Sink to Retire as Birmingham Baseball Coach

Wayne Sink, the Birmingham High baseball coach since 1978, is retiring from coaching at the end of the season. But he might have saved the best for last.

Sink, 54, whose varsity teams have never won a league title, will be coaching the favorite in the Mid-Valley League. Yet even with one of his more talented teams coming back, Sink says it was time to hand over the reins.

“I just decided it was time to get out of coaching,” he said. “There’s not enough satisfaction to warrant staying around.

“Satisfaction comes from winning . . . There are other things I’d rather do.”

Sink, who works in the school’s audio-visual department and also teaches physical education, will remain at Birmingham as a teacher.

A graduate of Glendale High and Occidental College, Sink served four years as an assistant football and baseball coach at Occidental before becoming a coach at Birmingham in 1963. Sink also has coached the Valley Encino-Tarzana American Legion baseball team since 1978.

Sink said he will recommend that David Contreras, the Birmingham junior varsity baseball coach and an assistant with the Legion team, be hired as his replacement.

The Braves, who finished 8-12 last season and third in the Mid-Valley at 6-10, may be as deep as any team in Sink’s career; only two players from the 1989 team were lost to graduation. Pitchers Josh Brown and Jason Mansfield return, as do outfielder Danny Larson and infielder Justin Bass.

“In terms of experience, we’re as good as any I can remember,” Sink said.