As part of the buildup to the 75th Anniversary celebration for Claremont McKenna College (visit CMC's 75th Anniversary Countdown Page to learn more), we are reliving many of the great moments from CMS athletic department history over the 75-day countdown from April 17 to July 1. If you were a part of this great moment and would like to add to the memories, or if you would like to submit your memories of your own favorite CMS Athletics moment, fill out the form on our main 75th Anniversary page.
Great Moments from 75 Years of Athletics
1975 Baseball Wins SCIAC Title, Takes Wild 20-19 NAIA Win Over La Verne
The Claremont-Mudd Baseball team was on a strong run of success heading into the 1975 season with six straight NAIA postseason bids. It finished as the runner-up in the SCIAC standings for three straight seasons from 1972-74, though, as La Verne's entry into the league saw the Leopards emerge as a thorn in the Stags' side. In 1975, though, CMS was able to sweep a doubleheader from La Verne (3-2, 4-2) to gain the early upper hand. The Stags (11-4) entered the final weekend of the regular season against 10-5 Whittier still locked in a tight race, and came through with a big three-game sweep to edge out the Leopards by one game, winning 8-7, 19-9 and 12-0.
For good measure, Claremont-Mudd defeated La Verne 20-19 in a wild first-round game in the NAIA District playoffs, but the Leopards were able to come back through the loser's bracket and advance to regionals. Outfielders Wynnsan Moore and Jon Begerow earned All-District honors, while Joe Maiberger and Bob Turek joined them on the All-SCIAC first team and Norm Richards and Gregg Thompson were on the second team. CMS was ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation during the year, and was the top-seeded team in the district.
Steve Rodriguez:
I was so happy when Coach Arce let me suit up for the varsity baseball team at the end of the 75 season. I took it as my reward for toiling on the JV team and being crazy enough to go out for the baseball team after being a distance runner. What was most memorable, though, was listening to Coach Arce deliver a locker room speech to the team before we got on the bus to play that wacky 20-19 game against La Verne. He didn't give a typical rah-rah jock speech. It was a measured, yet motivating speech in which he essentially laid out his vision for CMC baseball. He read a couple letters from local baseball people who congratulated CMC for beating La Verne for the conference championship. He let us know that it was quite a feat for a team coming from a top academic school to compete with a team like La Verne, where players went to school primarily to play baseball.
I would say the speech was the kind you would expect from a very articulate, knowledgable, motivating professor. In short, a very classy speech. I never spoke to anyone else on the baseball team about that speech--maybe they just thought it was more coach talk--but it stuck in my mind and I used it as a model for how to talk to young people when I served as a high school teacher.
Here are a few more things I remember about that playoff series…after beating La Verne that first game, everyone momentarily thought it would be smooth sailing because La Verne started to lose their second game (I think against Azusa Pacific) in the double elimination tournament, but we found out the next day that the game had been stopped because the park's sprinklers came on and they couldn't be turned off. The next day, the game was continued, and La Verne got their momentum back and miraculously came back to win the game and stay in the tournament.
I remember that Dan Graham of La Verne hit four home runs in that 20-19 game. As we left the field that night, we passed him in the parking lot. He was leaning against a car looking sad, mourning the loss. I remember one of our players, I think it was Joe Maiberger, muttering to me…"Why's he looking so sad. He just hit four home runs. If I hit four home runs I wouldn't be sad."
I remember that La Verne's great pitcher Dan Quisenberry had a rubber arm that allowed him to pitch endless innings without getting tired. I guess that's why he went on to become a great MLB relief pitcher.
I recall the relatively short distances to the Quigley Field outfield fences, which accounted in large part for the high scoring. I remember one of our catchers, Tom Condon, got beaned in the head and had to leave that 20-19 game. I faintly recall Steve Lopez standing over Condon as he was laying on the ground and saying something like "I don't think you can play any more of this game," and a desperate Coach Arce quickly snapping back, "Hey, let him make his own decision." LOL.
I faintly remember the climactic ending to the 20-19 game…a throw from the Wynsann Moore, our catcher holding on to it to squelch La Verne's last attempt to score.
I remember that in the second game against La Verne, the score got out of hand, with La Verne in the lead, and Coach Arce put me in to pitch so he could save all his good arms for the third and final game against La Verne. For two or three innings,I served as cannon fodder, but I didn't care. I knew beforehand how good La Verne was. I had gone to school at Chaffey High with several of their players (i.e., Wayne Redfearn and Ralphie Valadez and Bill Stark), and Nicke Leyva was my cousin. But I wasn't that intimidated. At the risk of sounding corny, I felt very confident because I had such an awesome CMC team backing me up. That was one impressive group of individuals—at every position. All of them great athletes. And it was almost the same starting team the following year.
Finally, I want to say that CMC's ability to compete with La Verne is especially significant in retrospect when you consider that their 75 team had at least 4 guys who eventually got signed by a MLB team (either in 75 or 76). We had none. By the way, when I was stationed on the East Coast with the Marine Corps I went to my first Baltimore Orioles game in 1980. I looked out on the field and there was Dan Graham. I wanted to shout "Hey, I played against that guy, and he killed us."
I always thought one interesting story about that season was Bob Turek's hitting accomplishment that occurred one week during the regular season. I couldn't recall the exact circumstances, so I asked him via email to elaborate. Here is what he had to say:
Bob Turek:
I hit 5 home runs in one week (3 games) starting with one in a Saturday game against Cal Tech (no fence and came out of a slump on that one), one against Pomona on Tuesday, and then three in first game of a doubleheader with Pomona on the next Saturday. Ridiculously in the zone on that Saturday, high school buddy Biff Sherman was catching for Pomona so particularly sweet. Then Todd Bower played second base in second game of doubleheader, and I pinch hit late in the game. I think I got a double. The school paper called me "Big Stick" which led to Philips Hall hazing.
Steve Lopez:
I really enjoyed Steve Rodriguez's recollection of that 20-19 La Verne game. We probably all remember that game and the subsequent games that we lost and didn't advance. The memory that stands out to me is that there were two outs in the ninth inning and we were up 20-19 after going back and forth throughout the game. La Verne had a runner at second base. The hitter hits a ground ball up the middle to center field. Wynsann fields the ball cleanly and throws a strike to the catcher and the LaVerne runner slides in a close play at home and the ump calls him out. Game ends. We win. Unfortunately, we lost back to back games to La Verne after they came back from the loser's bracket.
1975 Baseball Roster
Head Coach: Bill Arce
Assistant Coaches: Bob Trujillo, Jack Brady, Gary Rattet
Jon Begerow (RF, CMC)
Todd Bower (2B, CMC)
Pat Carrigan (P, CMC)
Thomas Condon (C, CMC)
Richard Glaze (P, HMC)
Allan Golad (LF, CMC)
Geoffery Hueter (P, HMC)
Robert Ingram (3B, CMC)
Chris Kempster (P, CMC)
Bradley Koppel (C, OF)
Steven Lopez (CMC)
Joe Maiberger (P, CMC)
Steve Marmaduke (C, CMC)
Wynnsan Moore (CF, CMC)
Jamie Opatrny (3B, CMC)
Matthew Perry (SS, CMC)
Robert Phee (P, CMC)
Norman Richards (P, CMC)
Jeff Robinson (OF, CMC)
Mark Roque (OF/C, CMC)
Andy Roundtree (SS, CMC)
Mark Stott (1B, CMC)
Gregg Thompson (C, CMC)
Robert Turek (2B, CMC)
Ian Wilcox (P, HMC)
John Williams (P, CMC)
