Rose Garden Resident
Sports
American Giants top list of Hot Stove winners
By Dick Sparrer
There are some powerful organizations that make up Little League Baseball's District 12.
Los Gatos, Almaden and Lincoln Glen fly the pennants of district domination throughout the years, and Cambrian, Quito, Willow Glen and Union have each won their share of titles. And in recent years, it's been Saratoga making a run at district glory.
But the San Jose American Little League, the smallest of all the leagues in the district, has simply made appearances in district tournament play. Most years it's been two games and out for the tiny league from San Jose's Rose Garden area.
That is, until last season.
The San Jose American Little League Giants lived up to their name in 2006. The little team with the big name not only posted the first Tournament of Champions victory in league history, the Giants went on to claim the District 12 TOC crown.
For that effort, the Giants will be recognized at the 23rd annual Santa Clara County Hot Stove Banquet on Jan. 30 at the San Jose Elks Club.
The San Jose American Giants have won the Outstanding Amateur Organization of the Year award and will be honored along with other amateur players, professional players and baseball supporters at the Hot Stove event.
New Bay Area managers Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants and Bob Geren of the Oakland A's will be the special guests when master of ceremonies Ted Robinson announces the line-up of 2006 winners that includes Eric Byrnes of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Kevin Frandsen of the San Francisco Giants and Jason Windsor of the Oakland A's.
Stanford University is represented by three players on the Hot Stove awards list. Chris Minaker has been selected as the College Player of the Year and teammate Greg Reynolds is the College Pitcher of the Year. Stanford's Randy Molina and Daniel Nava of Santa Clara University and Justin Santich-Hughes of San José State University are each winners of the Loyd Christopher Award.
Community College Player of the Year Jason Hershfield and Community College Pitcher of the Year Carlos Hernandez of West Valley College will also be honored.
Frandsen, who starred locally at Bellarmine and San José State University before signing with the Giants, is the Minor League Player of the Year. Windsor, a Leigh High School sensation before turning professional, is the Minor League Pitcher of the Year.
Byrnes, a standout at Mountain View's St. Francis High School, is the Major League Player of the Year.
Bellarmine's Nate Garcia has been named the High School Player of the Year and Carlos Alonso of Los Gatos is the Frank Bettencourt High School Academic Achievement Award winner.
Winning special awards at the event will be: Rick Moore, Amateur Umpire Ted Barrett Award; former San José City College and Santa Clara University coach John Oldham, Special Service Award; John Reid of the Palo Alto Daily News, Sports Media Person of the Year; and John Hughes of the Florida Marlins, Scout of the Year.
San Jose American had gone 15 straight years without winning a single game in the District 12 Tournament of Champions. But in 2006 the league that fields only two teams in its major division defeated teams from Saratoga, Branham Hills, Willow Glen and Almaden in the TOC.
Byrnes was selected the Major League Player of the Year after hitting .267 with 26 home runs and 79 runs-batted-in last season for the Diamondbacks. The outfielder who came up with A's in 2000 was a fan favorite in Oakland before he was traded to the Colorado Rockies midway through the 2005 season.
Frandsen is another local favorite. The former Bell and Spartan played 41 games with the San Francisco Giants last season, hitting .215 with a couple of homers. In his Major League debut, he went 3 for 4 with three runs scored. But he is being honored as the Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .307 for Fresno in the Pacific Coast League. In 226 career minor league games, Frandsen has posted a .322 batting average.
Windsor, the former Leigh and West Valley star, threw four games for the Oakland A's last season, but was a standout for the Sacramento River Cats where he posted a 13-1 record with a 3.81 earned run average and struck out 123 batters in 118 innings.
Stanford's Minaker hit .364 with 11 homers while playing all 60 games at shortstop for the Cardinal last spring. Molina started 32 games as a Stanford infielder and hit .308. Reynolds posted a 7-6 record with a 3.31 earned run average, completing five of the 18 games he started.
Nava, an outfielder at Santa Clara, hit .395 for the Broncos, and Santich-Hughes, a catcher at San José State, hit .220 for the Spartans.
Hershfield hit .329 for West Valley and also posted four saves coming out of the bullpen, and Hernandez, a solid southpaw out of Santa Clara High, posted an 11-1 record with a 1.64 ERA as a freshman for the Vikings.
Garcia was the Central Coast Section Player of the Year after leading Bellarmine to the CCS Division I title with a 10-1 pitching record and .420 batting average. Alonso hit .430 for the CCS Division II champion Wildcats.
The Hot Stove Banquet will be held Jan. 30 at the San Jose Elks Club, 444 W. Alma Ave. Tickets are $40 per person, $400 for a reserved table for 10 ($350 for a reserved table for 10 for youth, high school, community college and college baseball groups). For more information, call Al Talboy at 408.446.3443.
