The
Association held its 86th annual Dinner and Get-Together at the Grand in Long Beach, California
on February 5, 2011. 222 members and guests were present at the event which
featured several interesting speakers and the presentation of Association
awards.
Each
year at the dinner the Association presents the Win Clark award to the first
year player from Southern California who had
the most outstanding season. This award is in honor of former Secretary of the
Association and was first presented in 1951 to Lee Walls, who went on to a
successful ten year major league career.
Other well known awardees include Willie Davis, Johnny Callison, Jim
Lefebvre, Ron Fairly, Tim Wallach, Mark Grace, Jeff Cirillo, Steve Kemp, Tony
Gwynn, Carlos Quentin and Jay Gibbons. Last
year’s winner was Ryan Wheeler, of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.
This
year’s winner is shortstop Grant Green of the Oakland Athletics
organization. Grant is a resident of
Anaheim Hills and graduated from Canyon
High School. He attended USC and was selected by the A’s
in the first round of the 2009 draft. In
his first full season Grant hit .318 at High A Stockton of the California
League with 20 home runs and an OPS (on base plus slugging percentage) of .883
and was chosen as the shortstop on the California League All-Star team. Grant will likely start the 2011 season at
Double A Midland of the Texas League. .
The
Chuck Stevens award is presented to the Southern
California resident who had the most outstanding season in the
minor leagues. This award is presented
in honor of the long time Secretary of the Association, who served the
organization for 38 years. Previous
award winners Keith Ginter, Sean Burroughs, Jeremy Reed, Jerry Owens, Jason Hirsh,
Ryan Madson, Tommy Hanson and Evan Longoria have all played in the major
leagues with Ryan and Evan appearing in the 2008 World Series. This year’s winner is Freddie Freeman of the
Atlanta Braves organization. Freddie is
a resident of Villa Park and graduated from El
Modena High School. He was selected in
the second round of the 2007 and was signed by Braves scout Tom Batista. Freddie spent the 2010 season at the Braves Triple
A club in Gwinett, where he hit .319 in 124 games as the club’s first baseman
with 18 home runs and an OPS of .899.
Freddie received a September call-up by Atlanta and is expected to be the Braves
first baseman in 2011.
The
Association presented the Sparky Anderson Memorial Award to Art Mazmanian. Art was a member of the first USC national
championship baseball team in 1948, spent 7 years in the Yankee organization
and managed in the minor leagues for 18 years.
He has been a coach at Mt. San
Antonio College and currently is coaching at South
Hills High
School in West Covina. Among the many players whose careers were
helped by Art is Brett Tomko, who has spent a number of years in the major
leagues, most recently with the Yankees, and was present in honor of Art.
The
guest speakers were Jay Johnstone, Clyde Wright and Roland Hemond; Johnstone regaled the audience with stories
from his major league career, while Wright talked about his years with the
Angels and what that organization has meant to him. And Hemond discussed the success of the
program that the Association has developed with the University of Phoenix
and stressed the importance of higher education for every ballplayer.
Hall
of Fame member Tommy Lasorda was the Master of ceremonies and entertained the
audience with his many stories of life with the Dodgers.
Mark your calendar's, next year's event will be at the Grand in Long Beach on Saturday, February 4, 2012.
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