Living the legacy

A rich history of baseball clings to the Stassi name.

Bob Stassi and his brother Sam both played for the Hollywood Stars in the 1940s, nearly 20 years before the L.A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants had made their moves out West.

Bob and Sam Stassi's father, Sam Stassi Sr., played for the San Francisco Seals, and his brother played 13 seasons — roughly 1931 to 1945 — in the major leagues.

"My dad's uncle (Myril Hoag) played for the Yankees in the 1930s with Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio," said Yuba City High baseball coach Jim Stassi.

To any American kid, that's the coolest great-uncle since Uncle Sam, and even then, the Stassis would probably stick with ol' Myril.

After all, baseball is in the blood.

The game isn't just an American pastime, for the Stassis, it's a family pastime.

It's a natural cycle and anyone close to them would say the same — even the wall of old baseball photos in their house seems to whisper, "lay off the high fastball."

As Jim Stassi put it, "as fate would have it," the game and the family seem to be intertwined.

Stassi's career, like his distant relatives, has been well documented.

From all-star to all-league catcher at Yuba City High, from all-conference player at Yuba College to all-American at the University of Nevada, Reno, his journey took him through the ranks of Single-A to Triple-A for three years in the San Francisco Giants' organization in the mid-1980s.

From there he played in a professional league in Rimini, Italy, but "as fate would have it," he returned home to take over as head coach in his old stomping grounds.

"I don't know if we ever planned on coming back here," said Jim's wife, Racquelle Stassi. "It just kind of worked out that way."

Yuba City youngsters with the dream of one day playing in the big leagues could only be so lucky.

Jim Stassi's modest demeanor prevents him from stepping into the spotlight, instead he avoids it like a bad disease, and his sons have picked up the same bug.

However, like statistics, accolades don't lie.

Jim, who also played for Italy in the 1984 Olympics, is a member of the Yuba College and Reno athletics hall of fames.

"I think I hit 13 or 14 home runs one year, but the wind really carries them out there (Reno)," Stassi said.

Luckily for Brock Stassi, a left-handed pitcher at his father's alma-mater, he hasn't experienced that wind quite yet.

Instead, the freshman hurled his way out of long relief into a closer role, and is now ending the season in the starting rotation with a 3-0 record and the lowest earned run average on the team (3.82) not bad for a kid who just began committing himself solely to pitching during his senior year in high school.

"That was when he came into his own," his father said.

But that's not when it began for Brock or his two younger brothers.

There was a path of dedication and commitment, from little league to legion, to camps to high school, and yet, for these three brothers, they're just getting started.

The process

"We did all the sports when the kids were young," Jim Stassi said. "And I just happen to be the high school baseball coach and they grew up through that program."

But let's face it, the talent and the respect for their family's history in the game was already there:

Sixteen-year-old Max Stassi was warming up pitchers for the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox when he was a freshman — a year in which he led the conference in batting average, home runs and RBIs — and verbally committed to UCLA when he was a sophomore.

He also has two gold medals playing for USA Youth National Team the past two summers.

Little brother Jake is not so little. The sophomore has a changeup that stops for Cracker Jacks on the way in and a fastball that clocks at 80 mph.

"They just chose to pursue baseball," Jim Stassi said. "And one rule has always been, if you start something, you commit to it and finish it."

Whether they chose baseball, or baseball chose them, what's not in question is their commitment to baseball at Yuba City High.

For most baseball players, February is when gloves and bats are dusted off. For the Honkers, baseball begins in the summer.

It's known as, "the process."

"You can't just meet in the spring and say 'OK, let's win a section title.' That's just not going to happen," coach Stassi said.

After extensive instruction during summer and fall ball, where they focus on mechanics, strength and conditioning, and speed and agility, the players are thrown into a baseball class in the winter, where the players are taught "the mental part of the game."

When spring rolls around, the players take the field with virtually every aspect covered — even universal guidelines.

"I keep it simple, I tell the kids, 'be responsible for your own actions and do the right thing on the field and off it," Stassi said.

This year's Honkers team is carrying at least three players who will play at the next level. Along with Max Stassi's commitment to UCLA, seniors Justin Lamb and Aaron Crouch have signed letters of intent to play at Sacramento State.

In his 16th season as head coach, Jim Stassi's squad is primed to win the school's fourth consecutive conference championship.

Last season, with all three sons on the team, the Honkers won the Sac-Joaquin Section Div. III title — their first in school history.

While coach Stassi is firm in treating his sons just like any other of his players, even he admits, it was special.

Brock wore No. 33 for the Honkers — his dad's old number.

And when he graduated, Jake picked it up.

"My dad, obviously, is one of my biggest role models," the youngest Stassi said.

The "Real" coach Stassi

It's a perfect day for a game — the sun glares down, but it's too early in the year for the heat to take effect and barbecue smoke wafts over the bleachers and into Winship Field.

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Jake Stassi bumps an 0-2 pitch for a Texas-League single through the gap, holds up at first and waits for the No. 3 hitter, his older brother to move him over.

After terrorizing Woodland the game before, Max Stassi takes an intentional first-pitch in the lower back. In traditional etiquette, he stares down the pitcher, trots to first and glances over to his younger brother, who's getting ready to take a lead at second.

He then stands on first base and peers over to the third base coach, waiting for a sign of instruction and guidance.

Just like any other day, his father gives him a piece of advice — just as he's been doing for years.

The Honkers would fall 9-3 to conference rival Woodland — only their second loss of the season, but the Stassis and Honkers would regroup to play another day.

"The beauty of baseball is that you play a lot of games," Jim Stassi said.

Indeed, the Honkers avenged the loss at Woodland the next day.

Living the legacy

The legendary stories surrounding young Max Stassi — including hitting three home runs in three at-bats against Woodland — seem to gather steam each spring, and his brothers are catching up with their own tales of glory.

As a junior, Max is the top-ranked catcher in the state and among the top recruits in the country.

His teammates have dubbed him "Maximus."

If you ask University of Nevada-Reno pitching coach Stan Stolte about where Brock will be in two years, he smiles.

"Oh boy, being one of our main guys, leading us to a lot of wins," he said. "He just needs to get out there more. He's so business-like and dependable, and he's been so well coached, it makes my job a whole lot easier."

Don't be surprised if UCLA head coach John Savage is echoing those statements after a year of Max Stassi catching for his Bruins.

Three home runs in three at-bats against Woodland should be legendary enough, but for a young, ambitious high school ball player, tales of the third-generation catcher are embellished like ghost stories around a camp fire.

But they're not fooling his dad.

The two will bicker about who's arm is stronger, until Jake must act as mediator and step in.

Meanwhile, with a little more experience, it's only a matter of time before Jake Stassi breaks out.

Jake, he's not quite there yet. However, he has pinned down his position.

"I just feel good on the mound," Stassi said. "I'm much more focused and serious out there on the mound than if I'm in the field."

The Stassi boys have all but cinched their futures with Division I programs, thanking their father for the guidance, motivation and training with a penny-saving scholarship.

But what about mom?

Well, behind every successful man, stands a great woman. Or, if you ask her sons, another coach Stassi.

"She thinks she is," laughed Jake.

"She knows her stuff, but sometimes she thinks she knows everything," Brock added.

Then again, through the years with Jim Stassi at Yuba City, Yuba College, the University of Nevada and through the minors, how could any supportive high school sweetheart and wife sit around and not pick up the intricacies of the game?

"Everyone thinks I know everything about the game, but I'm still learning things," Racquelle Stassi says while watching a San Francisco Giants-Arizona Diamondbacks game on TV.

Like most dedicated moms, the daily routine alone deserves recognition: Cleaning uniforms, cooking pre-game meals, driving three kids to three separate games at various times and places.

"She's sacrificed so much for all of us," he said. "She's a strong woman and a great mother."

Her stories aren't dugout related and won't be exaggerated 20 years from now.

Instead, her tales are of socks that could stand up on their own, stained uniforms, missing equipment and injuries.

But it's the entrenched bond among her husband, sons and the game of baseball that they share — and part of what makes the Stassi name a local legacy.

Where the legacy begins

The baseball legacy of the Stassi family traces back to Myrril Hoag, who played 13 years in the major leagues.

The first seven of those seasons, from 1931-32 and from 1934-1938, Hoag was an outfielder with the New York Yankees.

His teammates included Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and, in 1936, a rookie named Joe DiMaggio.

In 1939, Hoag was shipped to the St. Louis Browns and made the American League all-star team, and was 31st in the MVP voting.

That year, Hoag batted .295 with 10 home runs and 75 RBIs in 482 at-bats over 129 games.

He also played for the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians. His final season was 1945.

Hoag played in three World Series, all with the Yankees (1932, 1937 and 1938). He batted .320 with one home run and three RBIs in 25 at-bats.

For his career, Hoag hit .271 with 854 hits, 141doubles, 33 triples, 28 home runs, 401 RBIs, and scored 384 runs.

Contact sports reporter Bryan DeMain at 749-4796 or bdemain@appeal-democrat.com