The Boy of Summer turned 75 this spring, but Bill Pintard’s long run as a baseball manager is far from over.
He proves that every time he breaks up the pregame huddle of his Santa Barbara Foresters summer collegiate team and sprints toward the dugout.
“I try to beat them all off the field,” Pintard told Noozhawk. “Not so much early in the season … I start doing it toward the end.
“I always finish last, though.”
He often finishes first, however, when sending his Foresters onto the field. They’ve won a record nine National Baseball Congress World Series championships since 2006. As two-time defending champs, they are also guaranteed an unprecedented 30th consecutive trip to Wichita for this season’s World Series.
“I don’t need a GPS to get there,” Pintard mused before boarding the bus for last year’s tournament.
The Foresters’ goal for this year’s 88th annual event is to become the first team to win three straight championships. The Bismarck, N.D. Barons won the first NBC World Series in 1935 after recruiting future Baseball Hall of Famer Satchel Paige to pitch four of their games.
Pintard, like the legendarily ageless Paige, has shown impressive staying power. His induction into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame came almost eight years ago.
“I’ll probably die on the field somewhere,” he said.
He’ll launch his 27th season at the helm of the Foresters on Thursday at 6 p.m. when they travel to Los Angeles to play the Academy Barons. Their home opener at Pershing Park will be at 6 p.m. on Friday against the Conejo Oaks and Saturday against the Orange County Riptide.
But Pintard isn’t the only Forester back from last season. This year’s roster includes a record 12 returnees.
“Usually we have three or four,” he said.
Summer Reruns
They include Ian Churchill, a lefthander from the University of San Diego who previously pitched at San Marcos High and SBCC. He earned the save for the Toreros in a 3-2 win over Vanderbilt in Friday’ NCAA Regional opener against Vanderbilt.
Other returning pitchers for the Foresters are Brandon Beckel (Texas Tech), Peyton Cole (BYU), Nick Proctor (Cal), Chase Webster (Texas Tech) and Matt Magre (Arkansas).
Also back are third baseman Dylan Campbell (Texas), catcher Nate Rombach (Texas Tech), and outfielders Kade Higgens (ASU), Tanner O’Tremba (Arizona), Josh Stinson (Georgia), and Pat Caulfield (Nevada). Caulfield’s first romp around Pershing Park actually came as Churchill’s SBCC teammate during the seasons of 2018 and 2019.
Pintard is now even pulling in the progeny of former players. SBCC’s Jacob Koeper, son of Forester Hall of Famer Chris Koeper, will be one of the team’s catchers. Sacramento State’s Jack Bollengier, son of alum Jeff Bollengier, has also signed on to play in the Forester outfield.
“Bryce Warrecker — Wes’ son — became the first son of a Forester to play for me last year,” Pintard said. “Cal Poly is sending Bryce to pitch in the Cape Cod League this summer. The Cape coach called me and I gave him a really good recommendation.”
There is also plenty of new talent jumping aboard the Forester bandwagon. Cortland Lawson is the starting shortstop at top-ranked Tennessee. Rylan Charles plays centerfield for UNLV. Will Pendergrass will play in Baylor’s infield next year.
Jake Faherty “pitches fireballs for Arkansas,” Pintard observed, while lefthander Luke Harrison “has been getting a lot of time at Texas.”
Making it big
Sixty former Foresters have gotten time in the big leagues. Two of them — Kevin Frandsen of the San Francisco Giants and Morgan Ensberg of the Houston Astros — entertained themselves with memories of Pintard when their basepaths once crossed at second base.
“Ensberg hits a double, and so Frandsen goes up to him and says, ‘Hey buddy … How ya’ doing, buddy?’ — you know, imitating me,” Pintard said. “Ensberg says, ‘Don’t make me laugh —you’ll get me picked off.’”
Just before play resumed, Ensberg vowed to “hit another double so I can talk to you some more.’”
He did just that a few innings later.
It may not have been as Babe Ruthian as promising a home run to an ailing child, but the Foresters have been champions of charity in their support for cancer-stricken families for the last quarter-century.
Pintard’s son Eric, a former Forester pitcher and coach, helped start “Hugs for Cubs” in 1995 while waging his own battle against cancer. Although he was given no more than two years to live after his diagnosis, he continued his purpose-driven life for nearly a decade before succumbing to the disease on Feb. 23, 2004.
He died with a baseball in his hand.
His father picked up the ball for Hugs for Cubs and has been running with it ever since, 18 years later. Pintard wears his son’s number 19 on his back, and EP19 is stitched onto every Forester cap.
“It’s keeping Eric’s legacy going,” he said of the Hugs for Cubs program. “It’s how I dealt with his passing.
“We all handle that kind of tragedy it in our own ways. Some bury themselves in the bottle. I didn’t drink for probably six to eight months after he passed just to make sure I healed right.
“I had to go through my period of mourning.”
Returning the Visit
Hugs for Cubs not only saved him, it even once saved a Foresters’ victory after one of the team’s first visits to Wichita’s Via Christi Regional Medical Center. One of the cancer patients they saw, a 16-year-old girl named Andi Friend, stunned the team by showing up to their game.
“I was out at the mound talking to my pitcher,” Pintard recalled, “and all of sudden here comes three nurses and Andi with her IV pole, walking into the stadium.”
He pointed her out to each umpire who asked why he was staring into the stands instead of dealing with his pitcher.
“I was out there for 2½ minutes,” Pintard recalled. “I wasn’t going to take the pitcher out because I didn’t have anyone ready to bring in, but that actually bought me enough time to do it.”
He attended her wedding many years later.
“She got married during the tournament to make sure we could go, and now she’s got two kids,” Pintard said. “It’s all just so amazing.”
Andi Friend surprised Pintard again in 2014 when she attended his induction into the National Baseball Congress Hall of Fame.
“Eric spent a lot of time with her,” Pintard explained. “They had the same kind of cancer. It didn’t look good for her. Eric just kept telling her, ‘You’ve got to hunker down . . . Don’t let it beat you.’”
Bowling, Surfing and the Angels
Eric’s inspirational words still resonate in the Foresters clubhouse. Bowling and surfing activities are on tap for this year’s Hugs for Cubs kids. They will also attend a Los Angeles Angels game. Elijah Vargas will be honored as the Cub of the Year during the team’s game on July 9.
The Hugs for Cubs’ offseason activities include the delivery of Christmas trees, lights and gingerbread houses to families whose children are undergoing or who recently finished cancer treatment. The Foresters also bring gifts to hospitalized children who are unable to be home for Christmas.
The players get as much out of Hugs for Cubs as the families do, Pintard said.
“I love coaching and I love baseball,” he began, “but I also love the fact that we make a difference in the lives of these players. We show them that there’s more to life than hitting a curveball.”
There is also more to Pintard’s job than managing a baseball game. He admits that the financial and logistical constraints of running an amateur ball club “are starting to wear me out.”
Pershing Park must be secured with the red tape of a joint-use agreement that is owned by both Santa Barbara City College and the City of Santa Barbara. The college controls the infield and grandstand area. The city has charge of the outfield grass, which overlaps with a pair of adjoining softball fields.
Erecting and then removing the portable fence which separates the fields is one of the Foresters’ many chores.
“The city has done a really nice job of seeding the outfield for us, but they also lease it out,” Pintard said. “They play football and soccer out there. Pony Baseball played there last weekend on the two other fields, which was actually nice to see.
“We are really happy to be there. People can ride their bikes to the games, we’re just a block from the beach, and there’s parking. But it is a challenge putting it all together.”
Looking for Host Families
No task has become more daunting than finding host families for the players. (Those interested can write to info@sbforesters.org).
“We’re pulling out our hair right now,” Pintard said. “COVID has changed the dynamics. Housing is tight. More people are now working from home.
“The thing we’ve come across most is, ‘We’d love to, but our kids are staying home this summer.’ Or, ‘My mother-in-law has moved in.’ This year has been very difficult.”
Baseball has always been a family affair for Pintard. His late father, Osborn Pintard, was a coach. His brother David has been a mainstay on the Foresters’ Board of Directors. His mother Kay even taught him how to keep score when he was a boy.
“She worked for the Wilkes-Barre Barons,” Pintard said, referring to a former minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. “She knew Bob Feller. Bob Feller chased her but she wasn’t allowed to date players.
“She threw out the first pitch at UCSB when she was 77. I told her, ‘Don’t bounce it.’ Baseball has been in my blood since I was born.”
He’s served as a pro scout for many years, and now covers the West Coast area for the New York Yankees.
Pintard has thought about passing on the torch to a successor and spending more time with wife Kris and the rest of his family. But a few hours watching the NBA playoffs on TV with her father, Bill Bertka, stirred his competitive juices once again.
Bertka, who first joined the Los Angeles Lakers staff in 1968, is still working for the club as a consultant and special assistant at age 94.
“I can’t retire until he does because I would never live it down with the family,” Pintard said with a laugh. “I’m chasing him in rings. I think he has 12 and I only have nine.”
And so Pintard will break another Forester huddle this week, and the race will be on once again.
