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August 17, 2012 Former big leaguer challenges World Series players to develop ‘burning desire’ Maine native Danny Coombs addresses teams at recognition banquet By Chris DeBeck Communications Staff
“The only thing I can think of is burning desire,” Coombs told the audience at the Senior League World Series banquet, held Friday night at the Bangor Civic Center. “It’s the kid who does a little extra when the coach is not looking,” said Coombs, a Brewer native and former major league pitcher with Houston and San Diego. He noted two examples of players who exemplified a burning desire to become big league ballplayers, albeit in different ways. One example was Randy Jones, who impressed Coombs with his first minor league start, pitching a complete game when he was scheduled to throw only five innings or so. Another was Mike Ivey, a talented catcher who didn’t want to catch, despite receiving a $200,000 bonus in 1972, Coombs said Ivey, who couldn’t read, didn’t have confidence in handling a pitching staff and eventually quit baseball for a time, Coombs said. He returned to play eight years in the majors as a first baseman, he added. “He wouldn’t give up,” Coombs said. Coombs himself could be said to have a burning desire, pitching nine major league seasons himself for the Colt 45s – now the Astros – and Padres despite not playing baseball at Seton Hall, where he had a basketball scholarship after graduating from Brewer High School in 1960.
“Somehow, the good Lord didn’t give me an arm in high school,” he said. Coombs, who still holds a Maine regional basketball tournament scoring record he established in 1960, lives in Houston and was a high school coach for 28 years. “I had a lot of ups and downs,” he said. His youth baseball experience was different than those participating in the series, Coombs explained. “We played for hours,” he said. “We sometimes changed the baseball rules to suit the talent.” “There were no parents lining the fence,” Coombs added. “There were no uniforms or nothing. That’s how I fell in love with baseball.” Coombs has been honored as Brewer’s Bicentennial Athlete. Another highlight at the banquet, which honored all 10 teams playing in the series, was the acceptance of the Danny Clifford Sportsmanship Award by the Bayside Westhaven Little League of Auckland, New Zealand, the Asia Pacific regional champion.
The award is determined by a vote of umpires, who were also honored at the banquet. After accepting the award, New Zealand’s 12 players performed what was described as a traditional war dance, which the team also performed after their final pool play game. While traditionally performed as a challenge, the dance was performed at the banquet as a show of respect by the team, a player said. Finally, a Dovetail Bat wooden bat raffle was won by Jim Nelligan. Proceeds from the raffle benefitted the World Series and paid tribute to Sam Snyder of Charleston, a World Series volunteer who died in a car crash in March. |
When Danny Coombs asked a scout about how he could tell who had a chance to be a major
league baseball player, he was told that aside from things that could be measured, such as the
speed of a pitch or the strength of an arm, there was one more attribute that separated players.
He was a star pitcher at Brewer and returned home summers to play semiprofessional baseball,
where he was signed by the Colt 45s in 1963, making his National League debut later that year.
A team from Asia-Pacific has now won the last four sportsmanship awards. Clifford was a
longtime Little League volunteer and the assistant tournament director for the World Series from
2002 until his death in 2007.
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