Salinas Valley Pony Baseball & Softball

10/15/2025

On this date in 1963, at the 35th Academy Awards, Anne Bancroft was awarded the OScar for Best Actress for her work in "The Miracle Worker" (1962).
Despite Bancroft's award-winning performance as Anne Sullivan in the Broadway production, United Artists executives wanted Elizabeth Taylor to be cast in this role in the film adaptation. However Arthur Penn (who had also directed the stage production) insisted on using Bancroft. As a result, the studio viewed the film as a risky prospect and granted Penn only a tight budget of $1,300,000 (of which $200,000 was spent in purchasing the rights to the play). In addition, despite the fact that Patty Duke had played Helen Keller in the play, she almost did not get the part. The reason was that at 15 she was considered too old to portray a seven-year-old girl, but after Bancroft had been cast as Anne, Duke was chosen to play Helen in the film, and received the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress at the same ceremony.
Bancroft was 30 years old when she played Anne Sullivan. Sullivan was actually 20 years old when she first came into Helen's life. Sullivan did not speak with an Irish accent as Anne Bancroft did in the play and does in the film. Author William Gibson and director Arthur Penn decided to give her one while rehearsing the play to help Bancroft differentiate her character from that of "Gittel Mosca," whom she had just played in Gibson's "Two for the Seesaw" (which Penn also directed). Bancroft's performance as Annie was so affecting that most subsequent productions of "The Miracle Worker" have her using a brogue.
The eggs Duke throws into Bancroft's face during the eight-minute fight scene were mixed with popcorn in order to make them less slippery. (Wikipedia/IMDb)

10/15/2025

“We Held Her Up With Us”
— Jane Curtin On Gilda Radner

At the SNL 50th Anniversary Special, one moment cut through the glitz and nostalgia: Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman stepped forward, castmates and sisters in comedy, holding aloft a framed photograph of their late friend Gilda Radner. 

They were two of the three women in the original SNL cast, the only women who blazed that path. And in that moment, they made sure Gilda was there too — not tucked away in memory, but standing in the spotlight with them. 

Curtin has also reflected candidly on her early years with Gilda. In rewatching the first compilations of SNL, Curtin admits she found those early shows difficult to laugh at now — stale, dated in places — but she remembers the spark in Gilda.  She sees things differently today: those moments were raw, spontaneous, mostly lived rather than polished.

Curtin, always the foil to Gilda’s wildness, understood what most didn’t: Gilda’s gift wasn’t just laughter — it was presence. She leaned in when others held back. She listened when others were done speaking. Her characters erupted off the screen — Roseanne Roseannadanna, Emily Litella — and Curtin often stood there, cutting through the chaos, grounding the humor without dimming it. 

Watching Curtin and Newman hold up that photograph, you feel the weight of absence — and the force of love. Because Gilda wasn’t just part of Saturday Night Live. She was a reason it felt alive. And even in her absence, Curtin would not let the world forget that.

10/15/2025

The U.S. Navy will honor World War II hero Charles Jackson French by naming a new destroyer after him, ensuring his legacy lives on. In 1942, after the USS Gregory was sunk near Guadalcanal, French swam for six to eight hours through shark-infested waters, towing a raft with 15 injured shipmates. His determination kept them from drifting toward Japanese-occupied shores, ultimately saving their lives. Though his act of bravery was overlooked for decades, the Navy has now immortalized his sacrifice with the USS Charles J. French and the Navy and Marine Corps Medal—the service’s highest non-combat decoration. A hero once nearly forgotten, French’s story will now sail forward with honor. 🚢

10/15/2025

Long before fame, film sets, and red carpets, Steve Martin and Diane Keaton were just two students with big dreams at Santa Ana College in Southern California. In 1964, they met during a college theater production Keaton, full of quiet confidence and talent, took the lead role, while Martin worked backstage as a stagehand, watching her perform with awe. Neither of them could have imagined that fate would reunite them decades later on one of Hollywood’s most beloved film sets.

When Steve Martin learned of Diane’s passing, he shared a touching memory from those college days a rare photo and a caption filled with warmth. “This playbill is from a 1964 college production of Carousel. Diane ‘Hall’ (Keaton) is the lead; I’m a stage hand,” he wrote, offering fans a glimpse into a friendship that started in simplicity and lasted a lifetime.

Years later, their on-screen chemistry in Father of the Bride felt effortless perhaps because it wasn’t just acting. It was a full-circle moment, two friends who began their journey on the same small stage, now sharing the screen in front of the world. For Steve Martin, remembering Diane wasn’t just honoring a co-star it was honoring the beginning of everything.

07/09/2023

05/20/2023

A VERY WORTHY READ!
Keanu Reeves was abandoned by his father at 3 years old and grew up with 3 different stepfathers. He is dyslexic. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident. His daughter died at birth. His wife died in a car accident. His best friend, River Phoenix, died of an overdose. His sister has leukemia.
And with everything that has happened, Keanu Reeves never misses an opportunity to help people in need. When he was filming the movie "The Lake House," he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants; One cried because he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000 and on the same day Keanu deposited the necessary amount in the woman's bank account; He also donated stratospheric sums to hospitals.
In 2010, on his birthday, Keanu walked into a bakery and bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him.
After winning astronomical sums for the Matrix trilogy, the actor donated more than $50 million to the staff who handled the costumes and special effects - the true heroes of the trilogy, as he called them.
He also gave a Harley-Davidson to each of the stunt doubles. A total expense of several million dollars. And for many successful films, he has even given up 90% of his salary to allow the production to hire other stars.
In 1997 some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.
Most stars when they make a charitable gesture they declare it to all the media. He has never claimed to be doing charity, he simply does it as a matter of moral principles and not to look better in the eyes of others.
This man could buy everything, and instead every day he gets up and chooses one thing that cannot be bought: To be a good person.
Keanu Reeves’ father is of Native Hawaiian descent 🪶
Photo by: openart

03/01/2022

Good evening, families! Unfortunately, we are not fielding any baseball or softball teams this season due to volunteer and coaching shortages. We are hoping to regroup and be back next season. We encourage you to register your kiddos with other area leagues. Keep them swinging and playing catch!

12/20/2014

Sign ups this Saturday December 20th at El Dorado Park 11am-2pm feel free to come down a chat with all of us there!! Rain or shine...we will have the new spirt wear available. Hot new items this year men's and women's hats... also bennies will be available this year!!
Online registration also available at
www.salinasvalleypony.sportssignups.com
Our web site will be up and running by January 2, 2015.