Class of ’82 : DAMON BERRYHILL, Major League Baseball Player : He Has Overcome the Sun, Surf and Stereotype

True, Laguna Beach High School has turned out many outstanding athletes . . . in volleyball and surfing, even tennis, all those sunshine sports.

But what about the grime and grit games? Those sports that require perspiration, not suntan oil?

The school just doesn’t seem to produce those athletes. Right?

Well, somehow--maybe on the way to the beach--Damon Berryhill stumbled upon a baseball career.

“I liked hanging out at the beach, like everyone else,” Berryhill said. “But baseball was just a love of mine.”

Now, it’s also a job. Berryhill, who graduated in 1982, is currently a catcher on the Braves’ roster.

He also is the answer to those who may stereotype Laguna Beach athletes as soft. Sure, the location seems to pull kids toward the sun and surf sports, but the school also produced an honest-to-goodness major league baseball player.

Even if the odds were against it. “Scouts never came to see us play at Laguna Beach,” Berryhill said. “If you were lucky, maybe someone would be scouting a Capistrano Valley player and see you, too.”

Berryhill was spotted, but only after he left Laguna Beach. He played two years at Orange Coast College, then was a first-round draft pick of the Cubs in 1984.

He made it to the major leagues in 1987 and was the Cubs’ starting catcher off and on in 1989, when he suffered a torn rotator cuff. He was traded to the Braves with six days left in the 1991 season.

“I never thought about making it to the major leagues, not when I was playing at Laguna Beach,” Berryhill said. “Baseball is very low key there. But we had fun.”

They had to. They weren’t in it for the winning.

Berryhill was a four-year starter. That meant four years of losing a lot of games. The Artists won only once his senior season, beating Mission Viejo in the last game.

“It really didn’t matter if we won or not,” Berryhill said. “If it would have been a situation where no one showed up or people complained a lot, then it would have been a different story. But we had a good time. We just weren’t a very good team.”

Berryhill’s best season was as a junior, when he hit .389. He played third base as a freshman, then moved behind the plate the following season.

He was a switch-hitter with power. But what did that mean when the right-field fence at Laguna Beach is a measly 290 feet from home plate? The rest of the field doesn’t have a fence, so a well-hit ground ball could roll for hours. “Baseball was not a big-time sport there,” Berryhill said.

At Orange Coast, Berryhill’s talents became more evident. He had little playing time as a freshman, as he backed up Keith Komeiji, a sophomore who was drafted by the Seattle Mariners.

In 1984, Berryhill became the starter and hit .294 with 10 home runs and 46 runs batted in.

“I saw what a good baseball program was all about there,” Berryhill said. “That taught me the basics I needed.”

And the Cubs took it from there.

He spent four seasons in the minors before being called up in September, 1987.

“The minor leagues was quite a learning experience for a guy from Laguna Beach,” Berryhill said. “We’d have to take eight-hour bus rides to some really bad towns. I was used to kicking back at the beach every day.

“The one place I’ll never forget is Pittsfield (Mass.). I got stuck there for a year. The place had only one nightclub and it wasn’t any good. We looked forward to going on the road.”

After playing in only 12 games in September, 1987, Berryhill was a part-time starter in 1988 and hit .259 in 95 games. The next season, he was the team’s everyday catcher and was hitting .257 when he tore his right rotator cuff Aug. 19.

Berryhill has spent much of the past two seasons rehabilitating. He was hitting .188 when the Cubs traded him in September.

“I’m still young,” Berryhill, 28, said. “I still have some good years left. I can overcome the injury.”

Why not? He overcame being a baseball player at Laguna Beach.