In the summer of 1984, the Los Gatos Majors 12-and-under All Star team was the feel-good youth sports story of the Bay Area, advancing to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
For the first time since its historic run, the team is having a reunion, which will highlight this year’s LGLL Opening Day Ceremonies, on March 15 at Baggerly Field.
“We wanted to do it last year for the 40th year anniversary, but timing-wise half the team couldn’t go,” said Ben Boulware, a player from the 1984 team who helped organize the event. “So this year we’re going to get everyone but one of the players, which is really cool, because we’ve never reunited since we were 12- and 13-years-old.”
The 1984 roster included Boulware, Scott Barrett, Bill Berk, Mark Borgese, Ryan Doheman, Mike Fisher, Jason Halladay, Joe Hasty, Lance Karnan, Stephen Lane, Ryan Lotz, Paul Norquist, Dominic Rugani and Shannon Splaine.
Two of the three members of the coaching staff—manager Leo Berk and Ben’s dad, Jim–have since passed away.
Coach Tony Borgese has been invited, but it’s uncertain whether he’ll be able to attend. Boulware can’t wait for the event, knowing there could be in excess of 1,000 people present.
“We haven’t been able to celebrate the accomplishment together,” he said. “It’s going to be pretty special for that, because you don’t appreciate and understand when you’re 12 what you did. And now you’re 50, you think, ‘Dang, we did something unique, and we didn’t even know it.’”
Los Gatos went 18-3 during its remarkable summer run.
Back then, the LLWS operated under the single-elimination format. Los Gatos lost its opener and got sent packing.
Boulware can remember his experience in Williamsport as if it were yesterday.
Outside of playing the game and practice time, Boulware said the team-bonding events made things memorable.
“We got to Williamsport, and they had all these strict rules,” he said. “We broke every rule possible. So, we’d sneak out to McDonald’s every night. And playing ping pong with the Japanese kids–we thought we were good–and we got our butts handed to us. We got smoked. Those are all the fun stories you remember years later.”
One of the team’s most dramatic moments that summer came in the Northern California Division I Tournament championship game against Pacific of Sacramento.
Trailing by a run entering the final inning, Fisher hit a walk-off, two-run homer to send Los Gatos to the Western Regional Tournament in San Bernardino.
A week later, Los Gatos edged Sunnyside of Arizona 1-0 in the Western Regional championship game.
Halladay hit a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning, and Lotz was simply superb, pitching a complete-game, two-hitter, with a remarkable 16 strikeouts over six innings.
Lotz walked just one batter, which was an intentional manager’s directive.
“Without Mike Fisher and Ryan Lotz, we don’t go to Williamsport,” Boulware said.
With a different format back then, just four teams from the U.S. advanced to the LLWS compared to the 10 in its current iteration.
“It was so much harder to make it back in the day than to do it now,” Boulware said. “It makes it all the more special the magical run we had.”
Los Gatos knew it had something special early on.
Before the team’s first District tournament game, it scrimmaged against the LGLL 13-and-under All-Star team.
“We needed a practice game or two, so we went against them on the bigger field,” Boulware said. “We’re thinking they should smoke us. Well, we steamrolled them. It was like 21-2. That was the moment of like, ‘Holy crap, we’re different. Maybe we can make a run at this thing.’ Once we realized that, it’s—‘OK, let’s play loose and see how far we can go.’ That was the aha moment.”
Los Gatos featured a talent-laden roster, where everyone could throw strikes, hit a home run and play shortstop.
“That’s why we were good—the whole lineup could do anything,” Boulware said. “We were just 11 really good athletes who didn’t have any fear. We weren’t a bunch of cocky kids. But we were confident, competitive and expected to win.”
The coaching staff also was key, fostering an atmosphere that allowed the players to maximize their immense talent.
“The coaches let us play free. And when you let these little kids play free, then magic happens,” Boulware said. “We played loose, because it was the things we did along the way. The towel fights in hotels, and staying in barracks—and building that closeness. We were just these California kids having fun. And that was the baseline of the team.”
Three of the players off the team ended up playing in college. And one—Boulware—played five years professionally in Single-A ball.
Even though the 1984 All Stars are the ones being honored, the team is paying-it-forward—by creating a scholarship to help cash-strapped families pay for their kids to play the game.
