San Pedro Team Earns Trip to Series

The Eastview Little League All-Stars suffered its final loss of the year Wednesday night, extinguishing its plans for a return trip to the Little League World Series in Willamsport, Pa. But another San Pedro-based baseball team is prepared to pick up where that storybook squad left off.

A group of 10- to 12-year-old sluggers from Peck Park’s Khoury League flew to Miami on Thursday to take part in the Khoury organization’s International World Series, which starts Saturday and ends July 29.

Peck Park’s work has been cut out for it by the success of Eastview, whose fourth-place finish last year at the Little League World Series set high standards for other South Bay all-star teams to live up to.

Peck Park Coach Gino Grajeda insists that he hasn’t let Eastview’s success overshadow his team’s potential.

“The Eastview team was a good squad last year,” Grajeda said. “I’m sure there won’t be too many more like them. I think all of San Pedro is proud of them.

“But we’re not trying to measure up to their accomplishments or do the same things that they did. We’re just trying to get the (Khoury) program established out here and see what happens.”

Grajeda, a 25-year-old San Pedro native, was named coach of the Peck Park all-stars after his team finished first in league play.

Peck Park will play Brazil on Saturday afternoon at Miami’s Tamiami Park complex in the opening round of the double-elimination tournament. Others in the Midget Division include squads from Colombia, the Bahamas, Peru, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico.

Peck Park, which has had a recreational baseball league for several years, joined the Khoury Assn. last year, making it the only place in California where Khoury League baseball exists.

George M. Khoury founded the program in St. Louis, Mo., on Mother’s Day, 1936--nearly three years before Carl Stotz formed the popular Little League--in order to give his three young sons and neighborhood boys a place to play organized baseball.

Interest spread rapidly to other states and several foreign countries. Today, Khoury League baseball, which began with two four-team leagues, boasts more than 500,000 participants worldwide, with its strongest following in Latin America, the Midwest and Florida. Before Khoury died in 1967, he expanded the program to include other sports such as softball, soccer, basketball and bowling.

By comparison, Little League is more than 2.5 million strong.

There is some debate among Khoury and Little League historians over which organization was the first of its kind. But Don Johnston, national director of the Khoury Assn., doesn’t give the controversy much thought.

“We’ve had our problems with Little League and others in the past, but we don’t worry too much about it,” Johnston said. “Competition is great. (Baseball programs) all seem to survive. Competition is what keeps these kids playing ball.”

Johnston, who has donated his time to Khoury programs for 29 years, said he is simply pleased that the league has evolved to its present size.

“It bridges the gap and gives kids a chance to travel to other areas and meet kids from other parts of the world,” he said. “A lot of good comes out of this.”

San Pedro Little League President Gary Miley said the local Khoury League has provided an outlet for his organization’s overflow. He said 70 young ballplayers were turned away from Eastview sign-ups this year, mainly because of the team’s well-publicized success last year.

Said San Pedro resident Cathy Johnson, whose son, James, plays in the Khoury League: “Eastview was so full this year. . . . Here (at Peck Park) we were welcomed with open arms.”

Johnson and her husband, who moved from Alabama last year, said they preferred to have James play Khoury baseball in any event.

“I liked the rules here better--you can take leads (off base), and this league teaches you to play regular baseball,” Johnson said. “They train the boys here.”

At the 10- to 12-year-old level, Khoury and Little League are similar, but there is one major difference: Base runners can lead off at any time in Khoury, but Little League doesn’t allow it.

The new league has meant competition for some of the better players.

Ignacio Galaz, 13, an infielder who played for both Khoury and Little League and was named to both organizations’ all-star squads this year, was forced to decide between them. Galaz chose to stick with the more popular Little League team. But that squad was eliminated in the first round by Harbor City, 8-7.

Galaz wasted no time contacting Grajeda.

Said the Peck Park coach by phone from Houston, where his team had a layover Thursday on its flight to Miami: “Iggy called me last night all excited and said, ‘We lost, we lost. I can go with you guys now.’ ”