholarship with Washington.
Stewart said this year's team is one of 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 is now an orthopedic surgeon. Shuey played for the team
in '92 and 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. Silvestri, a
pitcher and infielder, comes from as far north as Stanwood. John Otness
drives north from Tacoma, and four players commute by ferry from Kitsap
County.
Verbon, who was a minor-league pitcher for the Mariners, 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."
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