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CONTACT:
 | Cal State L.A. Baseball Head LOS ANGELES -- Cal State L.A. head baseball coach John Herbold has been selected to receive the 43rd annual Lefty Gomez Award at the American Baseball Coaches AssociationÂs Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet on Saturday, January 3, 2004, in San Antonio, Texas, it was announced by the ABCA. Entering his 20th season as the head coach of the Golden Eagle baseball program and 48th overall as a head baseball coach in Southern California, Herbold has been head coach for an amazing 1,025 games at CSULA and a total of 1,684 games in his career as a head coach at either the high school or college level. Two of the many accomplishments during HerboldÂs tenure as head coach of the Golden Eagles include becoming the winningest coach in CSULA history by surpassing the legendary Jim Reeder (for whom the Cal State L.A. baseball field is named) on February 10, 2002, and coaching his 1,000th game at the helm of CSULA on March 16, 2002. Since HerboldÂs arrival at Cal State L.A., the Golden Eagles have compiled 13 20-win seasons, tying the record set by Reeder in that category, and have sent plenty of CSULA alums to the professional ranks. Cal State L.A. consistently ranks among the top 25 schools in the nation -- regardless of division -- in sending players to the pros. Scholastically, HerboldÂs squads consistently perform at nearly a ÂBÂ average over the course of their academic careers. In fact, in fall of 2002, 13 players had GPAs over 3.0 while six of those had GPAs over 3.5. As a high school coach at both Long Beach Polytechnic and Lakewood spanning 28 years, Herbold won outright or shared 18 Moore League crowns and amassed an amazing 483 victories, three CIF titles and a remarkable .733 winning percentage. Herbold was a Phi Beta Kappa, graduating magna cum laude with a B.A. in journalism from Stanford in 1951. He later earned his master's in education at Stanford. Named after the great Lefty Gomez, the ABCAÂs annual award is presented to an individual who has distinguished himself amongst his peers and has contributed significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally and internationally. Among past recipients of the award are legendary USC head baseball coach Rod Dedeaux (1980) and former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth (1985).
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