Helling, Burrell top Hot Stove winners
Quito Little League's Hilliard to win special service award
By Dick Sparrer
Ken Caminiti, Scott Erickson, Dave Righetti, Mark Langston ...
The list goes on and on.
Dan Gladden, Anthony Telford, Carney Lansford, Dave Steib ...
Why, it's a veritable "Who's Who" of Major League Baseball.
Barry Bonds, Gregg Jefferies, Mike Mussina, Brian Johnson...
And this year Pat Burrell and Rick Helling will join that impressive list.
Burrell and Helling will line up with that array of baseball superstars when they walk off with the top awards presented at the 17th annual Santa Clara County Baseball Fundraisers Hot Stove Banquet on Feb. 6 at the San Jose Elks Club.
Burrell, a rookie outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, will be presented with the Player of the Year award and Helling, a right-hander for the Texas Rangers, will be named the Pitcher of the Year when John Shrader of KNBR-68 serves as master of ceremonies for the event that will begin with no-host cocktails at 6 p.m., dinner at 7 p.m. and the banquet to follow.
Burrell starred at Bellarmine Prep and Miami University before signing with the Phils, and Helling is a former Stanford pitcher who is now throwing for the Rangers.
They will follow in some mighty impressive footsteps as they walk to the podium to receive their awards on Monday night.
Among the past winners:
Caminiti, who recently signed with Texas, played for Leigh and San Jose State University before going on to greatness with the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres. Caminiti was a Hot Stove College Player of the Year before winning the pro player award twice.
Erickson, a outstanding pitcher at Homestead, posted a 16-7 record to help the Baltimore Orioles to a division title and is still pitching for the O's.
Righetti, who played at Pioneer and San Jose City College, threw a no-hitter for the New York Yankees and went on to become one of the great closers in baseball history. He is now the pitching coach for the Giants.
And the others: Telford, played at Silver Creek and San Jose State, then with the Expos and Orioles; Langston, played at Buchser High School in Santa Clara, then with the Mariners, Expos and Angels; Gladden, played at Westmont, then with the Giants, Twins and Tigers; Lansford, starred at Wilcox, then with the Red Sox and A's; Steib, played at Oak Grove, then was a star pitcher for the Blue Jays; Bonds, played at Serra High School, now a superstar for the Giants; Jefferies, another Serra star who went on to play for the Mets and Tigers; Mussina, pitched at Stanford, then went on to star for the Orioles and recently signed with the Yanks; and Johnson, played at Stanford, now with the Royals after stints with the Giants and Reds.
Bob Arum, chairman of the board for Top Rank Inc., will be the evening's special guest. Arum was the promoter for Muhammad Ali's title fight against George Chuvalo in 1966, and he went on to promote a number of Ali's fights.
Joining Burrell and Helling as award winners will be: Minor League Player of the Year-- Eric Byrnes of the Oakland Athletics organization (St. Francis, UCLA); Minor League Pitcher of the Year-- Brandon Villafuerte of the Detroit Tigers organization (formerly of West Valley Community College); College Players of the Year-- Joe Borchard (Stanford), Junior Ruiz (San Jose State); College Pitchers of the Year-- Justin Wayne (Stanford), Chris Key (San Jose State); Junior College Player of the Year-- Adam Montarbo (West Valley); Junior College Pitcher of the Year-- Rob Ellis (Mission); High School Players of the Year-- Erik Dean (Wilcox), Jason Windsor (Leigh); Scout of the Year-- Tom Wheeler (Colorado Rockies); Service Award-- Dick Hilliard (Quito Little League); Loyd Christopher Award-- Jack Headley (Santa Clara University), Ryan Brucker (San Jose State), Chris O'Riordan (Stanford); Academic Achievement-- Kevin Rose (Silver Creek); Outstanding Organizations-- Santa Clara Boys Baseball, Stanford University, San Jose State University.
Tickets are $35 per person and $350 for a table of 10 ($300 per table of 10 for youth, high school, community college and college baseball groups). For reservations, call 408.446.3443.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
