From the Field to the Canvas

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The players who were related in the story about last week's game were the Conigliaro's (Tony and Billy) and the Tartabull's (Danny and dad Jose).  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

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NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name two players who were on that 1964 San Diego team who pitched for the Minnesota Twins.

When Terry Banderas slid awkwardly into third base in a game in 1966 while playing in the minor leagues, he required surgery. It did not correct the problem and the centerfielder/third baseman tells us he couldn't throw any more. 

"I knew it was over at that point," he told me recently. "The Reds wanted me to come back and they kept sending me a contract, but my wife and I had decided if I was going to go back down to a lower league, which they wanted, I was going to call it quits."

The former Angels farmhand hit 26 homers in five minor league seasons with a .254 lifetime average. He played with a lot of future big leaguers including Art Shamsky, Don Rudolph, Chico Ruize and more.

"I roomed with Tommy Helms for quite a while," he said. "He was a great roommate. I was sorry to hear he passed."

Helms died in April of this year (2025) at 83. They spent the 1964 season together in San Diego of the PCL.

                        (Terry Banderas painting of the Golden Gate Bridge)

Banderas career over and with an Art Degree in his pocket (he graduated from Fresno State), he found a job with an aerospace firm in San Diego. It was back home for him and he signed on as a Graphic Artist. He worked there until he retired. 

All along the way he painted.

"I loved to paint," he said. "Anything, sports, landscapes, trees, houses, cars, I just loved to paint."

He would do trade shows and sell online but didn't like the online system at all and just recently, at 85, he decided he no longer will sell any of his paintings. His repertoire reached hundreds of frameable paintings, and he still has many. He says he'll just give them away to friends and family now.

He looks back fondly on his baseball career and says the best thing to come from it was he met a young girl selling snow cones while he was playing. It wasn't long before they were married and now have been together for more than 60 years. Starting out with the Angels, he found his Angel, and Elaine remains at his side today.

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

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