Hye Sharzhoom, Novemberl 1979

              November 2,1979
Hye Sharzhoom
Page5
Goorabian recalls bittersweet baseball career
..Harry Goorabian in 1944.
ASO Calendar
November
Friday 2   "Hye Sharzhoom"
Thursday 29 Election of new officers
Thursday 29 Archbishop Vatche Hovsepian to speak  in  the CSUF
College Union lounge at 7:30 p.m. His topic will be the recent Church
unity meeting in Etchmiadzin.
December
Congressman Charles "Chip" Pashayan to speak in the College Union
about the intern program in Washington.
January
Spring semester kick-off party
February
CSUF Armenian Alumni Banquet
March
Statewide ASO convention
April 21-27
Commemorative Week, 65th Anniversary of the Armenocide
Champion Raisins
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By DICK ASP; IAN
An Armenian in professional sports
today has become almost a rarity. He or
she is as rare as a white heavyweight
champion — excuse me, I mean challenger.
Though the Armenian athlete has
never really risen to the top in sports,
a few have emerged.
This is a story about a local boy who
probably could have made good, but
always knew he could do something else
and be successful at it.
Harry "Mike" Goorabian is the gregarious owner of Mid-Valley Distributors, a successful nut and bolt house
that is blessed with the zest and enthusiasm for life reflected by Goorabian.
Goorabian, 61, shows no signs of mental anguish that may have pervaded a
lesser man who faced as much frustration in a promising baseball career,
but the physical signs do exist.
The jovial interior of" this man occasionally gives way to lower back pain he
attributes to a definite pattern of sliding
on his leftside.
Goorabian graduated from Roosevelt
High School in 1937. He then went directly to Catalina Island, which lead a
baseball farm set up by William Wrig-
ley, chewing gum magnate and owner of
the Chicago Cubs.
Wrigley took many promising ballplayers from California to the Island for
training purposes and gave each player
$58 a month plus room and board.
Though the owner of the Cubs,
Wrigley never put pressure on any
youngster to sign with his organization.
In fact, Goorabian ended up property of
the old St. Louis Browns.
In his first season, 1938, he played for
an Oklahoma entry in the Western Association. Goorabian batted .285 with 10
home runs in a ball park which measured
365 feet down the right and left field
lines (these dimensions today would be
considered exceedingly long).
His second year in organized baseball
may have been his best.
At Topeka in 1939, Goorabian hit
.319 with 38 home runs. His chances
were looking awfully good, but as
quickly as success came, along with it
came controversy.
At this point in our discussion, Goorabian's eyes gave away the bitterness
that he admitted he would rather forget
about, but reluctantly he summarized it.
The controversy began the following
season at San Antonio in the Texas
League, which was a stepping stone to
the majors.
After leading the club in hitting at 31£
as a rookie, Goorabian began the nexl
spring training where he left off.
• But, as Goorabian put it, "He (his
manager) must not have liked the way I
parted my hair," because he did everything to keep Goorabian out of the lineup.
This affair became a major topic of
conversation on radio in the San Antonio
area.
Why wasn 't Goorabian starting?
Against Tulsa, Goorabian hit for the
cycle - a single, double, triple and home
run in one game.
At this point, he laughingly reminded
me that "those publicity days are over,
so don' t blow me up."
"There's so damn much politics,
that it's unrealistic," he said, which also
explains why he has documents proving
that he was released from San Antonio
with a .422 batting average.
Goorabian cynically suggests that the
reasoning behind this dealt with the unthinkable notion of starting an infield
that had no one over the age of 20.
His replacement at third base, who
was ""as old as the hills," was supposed
to bring stability to a group of green
youngsters.
It takes no genius to realize that a
.400 hitter shouldn't be collecting
splinters on the bench, yet that is exactly
what Goorabian was doing.
If this was baseball, he wanted no
part of it, so he promptly jumped the
ballclub and came back to Fresno.
Goorabian insists that quitting baseball was the luckiest thing that ever
happened to him, and coming from a
man that "ate, drank and slept baseball,'' that seemed like quite a statement.
Though he had soured of the sport that
brought him much success and glamour,
the dream remained for Goorabian.
Goorabian returned to baseball in
1941 as a member of the San Francisco
Seals of the Pacific Coast League.
Goorabian had a good year under the
tutelage of manager Lefty O'Doule and
was ready for his chance at the major
league level, but along came 1941 and
the beginning of World War 11.
At the time of his induction, Goorabian was 23. After reaching the rank of
sergeant he left the army at 28. Five
good years of his career were now gone,
but Goorabian refused to quit.
He returned to the Seals at his old
position, but again fate was not his teammate. He developed such a sore arm that
combing his hair became a major task
and was given an unconditional release.
After walking papers were issued, the
former Seals third baseman embarked
on a new career.
The Stockton Ports of the California
State League hired Goorabian as their
manager for the 1946 season.
Goorabian's salary was one of the
largest ever offered to a Cal League
boss. He made $750 a month plus 5%
of the total gate, which by today's
standards seems a bit modest.
With the Ports, Goorabian inherited
a team with a forte for the unexpected
and more often than not, an inherent
ability to pull off the ultimate boner.
Though not taunted as a miracle
worker, he transformed a 11-2 looser in
the season's opener to an eventual
Cal League champion in his first and also
last season as a manager in organized
ball.
This finished what amounted to a
short, brilliant, and once controversial
career for the likable Goorabian.
As we looked over some old clippings
Goorabian began to express his views on
today's game.
"We were a lot more rugged back
then, though I am impressed with a
certain maturity shown by the Orioles
(Baltimore) and Pirates (Pittsburgh) in
this year's World Series."
"They look good to me, and that's
difficult for an old-timer to say about a
present-day ballplayer."
When asked about the exorbitant
salaries paid many athletes he said,
"These guys make $100 to 200 thousand
a year, and if they get a cold, they're
out for two weeks."
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