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Editorial
Former ballplayers turn out to honor Winstead
The late Leo Durocher said, "Nice guys finish last." Well, then Joe Winstead is the exception. Winstead joined the faculty at Los Gatos High School in the fall of 1958 as a coach and teacher. He took over as the varsity baseball coach at the school in the spring of 1962 ... a position he held for nearly 40 years.
When Winstead walked off the diamond for the final time after the 1999 season, an era came to an end.
Winstead coached 965 games--933 at the varsity level. He led his varsity teams to 545 victories, seven league championships, two tournament championships and two second-place finishes in the Central Coast Section playoffs.
So Winstead was a winner. But was he a nice guy? His former players must think so. Last Friday afternoon many of those Wildcats who played for Joe, together with staff members from the high school, presented him with a special award to show their appreciation for his dedication to the sport of baseball and to the young people of Los Gatos.
During a special ceremony held before the Wildcats' final regular season home game, Winstead was presented with the school's original home plate with a special engraved plaque mounted on the front. It read: "Proudly presented to Joe Winstead ... By the many players who have touched this plate and whose lives have been touched by your coaching and guidance over the past 40 years."
Players touched that plate almost 5,000 times during Joe's tenure as the school's varsity baseball coach. More importantly, there were more than 375 varsity players whose lives he touched and whose character he helped to develop.
"I never felt that winning a ballgame was ever the most important thing," said Winstead in an interview following his retirement as a coach. "When you walk onto a field, there are so many important things for a young man to learn."
Winstead has enjoyed many accomplishments during his career in baseball. He was named to the San Jose State University Spartan Baseball Hall of Fame for his performance as a college player, and later he coached in the North-South state high school all-star game and was honored by the California Coaches Association.
"But you know what makes a good coach?" said Winstead. "Good players. And we've had some very good players at Los Gatos."
He coached them all--from Bob Allen to Jim Zanardi, from Dave Adams to Mike Zukin. And every player in between. That includes 23 players who went on to play baseball in the professional ranks, and probably a couple of hundred who continued playing the game at the college level.
But more than that, he made an impression on the young men he coached ... enough of an impression that many of them returned last Friday to honor their former coach. And we join them in giving a tip of the cap to the coach for his 40 years of dedicated service to the program.
Joe Winstead is living proof that nice guys don't always finish last.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
