I played for Don Collins Buick back around 1968 or so. I can recall Redwood Bank being one of our competitors. The old gang and I were talking about this not so long ago, and a couple of guys said they weren't good enough for little league, so they did a recreational summer equivalent in which teams were given the names of colors. I didn't even know that existed!
That makes sense. My memory is a little rusty. I do remember some names of the sponsors though. Locke Bros. Transmisson was my sponsor. There was Don Collins Buick and Albert's Transmission in little league. Redwwod Bank was my sponsor in the " majors ".
The trustees took care of the field...I don't remember any trustees being around when the games were being played.....I do remember we had an umpire from Hamilton Field whose claim to fame was that he had knocked Muhammad Ali down in a golden gloves bout a few years earlier. He didn't get many arguments.
Interesting story, I wonder if they still have the dairy there ? Seems like a good idea to have the prisoners help produce food, I wonder if they grow veggies too ?
When I was a kid in San Rafael in the early sixties, I was "drafted" to play for the San Quentin Giants. San Quentin had sponsored a team for the San Rafael Little League Program. We practiced in the prison several times a week and our car and trunk was always checked leaving the prison to make sure no one had escaped. On the opening day of the season, the warden threw out the first ball and the next day we had coverage in four pages in the prison newspaper! The prison had the best baseball field in the county and it was next to the dairy. I can still smell the cows. One night, one of the parents was hit by a foul ball and he was taken to the prison hospital and stitched up by a doctor who was a convicted murderer! Some of the kids on the team were sons of guards but the majority were from San Rafael. Apparently the San Francisco Giants had helped to sponsor the team as we all got to go to Candlestick and meet the Giants and tour the locker room. It was a real thrill for a twelve year old.
