LJ baseball archives: Weber the bomb in '53

Viking first baseman Eddie Olsen (left) moves to

tag out Jim Thompson of Lynwood on a pickoff

throw. LJ won the CIF playoff game, 5-2. Pitcher

Dave Jordan is in the background right.

(Capture of online image)

By Ed Piper

Art Weber went 16-3 as a pitcher for the 1953 Vikings, as Walt Harvey coached La Jolla with no prior baseball experience or knowledge (he checked out books from the library to bone up on strategy) to the CIF Southern Section championship game in spring 1953.

Partletonsports.com has some great local prep sports history, and this is a gem that I fell into while trying to take my phone off "Incognito" (it's still in that mode--too dark, I don't like it).

Weber, who also a swung a powerful bat, was named the Southern California Player of the Year.  His teammate, first baseman Eddie Olsen, was named to the Second Team.

Dave Jordan, a 1955 LJHS grad who just attended last week's alumni batting practice event the day after Christmas, is pictured in a photo from that season on partletonsports.com. He was pitching at the time. Jordan went on to play five years in professional baseball, including with the Stockton Ports, part of the Baltimore Orioles organization at the time.

The Vikings won the City Prep League title on the way to the CIF title game.

Harvey, the coach that year, was also La Jolla's football coach, leading them to CIF playoff games in 1951 and 1952. He also served as the track coach. Walt went on to build football and track powers at Lincoln and Crawford, both newer schools during that period.