Safe at Home

It's late December, but at the Los Amigos baseball field, it looks a lot like spring—and not just because of the 70-degree weather. Members of the Lobos' JV and varsity squads are getting in a workout as their coach, Art Maltby, watches carefully from the dugout.

This spring, Maltby will start his first full season as head coach of the Los Amigos baseball team. His varsity squad will return eight starters from last season, and he all but expects to compete for a playoff spot for the first time in the school's history. But in a way, the real story is his JV squad, 15 of whom have never played baseball in their lives.

Last season, only seven players tried out for the team. This year, Maltby had more than 40—and he didn't cut any of them. For many of them, it's a steep learning curve, but it beats what they might pick up elsewhere.

"When I was in high school, I saw my friends get cut from different sports, and they would go from being an A student to being a C student to doing things that they shouldn't be doing," Maltby said. "These kids need direction, and I felt that by keeping them on the team, they would be in a family environment. They have a safe haven to come and work out, and at the same time, I can teach them about baseball. I can teach them about life."

One life lesson Maltby's teaching to his players is that school comes first. Last season, 14 of his 36 players were academically ineligible when the season started. This season, every one of them has  GPA of at least 2.5, half a point higher than is required by CIF.

"Being and average student means that you're an average person, and these kids are way above that," Maltby said. "They deserve more, but they have to work hard to get it. I figure if I exceed the average, they'll turn that into something positive, and they have."

When Maltby's varsity team hits the field this spring, he expects them to make their share of noise in the Garden Grove League. He's brought in Lobos alumni Jorge Bedolla and Junior Medellin as his assistants, and his summer and winter programs have already proven sucessful. This summer, the Lobos played to a 5-5 tie with defending CIF champs Beckman, and the winter program has attracted 42 players.

"You can see the change in the mentality of these kids coming out and wanting to play baseball," Maltby said. "These kids want to win. But they need to learn how to win. But from where we started to where we are now, I couldn't be prouder of these kids."