Remembering The Santa Maria Indians
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – For more than 60 years, fans cheered on the Santa Maria Indians, a semi-pro baseball team formed in 1943.
“We had some great games,” said Rodger Brown, an Indians hall of fame member. “The ballpark was packed, there were big crowds and it was a lot of fun.”
The team, known affectionately in town as the “Tribe,” featured top-notch home grown talent.
“Most all of them were from around Santa Maria. Some of them were old, some of them were young, it was just great. They loved baseball and they wanted to play,” said Ike Simas, a member of the original team and younger brother of the legendary Butch Simas, who was a co-founder and longtime manager.
According to Simas, Indians games were huge community events that brought hundreds of supportive residents out to Elks Field. Players were just as eager to come out to the field as were the passionate fans.
“I could hardly wait for Sunday to come around to play ball. We had a dirt field, there was no grass and we didn’t have dugouts back then,” said Simas.
Elks Field, located in the heart of the downtown area, was just in its infancy and lacked many of the amenities it now features today.
“There was no fence and cars used to park out right off the street and people used to sit in their cars and watch the games,” said Simas.
While most of the players were born and raised in the Santa Maria Valley, some were transplants, like Brown, who traveled from Ohio to play football and baseball at Allan Hancock College.
After playing a game against the Indians, Brown remembers joining the squad after a successful recruitment by Butch Simas. His first game was as a replacement for the legendary Rod Rodenberger, who had to sit out due to injury.
“So they put me in and they had me batting 8th, and the first game I played for them for them, I had two home runs and a double,” said Brown.
Brown would become a mainstay with the team for several years, earning a place in team history as one of its best players.
“It was really an experience playing for the Indians, we had some rivalries with San Luis Blues and Santa Barbara Foresters.”
While members of the Indians were just regular guys, who held normal jobs, they were also stars throughout the city, household names and idols to children.
“We had our own big time players right here in town to us,” said Eddie Navarro, who grew up shagging balls for the team. “We started emulating these guys, everybody wanted to be, especially with Bruno (Brunello), Sonny Summer, The Gator. (Don Gatewood)”
Navarro now serves as the team’s unofficial historian. Through the years, he has collected a vast array of Indians memorabilia and keepsakes.
“That was the thing was to come and watch the Santa Maria Indians play, that was fun,” said Navarro.
For more than 25 years, the Indians continued with a winning brand of baseball known throughout the state. Then in the 1970’s, under the direction of Scoop Nunes, the team shifted its focus, away from a collection of adult, community-based players, to a summer collegiate squad that feature college players from around the nation.
“It got very competitive,” said Bryn Smith, who grew up at Elks Field, and later played 13 seasons in Major League Baseball. “(Scoop) reached out a little farther than other people did.”
Under Nunes, the “Big Red Machine” became a powerhouse, winning numerous state championships, and most impressively, the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas in 1982. The Indians victory at the World Series was the first ever for a team from California in a tournament that dates back to 1931.
“You were playing some of the best teams in the country,” said Smith. “So to have Santa Maria Indians name in there and a championship trophy, it meant the world.”
For his accomplishments and tireless efforts in promoting semi-pro baseball, Nunes was elected to the NBC World Series Hall of Fame in 1997.
By the 2000’s, the Indians were still a summer institution at Elks Field. Through the many years under Nunes, several future Major Leaguers had worn his beloved all-red uniform.
In 2003, Nunes died, and with his death, the team undeniably lost it’s heart and soul.
“When Scoop left, it just kind of died out,” said Brown. “The crowds went down and the local people didn’t come as much.”
Soon thereafter, the team was sold, and later moved to Templeton following the 2008 season.
“I think it’s sad that at this time we don’t have them here. There’s sacred ground, and i believe Elks Field is sacred ground and the Indians need to be here,” said Smith.
While some may hope the Santa Maria Indians could be reestablished in some manner in the future, the team remains very much alive. Perhaps not playing out on Elks Field, but in the hearts and minds of those who still remember “The Tribe,” and what it meant to residents of Santa Maria.
