The Fred Waters Youth Baseball Clinic returns on Saturday, June 10, from 9 a.m. to noon at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Read more.
- The Fred Waters event is open to all youths ages 7-12. There is no registration free or entry fee. There will be two clinics, each 90 minutes long depending on age.
Several current Blue Wahoos players, along with a group of former MLB players and those with MLB ties from Pensacola, will be guest instructors.
Four have played in a World Series – Greg Litton (SF Giants), Tim Spooneybarger (Marlins), Adron Chambers (Cardinals) and Kevin Saucier with Phillies.
Dig Deeper: Waters was a legendary high school baseball coach in Pensacola, winning several state championships and coaching of several future Major League players.
Little Known Fact: In 1963, Waters applied for the head coaching job at Florida State University in September 1963. His résumé included a 101-25 coaching record in five seasons at the high school level. FSU hired Fred Hatfield.
- Hatfield put together a record of 161-57 during his five-year tenure at Florida State. That winning percentage of .737 ranks third all-time at FSU behind only Woody Woodward and Mike Martin, who was a centerfielder for Hatfield from 1965-66.
The Society of American Baseball Research’s website has a profile of Coach Waters. I love how it starts:
Fred Warren Waters was born to Wyatt and Mattie Waters on February 2, 1927, in Benton, Mississippi, an unincorporated community in Yazoo County. One of 12 children, young Fred shared duties with his nine brothers (Wyatt, Wilton, Melvin, Jack, Louis, David, Herbert, Leslie, Luby) and two sisters (Fredene, Betty Ann), around the family farm located near Highway 433, which runs straight through the county.
Fred graduated from Benton High School in 1945 after lettering for four years in baseball and basketball. He enrolled at Holmes Junior College, in Goodman, Mississippi. He joined the football team and quickly became the team’s best “scatback,” known more for his speed and elusiveness than for his relatively slight frame.
The following year he and brothers Melvin and Jack, both veterans of World War II, enrolled at Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. Fred joined the basketball and football teams and his hard work drew the notice of his coaches and teammates. On January 25, 1946, Waters scored 16 points, including the game-winner, against a team from nearby Camp Shelby, in a game so marred by fighting that Southern Mississippi coach Reed Green decided to cancel the remainder of his team’s schedule.
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