By Ed Piper
After a rough season last spring, and a 10-17 record, all was well on the Viking baseball field the day after Christmas. Coach Gary Frank was throwing (righthanded--that's another story) batting practice to assembled alumni players the day after Christmas.
"This started with Kyle Zimmer," said Frank, who has been part of and presided over the La Jolla baseball program for much of the last three decades, and who, with his father Howard, has thrown out the welcome mat for former players from any era to come back and visit the beautiful facility on the grounds of Muirlands Middle School.
"He wanted some place to hit after they wouldn't let him hit anymore," recalled Frank after throwing hundreds of pitches to Weston Clark (Class of 2015), Jaret Swerdlow (Class of 2023), and several others, who went through multiple rotations at the plate, soaking in live pitching from the mound on the main field (despite two pitching cages sitting nearby, unused on this day).
Zimmer, son of Kathy Zimmer, who retires from LJHS as a counselor this school year, went on from his stellar Viking days to play in MLB along with his brother, Bradley. Kyle pitched for the Kansas City Royals in 2019, 2020, and 2021. (Bradley played for Cleveland, Toronto, and Philadelphia.)
How Frank, a former second baseman and a natural lefthander, came to throw right-handed so that he would have a place in the infield is a story that alumnus Doug Skiles told. Gary's bat was fine--he went on to play professionally--but he was throwing lefthanded, which would have restricted him to first base or the outfield in baseball's traditional ways. So his father got him to practice throwing with the other arm, and the rest is history. He still batted lefthanded, and quite successfully, to the tune of a career .400 average as a prep player at LJHS.
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