Santa Ana Valley Baseball Coach Quits : Preps: Musick, who had coached in district 29 years, cites deterioration of school’s field.

Santa Ana Valley baseball Coach Herschel Musick announced his resignation Friday, citing the deterioration of the school’s baseball facility.

Musick, who has coached in the Santa Ana Unified District for 29 years, said in a statement the Santa Ana Valley baseball field has reached the point that the school’s ground crew cannot maintain its condition.

Although the field is on campus, Musick said the city’s parks and recreation department supervises it. But Musick said he is also disappointed in district officials’ lack of concern.

“The baseball facility is always in need of repair and maintenance, but no help is forthcoming from the city,” Musick said.

“Every year, the expense of replacing turf and brick dirt, the repair and replacement of fencing and graffiti has been the responsibility of Valley high school and the baseball booster club.”

Said Senior Parks Supervisor Paul Johnson: “It is a joint-use facility. The agreement we have with (the school district) is we clean up around the field, but we have no specific responsibilities for maintaining the baseball field.”

A district official, who asked not to be identified, said the joint contract requires the parks department to clean up the field. Musick said the contract, drawn in 1960, covers more, including the building of restrooms, a storage area and a snack bar. The restrooms were installed two years ago, but the storage facility and snack bar have not been constructed.

“They’re suppose to clean up the field after an event and even that doesn’t always take place,” Musick said.

Johnson said the primary recreation uses were the Golden City League and the Valley Senior Little League.

According to Musick, the Golden City League pays the city $2,000 per year to use the facility. He said the city hasn’t used any of the revenue to maintain the field.

“They put a lot of wear and tear on it,” Musick said.

Other groups rent the field for day use, according to Santa Ana Valley Principal Bob Nelson.

“The parks and recreation department gets rental fees from groups, they control the booking,” Nelson said. “It seems to me some of the user fee could go back into maintenance.”

Musick said when the field is used by outside groups, there is no supervision by recreation officials. He also said the field suffers from overuse.

“Every baseball coach would like to have his own facility and have it locked up so no one uses it besides themselves,” Johnson said.

The damage has been substantial, Musick said. The dugouts and backstop need repair. The infield and outfield need to be leveled.

“The recreation department has refused to take responsibility for vandalism and damage . . . while the field is being used by authorized groups,” he said.

Musick said the the outfield area is used by the soccer teams, the school’s team and recreation teams. The holes in the outfield, he said, are a safety hazard.

He said that the field should be enclosed by a fence to prevent unauthorized use.

In addition, Musick suggested that fenced batting cages be installed, so the baseball programs can remain competitive with other Century League teams. He said every other league school has batting cages.

Said Musick: “Although I still have much to offer, the time and effort it will take to deal with the concerns listed is more than I’m prepared to give.”

Musick has given for nearly three decades. He founded the school’s baseball program in 1960 and ran the team until 1976. He retired from coaching, but could not stay away.

“I just enjoyed coaching--working with kids, teaching the game, seeing a team improve,” Musick said.

It kept drawing him back.

Musick returned to Santa Ana Valley in 1982 and coached two seasons, took a year off, then was an assistant at Santa Ana High for five seasons. Musick came back to the Falcons in 1990. He retired as a teacher at the school two years ago but remained as a walk-on coach.

He has a record of 304-269-2 with eight league championships and 10 Southern Section playoff appearances. The Falcons reached the 4-A title game in 1967. They reached the semifinals three times.