Reunion Game Honors Coach Who Spanned Generations

The guys at the machine shop probably don’t know it, but once upon a time, people called Bill Moore “Bullet” the way George Herman Ruth was called “Babe.”

Bullet Moore, they called him--at least his grandmother says so--but that was back in Little League, and by the time he hit his teens, the fastball was gone. Some athletes peak too soon. Even so, Moore still had his curve, and he made varsity at Downey’s Warren High School back in 1970.

Now, plenty of major leaguers are going strong at 37, but until Saturday the erstwhile Bullet hadn’t pitched competitively in 20 years.

The occasion was Coach Buck Taylor’s annual Warren High baseball reunion, and 77-year-old Georgia Moore had driven all the way out from Twentynine Palms to see her grandson pitch against her great-grandson, Billy, who’s on Warren’s varsity now. She’d be rooting, she said, for old Bullet.

Baseball is something of a family affair at Warren, and it’s not just that four members of the current Bear varsity are second-generation Taylor charges. No, it’s Taylor himself, a lumbering, 6-foot, 4-inch ex-pitcher who, as ballplayers like to say, had a cup of coffee in the minors before he found a home at Warren.

He arrived in 1957, and this being 1990, Taylor has been coaching for three decades.

“To me it’s like a second family,” Taylor said. “When we’re through here, we’ll go out and drink a few beers. Now, they were probably doing that when they were playing for me, but back then I couldn’t do it with ‘em.”

Like several players, Rich Morrison, now 42 and a veteran of Warren’s championship 1965 team, said he had no clue as to Taylor’s age. “I remember thinking he was old when we were playing for him. I remember going to a retirement dinner for him, then a few years later I hear he’s coaching.”

Taylor remembered the dinner too. “I kept the presents,” he said.

Not that Taylor, at 57, is all that old; it’s more that he’s timeless. There are coaches who have been around longer, coaches who have compiled better won-loss records. In 26 years as head baseball coach--he took a few off when he “retired” to be athletic director--he has a 273-256-5 record.

Few coaches, however, inspire as much loyalty. Despite the threat of a rain-out, about 60 players dating from 1962 came out for Saturday’s double-header, a gathering of the Bears of Spring, Summer and, now, late Summer.

“It’s really all in respect for him--how much we all enjoyed playing for him,” said the Class of ‘69’s Rick Burleson, the former California Angels shortshop who retired in 1987. The most successful of four Taylor players who made it to the big leagues, Burleson now scouts for the Oakland A’s and was an organizer of Saturday’s double-header.

Kim Hadley had traveled from Phoenix to play ball and, 25 years later, reminisced about the glory days. Hadley was part of the ’65 team that, he recalled, “wasn’t supposed to do anything. But we just jelled.”

Hadley, Morrison and their teammates remembered how they won the league championship and marched through the C.I.F. 4-A playoffs, right to the finals against Arcadia High. But Arcadia had a flamethrower named Bill Seinsoth who mowed them down, 5-0. Seinsoth went on to USC and signed with the Dodgers, but died in a car crash.

Taylor had small alumni-varsity games in years past for tuneups, but this was the third such reunion. The word reached Hadley through his younger brother, Terry, who also played for Taylor. Burleson found Terry Hadley in Oklahoma and Terry told Kim.

Some hadn’t played in decades, but all were issued the tight double-knit bright yellow and navy blue jerseys. The effect was not always flattering.

“The jerseys have shrunk,” observed Wayne Hogarth of the class of ’64. “And the bases are farther apart than they used to be.”

Concessions were made. Taylor’s varsity squad played the ‘80s alumni, and ‘60s played the ‘70s.

Two old-timers, Bill Moore and Ron Benadom (Class of ‘62) were allowed to join the ‘80s squad, enabling them to play against their sons. Between them, Moore and Benadom had three at bats. They struck out all three times.

Bill Moore rode the bench most of the game and never did get to pitch against his son. But with the alumni leading 8-3 with one out left in the game, the varsity was threatening. The bases were loaded and Warren’s current star--shortshop Abijah Alastra, who batted .438 in 1989--came to the plate.

The spent Bullet was called on to shut him down.

A passed ball brought in one run. Then Moore threw his curve, and Alastra hit a fly ball to center to end the game.

“Popped him up,” Moore said.