SMSBL Hall of Fame

Mark was born and raised in San Jose. As early as six years of age Mark recalls getting up Saturday morning and going across the street to the park with his father, who played on a competitive fast pitch team, warming up and shagging balls in the outfield during the practices. Mark played in the West Valley Little League for the Braves who won the league championships when he was both eleven and twelve years old. Throughout elementary and junior high School he found ways to play ball. He would get to school early, and he and his friends would start a pickup game before the bell rang. The game would continue at recess, lunchtime, and then after school. Mark chose not to play baseball in High School because the coach was also his math teacher and he did think that his math teacher was very good at math. Despite this Mark continued to play softball outside of school on church teams. Even while serving a mission in Panama, he found opportunities to play ball when he could, including pickup games with former members of the Panamanian National team on the fields at the Canal Zone. Mark married in 1983 and graduated from San Jose State in 1984 and lived in the South Bay until 1989 when he chose to transfer to the HP site in Roseville. All this time he was playing softball two nights a week almost year round. While playing on a softball team in 1992, Mark was invited to play baseball in the Sacramento MSBL with the Royals. Coming back to the game after being away for 16 years was a little intimidating, especially considering that Jim Barr, Butch Metzger, and Ken Willoughby were pitching in the league for the Giants. In the 27 years that Mark has been in the Sacramento MSBL he has played with the same summer league team even though the name was changed from the Royals to the River Cats and back to the Royals. During those years Mark managed the Royals a few years in the mid 90’s and later a couple more years as the River Cats. Over the years the Royals and the River Cats won numerous summer league championships. More recently Mark also played in the Spring League with the Giants who also won a league championship. Mark’s first MSBL championship ring came in 2001 with the 40+ River Cats and since then he has acquired rings from both the MSBL World Series and MSBL Fall Classic on both the River Cats, Royals, and most recently with the Blue Jays. Mark is the consummate right fielder, with speed and a strong and accurate throwing arm. He hits consistently as well. That was evident at the 2017 MSBL Fall Classic in Florida where his grand slam home run was one of the Royals highlights of the championship week.