Introduction BY JIM BUCKLEY This is a story about baseball . That's how I began an article that I wrote in 1994 (reprinted starting on page 22) about the Santa Barbara Foresters. But as we have learned through the 30 years since, the story of the Foresters is about way, way more than baseball. It's about love and community and family and hope and joy. It's about pride and success and entertainment. It's about teaching and learning and growing . and laughing. And much more. After nearly 30 years working with Foresters manager Bill Pintard, I thought it was time to put all of the memories we've created into one place. Well, most of the memories. There's just not room for them all. The book would have been 1,000 pages long! Instead, this book is a wide-look, year-by-year overview of the stories, people, games, championships, triumphs, tragedies, and love that has made the Foresters into the premier summer college baseball program in the United States. We have collected articles from local Santa Barbara media along with stories from our annual game program to tell the story of the team and its unprecedented success, which includes (through 2023) an all-time record ten National Baseball Congress World Series championships since 2006. As we tell the story, we're going to be dancing around a bit. The main timeline is the year-by-year story of the ballclub, with a focus on the championships, but we will also step away from the ongoing chronology to look at the many parts of the story off the field that are just as much part of the Foresters' tale. My thanks to the dozens of people who have contributed their time and memories to this book I should also say at the outset that there is no WAY we could have included all of the literally thousands of stories that have happened to and around the Foresters over the decades. This book instead hopes to create a permanent record of our many successes (and occasional failures), to honor and thank many of the people who have contributed to the team's history, and perhaps to spur new fans to jump in and "'Ster it up!" As you read the book and remember your particular moments with the Foresters, long past or recent, we hope you are able to rekindle your own best memories. Many of the former players, coaches, and others who have been nice enough to recount some of their stories have done so here for the first time. (And I apologize if we spoke and your story is not in here or if we didn't manage to touch base. Know that your story is appreciated, too!) Plus, there are hundreds more stories waiting to be told, so ask a Forester next time you see one. And, indeed, the most special memories might still be in your own mind to be taken out and savored in the cold midwinter. TO BEGIN, FOR THE handful of you who are not already full-time Foresters fans, here are some basics. The Santa Barbara Foresters are a team of current college players from around the country. They play baseball using wood bats. That's an important distinction, since, until they reach the 'Sters, many players have never used wood bats; youth, high school, travel, and all college teams use aluminum or composite-material bats. Playing with a wood bat is a learned skill, and players with an eye on the pros must learn how to work with this important tool, whether as a hitter, a fielder, or a pitcher. The Foresters were very (very) briefly able to use former professionals, but for more than 25 years have been exclusively using players with remaining collegiate eligibility. (In ancient writing on the team, you might see "semipro" connected to us. Remove that from your mind; we are not now in any way pro, semi- or otherwise.) The Foresters recruit college players from various schools to travel to Santa Barbara for the two-plus-month season (usually June through early August). The players come mostly from Division I college programs, many of which have long-established relationships with Foresters longtime manager Bill Pintard and his coaching staff. Foresters fans are used to seeing players from the University of Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Rice, Wichita State, and other Midwestern powers. The West Coast is often well-represented, with UCSB and Westmont players often seeing action, as well as UCLA, USC, Cal, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Long Beach, among others. Early in the season, while college players are wrapping up their classes, the Foresters often include Santa Barbara City College athletes, along with players just out of local high schools on their way to college careers. The Foresters play in the California Collegiate League, which includes (as of 2024), 13 teams: seven in the South and six in the North. The winners of each division face off in an end-of-season championship playoff. However, the Foresters rarely play in that season-ending series because that event is usually held when the Foresters have headed off to play in the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series, about which more in a moment. Foresters players need a place to stay when they come from elsewhere to take the field, and since Bob Townsend re-started the team in 1991 (about which more anon as well), host families have been essential to the smooth running of the team. Players spend their summers in spare rooms, extra units, granny flats, or empty apartments, all thanks to friends and neighbors generously sharing their homes. Hosted players often become "summer sons" to the families, creating relationships that extend far past the end of the Foresters season. The Foresters play at Pershing Park by the seaside in Santa Barbara. (Note: The 2024 season will be at Santa Barbara High School's Eddie Mathews Field, a one-time aberration for maintenance reasons.) Pershing is a city park, shared with Santa Barbara City College and its fine Vaqueros team. Foresters volunteers and summer interns perform all the functions of a "regular" ballpark each afternoon or evening- setting up concession and beer stands, ticket booths, PA system, radio booth, stats stations, etc.-but then the whole thing disappears like a baseball Brigadoon, only to re-appear the next day. Playing in a busy city park is a challenge, but "the Perzh" creates an intimacy and sense of shared experience that is hard to match anywhere. The team played its first 25 seasons at UCSB's Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, but starting in 2001, also held an annual "one for the community" game at Pershing on July 4. When the time came to make the big move downtown in 2017, the Foresters had lots of experience to draw on that helped make the transition smoother. There's more on our home ballpark (never a "stadium," please) in later pages. The Foresters take their name from a team that played in the 1950s, which took its name from a local men's lodge, the International Order of Foresters. Local baseball coach Bob Townsend re-started the summer-ball team in 1991, and he tells that story with help from John Zant starting on page 32. Bob wanted his new team to carry on Santa Barbara's long baseball tradition, and out of the past, he chose the Foresters. And it was "Towny" who first took the Foresters to Wichita, Kansas, to take part in the venerable NBC World Series, a summer tournament that played its first games way back in 1937. How old and venerable? No less than the great Satchel Paige was the first MVP of the NBC. Since 1995, the Foresters have not missed a single NBC World Series, becoming the team with the longest streak of attendance in the tournament's history. Since winning their first NBC championship in 2006, the Foresters have added nine more. Their total of ten titles is an incredible four more than the team with the next most. The Foresters are nearly as popular in Kansas as they are in California! Foresters players all return to their colleges to continue playing after the NBC World Series wraps up. We watch with pride as they "'Ster it up!" on campuses, on SportsCenter, and at the College World Series. Many are able to use the Foresters as a springboard to professional success. Hundreds and hundreds of former Foresters have been drafted by Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, and more have been signed as free agents. From that crew, through early 2024, 69 have made "the Show" as MLB is called. Several have become All-Stars. New York Mets OF Jeff McNeil was an NL batting champion, and in 2023, the Foresters had their first MLB World Series champ, Texas Rangers 3B Josh Jung. Three more players reached the Majors even as this book was being put together-Clayton Beeter (Yankees), Blair Henley (Astros), and Nick Nastrini (White Sox). A list of those 69 players is part of the Foresters Record Book at the back of this volume, a section that includes what we hope is a nearly-complete all-time Foresters roster, as well as all-time stats and a list of the members of the Foresters Hall of Fame, among other gems. Finally, why "'Ster It Up!"? Longtime fans know, but newbies might not: The Foresters team name is often shortened to simply 'Sters. At some point in the distant past, and no one really remembers who started it, players upon reaching base after a big hit would arise from the dust with a big smile on their face, look back at their teammates, and spin their fist in the air, horizontal to the ground, as if stirring (get it?) a big pot. The gesture became part of the team and has been seen on college fields in many states, at...
