California has added two more baseball coaches in the last two weeks to the list of those who have won 600 games or more. Congratulations to Rick Weber from Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth and Jack Thomson from Sierra of Manteca.
To see exclusive state record list for coaching wins in California baseball before current season began, CLICK HERE. (Gold Club post)
Sierra of Manteca’s Jack Thomson could soon become the winningest baseball coach in the Stanislaus District of the Sac-Joaquin Section. Photo: Andy Alfaro / The Modesto Bee.
Weber did it first on April 16 when Sierra Canyon came back from a 4-0 deficit to beat Crossroads of Santa Monica 7-4 in a Gold Coast League contest. To be honest, we didn’t have Weber on our list of those above 500 heading into the season because he’s moved around from different schools. He’s been at Sierra Canyon for six years and was at Montclair Prep for four years before that. Previous stops also have been at Birmingham of Lake Balboa and Bel-Air Prep of Los Angeles. We did see head coaching references in the 1990s at Birmingham and in the late 1980s at Bel-Air Prep so Weber’s 34 years and 600 wins and counting makes sense.
Thomson won his 600th game last Friday in the second of two games during the week against Oakdale. Sierra won 10-2 after losing earlier in the week in Thomson’s first attempt to get the win. The Timberwolves also moved to within 1/2 game of first place in the Valley Oak League with five games to play. He’s been the head coach at Sierra for 23 years and before that was at Manteca High for 18.
“I’ve been blessed to have been at two good schools,” Thomson told the Stockton Record. “I’ve been really blessed with good athletes, good schools and good administration. It’s worked out good.”
Earlier this season, John Diatte from Valley Christian of San Jose won his 600th game and his team went on to grab the No. 1 state ranking for two weeks. With Diatte, Weber and Thomson, there are now 33 on the Cal-Hi Sports all-time state list above that total.
Thomson also is just the third in CIF Sac-Joaquin Section history to reach the 600-win mark. He could pass No. 2 Bob Loureiro of Escalon with just five more wins. Loureiro retired in 2004 with 604 wins. The SJS record of 927 by Guy Anderson from Cordova of Rancho Cordova was set in 2015 and also is the No. 3 total in state history. The state record of 1,059 is by El Segundo’s John Stevenson (1960-2009).
