Man in Blue: Gary Darling

Umpire Gary Darling of Burbank High is beginning his 26th year in the Major Leagues. 

To read his story, visit the Spotlight Section.

Buck Martinez Back in Sac  02/16/12

Former major leaguer and current broadcaster Buck Martinez spoke at the Elk Grove High banquet last week. Read John Hull's story at the Elk Grove Citizen.

Oakland A’s land Cuban star Yoenis Cespedes   02/13/12

Good news A's fans!

Chronicle Staff Writer Susan Slusser is reporting that the A’s have come to terms with Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes on a four-year, $36 million deal, yanking the star defector away from teams with much larger payrolls in one of the bigger surprises of the offseason.

 
To see if a player, coach, scout or other baseball figure from the Sacramento area
is mentioned on our site, use the Google search bar above.

For decades, Sacramento has been a hotbed of tremendous baseball talent. A few of the locals performing in the Major Leagues at present from the greater Sacramento area* include Dustin Pedroia, Derrek Lee, Manny Parra and many more.

Among the hundreds of former professional players who have hailed from around here (and this is not an exhaustive list) include: Dusty Baker, Cuno Barragan, Larry Bowa, Ken and Bob Forsch, Stan Hack, Woody Held, Leron Lee, Jerry Manuel, Joe Marty, Butch Metzger, Jerry Royster, Steve Sax, Greg Vaughn, Fernando Vina and many others.

Numerous MLB managers have come out of Sacramento, including:
Dusty Baker (SF Giants, Chicago Cubs and now Cincinnati Reds)
Larry Bowa (San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies)
Jerry Manuel (Chicago White Sox and New York Mets)
Buck Martinez (Toronto Blue Jays)
Johnny McNamara (6 teams)

Many top-name big league players barnstormed through Sacramento from the teens through the early '60s. Among the barnstormers, none were bigger than Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, who performed as the Bustin' Babes and Larrupin Lous here in Sacramento in 1927 (you can read more about that tour at ThePitchBook.com).

After runnin' the bases here, if you would like to submit material that you believe should be included at BaseballSacramento.com, please send an email to
RAC (at) baseballsacramento (dot) com 

Enjoy!

Editor
Rick Cabral

* The "greater Sacramento baseball area" extends west to Woodland, north to Yuba City, east to Grass Valley and south to the San Joaquin County line.