Spud O'Neil's Lakewood teams are consistent winners
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
The longtime coach, whose teams have made the playoffs 24 out of 25 seasons, is proud of his 2008 "blue-collar" squad because most did not predict the Lancers to win the Moore League title.
Inside his office, it's baseball heaven.
A faded Dodgers pennant, scuffed balls, trading cards and an old bat are scattered about as dusty photos of Ted Williams, Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson stare down from above.
In the middle of it all sits a smiling man with a paintbrush mustache and red cap. This is Spud O'Neil -- real name Walter -- the mild-mannered coach of Lakewood baseball for the past quarter-century.
"Only my mother called me Walter," O'Neil says. "Everybody else calls me Spud. Even my wife."
More on his nickname later. First, O'Neil has to get to the field -- "Lots of drills need to get done today," he says -- and, on his way out, he brushes past an inspirational quote taped to a wall:
"We are what we do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit."
-- Aristotle
For O'Neil, excellence has been just that at Lakewood -- a habit. His teams have won 16 league titles, reached the playoffs 24 out of 25 seasons and have appeared in five division finals.
"I missed the playoffs that one time and it was devastating," he said. "It was like I was a lost person."
Thursday, O'Neil's team returns to the playoffs again. Lakewood (20-11) plays Tustin (11-13) at 6:30 in a Southern Section-Toyota Division I first-round game at Blair Field in Long Beach.
It's a postseason appearance that looked unattainable not long ago.
The Lancers, with no returning starters besides pitchers, began the season at 7-9, were shut out three times, and, worse, seemingly lost the renown Lakewood discipline.
O'Neil, a self-described "even-keel guy," became prickly, his players noticed.
"We knew something was going wrong because we could see Coach O'Neil was getting angry," pitcher Matt Johnson said.
"When he's like that, he's not screaming to make his point -- he just gets intense."
O'Neil's intensity was burning.
"Spud usually wins with wisdom or intuition, but he can have a fiery side," assistant coach Matt Nuez said. "And when it comes out, you have to take notice."
The players took notice during four consecutive days of practices, which O'Neil dubbed "Back to Basics."
The practices were grueling. The results were Spud-esque.
The Lancers won 13 of their last 14 games and took the Moore League title. The bats -- once silent -- became downright raucous and the team averaged more than 13 runs in league play.
