1962 San Pedro Southern League All-Star Team

Back in 1962, San Pedro, still a small immigrant community tucked along the south coast of Los Angeles, was filled with a disproportionate number of stars who did not know they would one day become superstars. The San Pedro community would produce astronauts, successful business entrepreneurs, music legends, labor leaders, and famous sports figures.

In 1962 we were kids. Our little league baseball program, the Southern League produced 15, 11- and 12-year-old all-stars, scrappy boys, each one, who first and foremost loved baseball. We earned our way into the Western Boys Baseball Association (WBBA) World Series by playing and winning in single elimination games, first with local teams, and then against regional opponents. The next stop was the World Series against other regional winners from throughout the United States and Canada.

A string of wins put Southern League in the position of being one of two teams left standing along with Woodland Hills, California to vie for the WBBA Little League World Championship.

The final game of the World Series would be televised for the first time in history. The black and white televised game was broadcast into homes all over Southern California where millions would watch the televised game live.

It was 105 blazing hot degrees. The sun in our eyes seemed to be the size of a beachball. The famous announcers, Don Drysdale and Bill Welch, calling the game, the 3000 plus person crowd and cameras, all added to the excitement.

By the second inning we were down. Their pitcher was throwing heat, their catcher was talking trash and this team with their perfect uniforms was in our heads. We came in from the inning discouraged. Our coach, Bob Schroeder, gathered us all together and with his big smile inspired us to just have a good time and play our style of game.

Over the next inning we scratched for a couple runs. And then the magical inning. The bases were loaded, and Jay Zuanich connected on a fast ball and launched it over the centerfield fence for a grand slam homerun to put us in the lead. A lead we would never relinquish. We were having fun and the realization that we could win seemed to quietly but confidently settle on us. From that point the fight was on and a solid determination emerged.

We won the game and the World Series 10-7 over a stubborn Woodland Hills team. The first WBBA World Series to ever be televised and the first Little League World Series Champion from the South Bay.

We had made history! Not just for the Southern League or this band of 15, 11- and 12-year-olds but for the community we loved, our hometown, San Pedro. An historical event and accomplishment that should never be forgotten.

The 1962 All-Star Team