Republishing Compliments
of
Ahwatukee Foothills News, Aug. 6, 2004
By Larry Ward, Staff Writer
Staff photo by Craig Macnaughton
Subia coach Brian Dodd (left) has
passed on his experience of playing for a Babe Ruth World Series
championship team in 1984 to his son, Brian Dodd Jr., who will
try to duplicate the feat at the Connie Mack World Series, which
starts Sunday in Farmington, N.M.
Subia Carries Dodd’s Memories
of Babe Ruth
Championship to Connie Mack World Series.
By Larry Ward, Staff Writer
Ahwatukee News
Twenty years ago, Brian Dodd was a member of the Phoenix-based
Subia baseball team that captured the Babe Ruth World Series
in Jamestown N.Y.,
He knew it was an experience he could tell his kids about some
day.
And he did.
“I’ve heard about it a hundred times,” admitted
Dodd’s son, Brian Jr. “We have a video tape and
this time of year, I bring it out and look at it four or five
times.”
Now Dodd is headed back to another World Series, this time
with his son and another Subia team that will vie for the Connie
Mack World Series crown starting Sunday in Farmington, N.M.
Subia, an 18-and-under all-star team of players primarily from
the East Valley, including Mountain Pointe, Desert Vista and
two-time defending 5A state champion Chandler Hamilton high
schools, were the first Arizona team to win a Connie Mack Western
Regional championship last week and qualify for the eight-team,
double—elimination World Series.
Since 1984, Connie Mack has become the division for 17-and
18-year-old players.
The younger Dodd, who graduated from Desert Vista this spring,
hasn’t played for a national title, but he has heard about
the pressure and pleasure of winning a championship. His grandfather,
Tony Subia, is the team sponsor and was the coach when the elder
Dodd was on the championship team.
“I’ve kind of gotten the drift of things we can
expect” the younger Dodd said, “but you always have
to experience something like this for yourself rather than through
someone else. We’re prepared for it.
The 1984 Babe Ruth championship trophy and the ball from now
Coach Dodd’s 9-0 no-hitter against the University of Tennessee
on March 19,1988, when he played for Arizona State University
are reminders in the Dodd household of what can happen when
a baseball team clicks.
“The trophy is in the game room at our house,”
Dodd said. “Hopefully we’ll bring back another one.”
Farmington, a town of 40,000 population sitting at an elevation
of 5,300 feet in the northwestern corner of New Mexico, has
hosted the Connie Mack World Series since 1965. Traditional
ceremonies include a parade through town on Saturday.
Subia is scheduled to face the Midland Redskins from Cincinatti,
Ohio in the opener Sunday evening. The championship game will
be August 13.
“This is as big as it gets,” Coach Dodd said. “It’s
the biggest amateur baseball event in the country. There are
seven regional champions and the host team that make up the
best of the best in the country.”
Naturally, Dodd has been asked to compare the team he played
on as an 18-year-old, and the team he is taking to Farmington.
“Obviously, the talent was very good then,” coach
Dodd said. “But the kids are stronger and faster now due
to year-around baseball and everything that goes with it like
the exercise program kids follow these days.
Subia will break up after the World Series, but coach Dodd
said because of the experience this summer they will remain
friends for years.
“We’re the little team that could,” coach
Dodd said. “I want these kids to go out and enjoy every
minute of the World Series. I want them to have a good time.
I want them to play well, of course, but there are far more
important things in life than wins and losses. This is something
they’ll be able to tell their kids and grandkids about.”
He did.
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