2 Fired for Setting Baseball Jersey Ablaze : Little League: The dismissed team manager apologizes for the incident. But he and some parents say the disciplinary action by the league board of directors was extreme.

A Little League manager, dismissed along with his coach for burning an opponent’s jersey in an attempt to rally his team, apologized Thursday and called the incident a “gesture of fun” that was a unfortunate mistake.

“My coach and I made a wrong choice,” said Randy L. Pangborn, who has managed the Yankees of Anaheim Hills for six years. “It was done merely as a gesture of fun. People who know me know it was in fun. It was not malicious. For this, I am truly sorry.”

Anaheim Hills Little League officials disciplined Pangborn and his coach, Mark Leuenburger, late Wednesday night after a lengthy meeting of the board of directors at which Pangborn admitted that he and Leuenburger set fire to a replica of an A’s jersey. Several outraged parents who witnessed the incident had called league officials to complain.

But Pangborn and some parents said they believed that the discipline was extreme considering that Pangborn has managed the team for six years and has worked hard to improve the skills of his boys as well as to find adequate baseball fields for league play.

Officials not only stripped Pangborn of his team. They kicked him off the board for the remainder of the season, relieved him of his position as field director and removed him as manager of the league’s all-star team, a job to which the players elected him.

“Little League is supposed to be safe, build character and sportsmanship and show children how to get along,” said Robert Jackson, district administrator for 18 Little Leagues in Orange County. “This was not the right thing to do. I have not found anyone who thinks otherwise.”

Jackson said board members reviewed the incident at the meeting and were concerned about safety as well as the image of Little League managers. Although Pangborn’s record and his own presentation were considered, Jackson said, “the action taken was appropriate.”

“I asked them to forgive me,” Pangborn said. “I think the punishment was too harsh. People make mistakes, but I make one mistake on one day and those six years don’t count any more.”

Witnesses said the incident involving the jersey began about 5 p.m. Monday, half an hour before the Yankees and the undefeated A’s--teams made up of boys ages 10 to 12--took the field at Crescent Intermediate School on Gerda Drive.

During warm-ups, Pangborn and Leuenburger propped up a duplicate of a green and yellow A’s jersey on the pitcher’s mound with a stake. After being encouraged by Pangborn, Leuenburger set the jersey on fire with a lighter, witnesses said.

Although witnesses said they thought they saw opposing pitcher Todd Sterman’s number on the flaming jersey, Pangborn said it was the number 4, not 17. He also denied that two players were used to block the wind so the jersey could be lit.

Parents said the attempt to psych out the A’s apparently worked; the A’s lost, 3-1. The Yankees scored all their runs in the first inning, helped by errors, including a wild throw by Sterman that sailed over the first baseman’s head.

Ironically, Pangborn said, when the game was over Sterman and other A’s players ate pizza with the Yankees--”Sterman was with all my kids. There were no hard feelings.”

Parents who supported Pangborn said he is an excellent and devoted manager who will be missed. They said he gets involved with his players and gives out baseballs weekly to team members for achievements on the field. He has handed them out for no-hitters, home runs, hustle and player of the week.

“He is an intense coach, but an excellent coach,” said Brent Jones, whose son is on the Yankees. “The board has made a mistake. I don’t agree with what he did, but it has been blown all out of proportion. He is aggressive and outspoken, yet he is a big teddy bear. The kids are going to lose.”