Record Book Is Small World

By STEVE HENSON

May 11, 2000 12 AM PT

Don’t take anything away from Tim Thompson.

The pitcher with a no-frills delivery and no-nonsense countenance has compiled the most gaudy four-year won-loss record in state history.

Thompson notched his 52nd career victory Wednesday when Grace Brethren High defeated Faith Baptist, 10-0, in five innings, breaking the nearly 30-year-old state record of Scott McGregor of El Segundo.

Yes, it’s the same McGregor who was a first-round draft pick and went on to enjoy a 12-year career with the Baltimore Orioles, pitching in two World Series.

You aren’t alone if Grace Brethren doesn’t sound familiar. It is a private school of about 170 students tucked in a residential Simi Valley neighborhood.

Its baseball team competes where it should, in Division VI, the Southern Section’s lowest. The Lancers won the last two Division VI championships and are favored again largely because of their record-setting right-hander.

Don’t take anything away from Tim Thompson.

As consistent as he is sturdy, the 5-foot-11, 190-pound senior with thick legs and a barrel chest is 13-2. He was 13-3 last season, 14-0 in 1998 and 12-2 as a freshman in 1997. Thompson is believed the first state pitcher to win more than 10 games in four consecutive seasons.

The teams Thompson beat are mostly from schools as small as his own. Fair enough. But breaking McGregor’s record prompts a suggestion: Divide the record book into two categories--one for large schools, another for small schools.

Thompson isn’t the first small schools player to hold a prestigious state mark. And he isn’t the first to surpass someone whose accomplishments came against stronger competition.

Tum Ratanatraiphob had 125 stolen bases from 1988-91. Despite the letters in his name, he was no 4-A Division player. Ratanatraiphob played for tiny Northridge Highland Hall, which during the same stretch produced Jakob Jensen, who set a state record (since broken) with 168 career hits.

Jensen deprived Rio Mesa slugger Dmitri Young from holding the record. Young had 159 hits from ‘88-91, surpassing the previous mark by nine, but Jensen was always a few hits ahead of him.

Young, of course, now bangs out hits for the Cincinnati Reds. Jensen lives in his native Denmark, presumably occupied by something other than baseball.

Ricky Eisenberg of Canoga Park Coutin, which has a high school enrollment of 85, holds the state record for batting with a .761 average in 1996, an achievement few noticed. His name was mentioned a grand total of once in The Times that season and he went on to become a light-hitting reserve at Valley College.

The top 10 state leaders in batting average are from small schools. Many would have been relegated to holding the clipboard for the junior varsity coach at a large school. The student populations of Coutin and Grace Brethren combined would barely fill a science lab on a City Section campus.

By separating small and large schools in the record book, the mark for highest batting average would be reclaimed by Lanell Culver of Palmdale, who hit .641 in 1981. Currently, he ranks No. 11.

But don’t take anything away from Tim Thompson.

He’s never pretended to be Scott McGregor, whose El Segundo teammates included Hall-of-Famer George Brett and six other players who played professionally or at the Division I college level.

“People say Grace is a joke, but we let our athletic ability do the talking,” Thompson said. “We may not win when we play a large school, but we can compete. And at our level, we’ve done fine.”

Last month, Thompson held Oxnard, a Division I school with an 18-6 record, scoreless for four innings before giving up four runs in the fifth inning of a 5-2 loss. And he had pitched seven innings two days earlier.

His fastball is consistently around 82 mph, he has command of his off-speed pitches and possesses a good feel for pitching. Thompson is profoundly competitive; nobody posts 52 victories without possessing a will to win.

Cal Lutheran, one of the nation’s top Division III programs, wants him, and the interest is reciprocated. Thompson is content in a small school environment.

“He could pitch at a large high school,” Cal Lutheran Coach Marty Slimak said. “Tim is a very good pitcher who will have a lot of success in college.”

But should Thompson replace McGregor in the state record book?

McGregor was 17-2 as a senior in 1972 and 18-1 as a junior when El Segundo won the Southern Section 3-A championship, the equivalent of Division II today. That team is recognized as one of the best ever in the Southland.

There’s more. McGregor was 13-3 as a sophomore, 3-0 as a freshman and had a career earned-run average of 0.65. He shares a state record of nine shutouts in one season and had six shutouts in a row.

“That was before scouts had radar guns, but Scott threw harder in high school than he did in the major leagues,” said John Stevenson, who is in his 41st season as coach at El Segundo and has more than 850 career victories, far and away the most in state history.

“He had several pitches and just didn’t walk anybody. He’d strike out 12 to 14 guys a game with no walks.”

Stevenson said he respects anyone who can rack up 52 victories, especially with rules restricting a pitcher to 10 innings a week. No such rule existed during McGregor’s era.

“But if a guy has some ability and he is at that small schools level, what are the chances he pitches against players who have the same ability?” Stevenson said.

Although records are etched in ink, they are open to interpretation. Mark Tennis, editor of Cal-Hi Sports, compiles the state record book. This isn’t a new subject for him.

“We’ve entertained the idea of listing records under large, medium and small schools, but that’s hard to define,” Tennis said. “Instead, we list as many details as possible so readers can evaluate a record’s merit for themselves.

“We haven’t dropped any names from the record book in the last three printings. We want those lists to go as deep as possible.”

Thompson is the first to admit he has sent plenty of weak hitters back to the dugout disappointed. Yet top prospects occasionally attend a small school. Colorado Rockies third baseman Jeff Cirillo played for Burbank Providence from 1984-87 and is among state leaders in hitting and pitching categories.

Daryle Ward of Riverside Bethel Christian holds state marks for a .596 career batting average and 28 triples, and is third with 35 home runs. The pitchers he faced were suspect but his ability is not: Ward in an outfielder for the Houston Astros.

Don’t take anything away from Tim Thompson.

He earned every one of those 52 victories and should be justifiably proud of an excellent high school career. He should hold a state record. Scott McGregor should too.

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PRODUCTIVE PITCHERS

All-time state leaders in career victories:

52--Tim Thompson, Grace Brethren (1997-2000)

51--Scott McGregor, El Segundo (1969-72)

48--Scott Davison, Redondo Union (1985-88)

46--Ron Robinson, Woodlake (1977-80)

40--Jeff Cirillo, Providence (1984-87)

40--Jim Peterson, Sonora (1971-73)

39--Rick Stewart, Fillmore (1975-77)

39--Jim Livernois, La Quinta (1991-94)

39--Raul Gonzalez, Orosi (1988-91)