For over 40 years, there has been one constant with the King High baseball program, Coach Jim Macaluso. In four decades of service, he’s delivered many wins.
It was 41 years ago, but Macaluso still remembers his first win.
“Got it in my scrapbook," Macaluso said. "It was against Kathleen High School.
"We opened the year with Kathleen and I’ve got the lineup and everything.”
Win number 600? A 5-3 victory against meant just as much.
“Doing it at one school, one program, adds a lot to it,” Macaluso said.
When your mention King High baseball, the first name that comes to mind is Jim Macaluso. He is King baseball.
“When you really sit down with him and you really pick his brain, it’s about the kids and the relationships that he’s built,” said his son Anthony, a King assistant coach.
“You can really tell when he comes out here, he’s not just here wasting his time," King senior Anthony Azapeitia. "He’s here for us. He’s putting time into the program and to us so we can become not just better athletes but a better person all around.”
Macaluso is a beloved member of the Bay Area baseball community. With Frank Permuy and Pop Cuesta retiring in 2014, Macaluso assumed the position of Bay Area Baseball's Dean. He’s managed hundreds of games. How many more games does he have in him?
“Last year, at the end of the year, it was the first time I was really a little beat up," he said. "So now, starting this year, I’ve been saying it’s a year at a time.”
Macaluso has another milestone coming up. The 15th game of the 2017 season will mark his 1,000th game as a coach. That's a lot of baseball and a lot of memories.
“I remember getting my first uniform when I was about eight years old at Gary Playground," Macaluso said. "We didn’t even have socks. I wore my sisters, back then what they called bobby socks, and we had a little t-shirt. I thought it was the greatest thing in the world.
"So, I’ve been putting it on for all those years and it’s just special.”