Legendary former San Marino baseball coach Mickey McNamee passes away …

WILDCATS

Former San Marino baseball coach Mickey McNamee, who had a career that spanned 44 years and won five CIF championships, passed away on Friday morning after a long battle with cancer. He was 74.

McNamee coached and taught at San Marino beginning in the 1960s. He resigned in 2007 after a wildly successful career that peaked in the 1990s when the Titans won CIF championships in 1990, 1992 and 1995 to go along with six consecutive Rio Hondo League championships.

“He kept the game fun and coached the game the way it was really supposed to be coached,” said current San Marino baseball coach Mack Paciorek, who played for McNamee along with two of his brothers. “I’ve been already hearing from alumni who talk about how they incorporate things they picked up from him and teach their own kids. And remember, these guys aren’t baseball coaches, they are big-time businessmen and they still take what they learned from him and use it.

“There’s a constant memory of him and you have to attribute it to how he coached the game.”

McNamee coached four CIF Players of the Year. The most notable player he coached was Jim Gott, who pitched in the majors for 14 seasons. McNamee’s teams won 14 league championships.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 11 at 2 p.m. at San Marino Congregational Church.

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