Bill Russell Showing Diablo Shortstop the Ropes

Editor's Note: The following article involves a Mission Viejo High baseball player and comes courtesy of former Los Angeles Times sports writer Larry Stewart:

During Bill Russell's legendary 18-year career, all with the Dodgers, he was regarded as one of the best defensive shortstops in the game. He recorded 40,392 outs with only 339 errors, a percentage of .960.

Russell's nickname was "Ropes." It was given to him by veteran teammates when he first joined the Dodgers in 1969. They felt the 20-year-old rookie from Pittsburg, Kan., and Broken Arrow, Okla., needed to be "shown the ropes" about being a big leaguer.

Now, Russell is showing a young shortstop from Orange County the ropes.
Ty Odekirk, a 16-year-old sophomore at Mission Viejo High School, has been taken under the wing of the former Dodger All-Star...and Russell's young protégé has just completed a 30-game regular season rarely seen from a player his age.
Odekirk, the shortstop on Mission Viejo's JV team, batted .403, but it wasn't that or the fact he led his team in stolen bases and several other offensive categories that has drawn attention.

It's his defense. Odekirk did not commit a fielding error during the entire season, although he is quick to point out he had three throwing errors.

According to his father Rick, the young shortstop didn't bobble or mishandle a single ball off of the bat in more than 100 chances, adding that there wasn't even a single play the entire year that needed a scoring decision whether it was a hit or an error.

Russell, a family friend who has seen Ty Odekirk play since he was in T-ball, recently arranged for a special private workout at Dodger Stadium as a reward for the season he has had. The workout, which was held when the Dodgers were out of town, involved Odekirk fielding grounders hit by his father while his younger brother Jordan manned either first or second base.

"He can play, there's no question about that,” Russell said after the session. "I really see that he has improved more this past year than any other year.”

 While sitting in the Dodger dugout and soaking up the atmosphere, Ty said, "What a beautiful infield to play on. I could get used to this."

Russell first became acquainted with Ty as a result of knowing Rick Odekirk, who was a Dodger batboy for the Dodgers during the late 70's. Rick Odekirk went on to pitch 13 years of professional baseball, and he and Russell got reacquainted years later when Russell managed against him in the triple-A Pacific Coast League in the early 90's.

The two stayed in touch and remained friends. And Russell has done public relations and marketing work for Big League Dreams, a corporation founded by the Odekirk family. Big League Dreams builds sports complexes in partnership with city recreation departments.

Ty's Mission Viejo coach, Drew Downey, said, "First of all, Ty is just a great kid. Oftentimes a young player with his skills is arrogant. Ty is just the opposite. Very humble, very polite, very coachable. He'll do anything asked of him and he's not afraid to get down and dirty. Ty comes from a great baseball family, and it shows."

After the final regular-season game, Odekirk was promoted to the varsity for the CIF playoffs which begin Thursday (May 16).