This post is part of a media project called SoCal Sports History 101: The Prime Numbers from 00 to 99 that Uniformly, Uniquely and Unapologetically Reveal The Narrative of Our Region’s Athletic Heritage. Pick a number, and consider the list of athletes attached to it. Who wore it best? Or, what’s the most compelling story linked to it? Any person, place or thing is in play with Southern California connections. Star power, transformational achievement, longevity, notoriety and quirkiness all factor in. Whatever leads to a lively discussion and interpretation.
The most obvious choices for No. 19:
Jim Gilliam: Los Angeles Dodgers
Butch Goring: Los Angeles Kings
Hal Bedsole: USC football
Fred Lynn: California Angels
Marco Danelo: USC football
The not-so-obvious choices for No. 19:
Mike Gillespie: USC baseball
Jim Fox: Los Angeles Kings
Dennis Dummit, UCLA football
Lance Rentzel: Los Angeles Rams
The most interesting story for No. 19:
Will Ferrell: Los Angeles Angels center fielder (2015), Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher (2015) via University High of Irvine football, basketball and baseball (1983 to 1985) and USC
Southern California map pinpoints:
Irvine, Hollywood, Los Angeles (USC, Coliseum, BMO Park)
Official Baseball-Reference.com documentation is there for anyone needing verification: Will Ferrell, age 48, started and ended his Major League Baseball career as a player on March 12, 2015.
He was, for all intents and purposes, an pure exhibitionist.
In a No. 19 jersey with nine of the 10 teams he joined that day, Ferrall played 10 different positions in five Cactus League exhibition games around Arizona. A campy stunt dreamed up to pay homage to Bert Campaneris’ promotional feat some 50 years earlier in September of 1965. Against the visiting Los Angeles Angels, Campaneris played all nine positions for the Kansas City Athletics, including pitching both right- and left-handed in the eighth inning. Campaneris wore No. 19 during all but one of his 19 seasons in the major leagues, including a time as a California Angels shortstop from 1979 to 1981.
Perhaps Ferrell choose to overlook what eventually happened when Athletics owner Charles O. Finley staged “Campy Campaneris Night.” In that 1965 game, Campaneris, more than half of Ferrell’s age of 23 at the time, had to leave in the top of the ninth when he was injured playing catcher. The Angels’ Ed Kirkpatrick leveled him trying to score from third base on a passed ball. And the A’s lost in extra innings.
Personal glory sometimes has to over-shine team outcomes.
Of course, there was a Hollywood angle to all this. An HBO special, “Ferrell Takes the Field,” was created to document this day, and Ferrell took the field by storm. A lesser actor would have been derailed early on, not just by the ad-lip script but by a failure to handle it all without pulling a groin.
The schedule went:
12:05 p.m. — Seattle Mariners at Oakland Athletics (HoHoKam Stadium, Mesa)
1:10 p.m. — Chicago Cubs at Angels (Tempe Diablo Stadium)
2:10 p.m. — Cincinnati Reds at Arizona Diamondbacks (Salt River Fields at Talking Stick)
4:05 p.m. — San Francisco Giants at Chicago White Sox (Camelback Ranch, Phoenix)
6:15 p.m. — Dodgers at San Diego Padres (Peoria Stadium)
Ferrell notably played shortstop for Oakland in his first appearance to honor Campaneris.
Then, decked out in his all-red Angels’ jersey — the franchise he followed most growing up in Orange County — Ferrell trotted onto the field and subbed in for Mike Trout as the center fielder in the top of the third. Who else gets to do that? Right away, he was forced to cleanly handle a line-drive hit at him by the Chicago Cubs’ Wellington Castro and hold him to a single.
“He was trying to make people laugh the whole time,” Trout said. “Growing up watching him in movies and stuff, it’s pretty cool in real life.”
Soon, Ferrell switched uniforms, became the Cubs’ third-base coach and held up signs — actual, written signs, on cardboard. One said: “Swing as hard as you can.” Another read: “Remember, these games don’t count.”
During a four-run inning for the Cubs, Angels manager Mike Scioscia came to the mound to remove pitcher Frank Herrmann. Angels minor-league right-hander Zach Stewart struck him out on three pitches — the first two called, the last swinging.
“I just threw heaters,” Stewart said. “I tried to blow his doors off. … It would’ve been cool if he had come out in character as Ron Burgundy, though.”
Ferrell also struck out later in an appearance for Chicago’s other team, the White Sox, as their DH, yet he managed to foul off a 92 mph pitch from the Giants’ Jean Machi. In that game, Ferrell also did put on the tools of ignorance and play catcher for San Francisco. He came out somehow injury free.
In the finale of his helicopter shuttle, Ferrell went to the Peoria Sports Complex and landed in time to become a relief pitcher for the Dodgers in the seventh inning. The Padres’ Rico Noel was sly. He tried to bunt. Ferrell deftly fielded it and threw him out. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly then came out and replaced him to cheers.
But Ferrell had one more appearance. He saved playing right field for the Padres as a tribute to Tony Gwynn, and switched out from No. 19 to take No. 20. Then again, the Dodgers had allowed him to wear the No. 19 that they had retired years ago forJim Gilliam.
Farrell’s farewell included a set of Topps baseball cards to mark the occasion and prove it happened.
This all was so on brand with Ferrell. His improv nature. His athletic foundation. But he already somewhat proved that in the half-dozen films he made that involve sports themes.
It all goes back to trying to make his teammates laugh along with him on the playgrounds of Orange County and the locker rooms at University High in Irvine.
Continue reading “No. 19: Will Ferrell”
