| | Published July 4th, 2012
| A General among Generals Don Miller and Lafayette's American Legion Baseball
| | Cathy Dausman |  | | Don Miller Photos Cathy Dausman
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Coaches and scouts from around the Bay Area colleges and professional teams converged on Lafayette in May to celebrate the summer of 1982 at a reunion dinner honoring the Lafayette Generals baseball team.
In 1982, the American Legion Post 517 team of Lafayette went to Boyertown, PA for the American Legion World Series. The team battled through a Bay Area loser's bracket, advancing to playoffs only when another team was disqualified. They played in Yountville and Billings, Montana before arriving in Pennsylvania, and lost their first game before rallying and winning five games in a row. They placed second nationally after losing a heartbreaker to the Boyertown home team.
Former head coach Don Miller says Lamorinda has been a baseball community since the 1980s, but the 1982-1983 American Legion teams were different, comparing them to the best college team.
Former player Dan Heydenfeldt said the World Series team was special. "Team chemistry was amazing," he says.
Playing the American Legion World Series gave the boys a chance to meet baseball icons Pete Rose, Bob Feller and Joe DiMaggio, but it was as much about road trips and the American Legion veterans, who chaperoned them that impressed the players. Miller remembers one vet, a former county sheriff, handcuffing a player who missed curfew to a car door for two hours. No one missed curfew after that.
Former Generals player Joe Grupalo said the experience was lasting. "Best summers of my life. The baseball was pretty fun too."
Former Phillies first baseman, Jon Zuber, explains that the team was legendary when he was growing up. "When I was 11 and 12 I didn't want to wear a big league uniform, I wanted to wear a Campolindo and Lafayette Generals Uniform," he says. "Those were my goals. I am still in awe of these guys."
The awe, and respect, and accolades fall to the team collectively, and to Miller.
Miller is a firebrand of enthusiasm for the years he spent coaching. Miller's home office is a basement full of baseball memorabilia.
Assistant coach Chris Sims says Miller was one of the best coaches he has worked with. "[He is] a great friend who motivated, cultivated and mentored some of the best players that ever came out of the area," Sims says.
"I was born to coach," says Miller, of his almost 30 years as a self-proclaimed "tough love coach." He insists hustling started with warm-up's and lasted through the game.
Heydenfeldt says Miller's coaching style felt more football-based. "We didn't fear losing," he says. Still, they always knew there'd be a steep price to pay in extra workouts after a loss.
Miller stopped coaching in 2005. "It breaks my heart that I'm not coaching the Lafayette Generals," he says. "It's not about me....it is about the type of special character and attitude and the will to win that was created with the players and coaches that made the Generals special."
Read more about the Lafayette Generals online at http://lgballclub.com/
American Legion baseball website: http://www.legion.org/
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 | | Former Lafayette Generals coach Don Miller looks over his collection of news clippings about the team from the early 1980s.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA