Olson throws good game with clinic

Deepa Bharath

“Is baseball cool?” the little boy asked former Dodgers pitcher

Gregg Olson.

Olson, well over 6 feet, looked down at the boy who sat on the

grass of Vanguard University’s softball field and smiled.

“Yeah, it is,” he replied without a moment of hesitation.

The celebrity Newport Beach resident was the star attraction at a

baseball clinic run by Vanguard’s team members and head coach

Saturday for the benefit of 50 children from Costa Mesa’s Westside.

The opportunity was created by a network of local churches.

Hands were up in the air even before the 36-year-old former pro

could open his mouth to address the lively group.

“Who did you play for?”

“Have you faced Barry Bonds?”

“What about Sammy Sosa?”

“What’s the hardest you threw?”

“How much did you get paid?”

Well, some of the questions were tougher than the mean curve balls

Olson once threw. But he answered most of them with a smile and let

out a tiny laugh as he shyly dodged the “money” question.

Before Olson’s grand entrance, Vanguard University baseball team

members with head coach Kevin Kasper played with the kids for several

hours, talking with them and giving them pointers on improving their

game.

Luis Saldivar plays baseball in the park with his friends, but

Saturday’s experience was new to him.

“They taught me how to catch good and hit the ball good,” said the

12-year-old, who says he wants to be a doctor and a ball player some

day.

“I wasn’t moving right when I hit the ball,” he said.

Lorena Vargas, 10, had fun “playing with the guys,” she said

casting an adoring glance at the uniformed team members.

“I had a lot of fun,” she said, laughing. “I learned how to throw

the ball.”

Crissy Brooks, director of the Shalimar Teen Center, said she was

happy to see the positive interaction between the players and the

kids.

“By lunch time they were best buds,” she said. “The kids were

jumping all over them.”

This is the first baseball clinic the university has ever

participated in, Kasper said.

“I really feel like we’ve been blessed with a lot here at the

university,” he said. “And only two streets away we have people

who’re not as blessed. This is an opportunity for us reach out and

help and give a little of ourselves.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.