Dodgers flip D script to squeak by Junkies

Photo: Garry Marshall when he was playing for the Dodgers in the senior softball league.

By Bill Tarrant

Dodgers manager George Cliffords

was sure his defense would come up big as Bruce Loria, the Junkies’ best hitter, came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded hi,s team trailing 10-7.

“We’d played good defense the whole game,” Cliffords said. “We certainly didn’t want to walk him.”

Loria barreled it up – a line drive right at the Dodger left fielder to end the game.

The week before, the Dodgers couldn’t buy a catch in a game they lost to the Hip Replacements 23-5. The Dodgers gave up nine walks and “everyone on the team had at least one unforced error,” Cliffords recalled.

“We actually batted a bit less against (the Junkies). Our team average in the first game was .548 and, in this game, it was .529,” Cliffords said. “We just made a lot fewer mistakes.”

“Everybody was feeling so badly about how they played last week,” Clifford added. “My pregame speech to them was that’s not who we are. I said we need to be like the midget at the urinal: stay on our toes.”

The Junkies, on the other hand, had a plethora of running gaffes and fielding blunders. They also  didn’t hit well with runners in scoring position, though they lashed some balls right at Dodgers who didn’t dodge them this time.

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George Cliffords ,79, was born Art King. His name change was tied to the biggest financial scandal of the 1970s, the Enron of its time.

His father was head accountant for a Los Angeles-based financial company called Equity Funding Corporation, which collapsed in 1973 when whistleblowers revealed it had created fictitious life insurance policies.

The Chicago mob then was very practiced at getting dead people to do all sorts of things, including voting. As this fraud unraveled, investigators discovered they were writing life insurance policies for “John and Jane Doe” deaths, cashing them in, and splitting the ill-gotten gains with the Coroner’s Office. His father was one of 23 company employees called to testify. The first three met untimely deaths, according to George. The remainder, except his father, declined to testify. Fearing mob retaliation for his father's testimony, George, then 25, was advised by his uncle George to change his name and go underground. “My dad’s testimony put the head of that (mob) family in prison and he died in jail.” The $2 billion scandal was made into a BBC TV film in 1976 starring James Wood as the actuary.

George had started staging rock concerts in 1969, even arranging concerts to raise money for former California Gov. Jerry Brown’s 1975 presidential campaign. In the subsequent decades, he made a good living trading precious coins and metals and sports memorabilia.

He credits Hollywood director and softball legend Garry Marshall for getting him into the LA Senior Softball League. George said he was practicing with his city league team at Hjelte when he saw a game underway at an adjacent field. “I recognized Garry Marshall coaching third base. So I went over and asked him, ‘Hey, aren’t you Penny Marshall’s brother?”

Terrible setbacks followed. In 2002 he underwent expensive treatment for colorectal cancer that largely depleted his savings. Years later, he was severely injured in a car accident in which his femur bone was thrust into his hip bone. That has left him hunched and able only to shuffle walk. In 2020, he lost his wife of 37 years to Covid. These days, he rents a place in Lancaster, making a 65-mile journey each way to manage the game he loves.

George is one of the longest-serving managers in the league. He has been playing and managing teams in adult city leagues for some 65 years. He is the father of two, including a son, who was drafted out of Pepperdine by the Baltimore Orioles.

Other games around the LA senior league also featured bases-loaded, two-outs, game-on-the line drama…

Archies 17, Bad Knees Bears 14

The Bears were way behind  before scoring 8 runs in the last inning. They had the bases loaded before finally  succumbing to the Archies. “It was tense,” Bears manager Ken Milbrand said. "Steinmetz kept calling time and asking how many runs were in,” he said referring to Richard Steinmetz the Archies manager. “He was getting worried.” Steinmetz said the game atmosphere was "spooky" though the Archies avoided a horrible ending. "The evening had that spooky fall feeling to it, being played at 6 pm, with the lights on and hard to see the ball in the outfield at times."

Nutcrackers 15, Slow Horses 9

The Nutcrackers scored 6 runs in the last inning to snap a 9-9 tie in beating the Slow Horses. 15-9. Mike Halberstam, subbing for the Nutcrackers, struck the decisive blow with his monster home run in the 6th inning.

Red Sox 11, Knicks 8

“We didn’t field well. Didn’t hit all that great either. Otherwise, it went well,” Knicks manager Mike Giagreco said.

Killabrews 11, Spring Chickens 10

The ‘Brews played small ball at the bottom of their lineup in the last inning, overcoming a game-long deficit against the Chickens. “It’s the second-straight game, we’ve come from behind late in the game,” Killabrews co-manager Steve Wachtel said. “This is getting nerve wracking,” he quipped.

Silver and Black 15, Hip Replacements 7

The Hip Replacements failed to capitalize on early infield errors by the S and B and came up empty when big hits were needed. Jack Stotler pitched well for the winners.

Grays 12, Trash Pandas 5

The Grays benefited from the absence of their esteemed leader Mark SImmons and knocked off the Trash Panda's 12 - 5, the latter team's manager Phil Gurnee said. "The Trash Panda's couldn't get any offense going until the last inning when Steve Fiske slugged a two-run triple to deep left field," he said. The Trash Pandas did have the play of the game, though. "Joe Blackman was the middle man on one of the prettiest double plays you'll ever see when he took the throw from Steve Fiske barehanded to nail Don Mathews at first.