San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Iconic Spanish American league slugger long loved the game
During his 10-year career in the Spanish American Baseball League, Willie Doria batted fourth in the lineup. He was the player coaches trusted to drive runners home.
But the legendary batter was best known as a home run hitter, from his early days as a kid well into his adulthood. He hit his best homer in 1989, when he was 65, during a reunion game at Sanchez-Spencer Memorial Baseball Park, which stood on Padre on the South Side.
During that reunion game of players in their 30s and 40s, many of his old teammates were watching from the stands.
Not Doria.
His longtime friend and coach Joe Sanchez told him to grab a bat and get in the game. Doria faced a 40-year-old left-handed pitcher firing fastballs that had batters swinging and missing.
Doria slammed the ball more than 335 feet over the left field fence.
His wife, Mary, ran down the bleachers shouting, “You still got it, old man, you still got it!”
Family and friends said he never lost his athletic form or his love for the game.
Doria was 96 when he died July 8 after he contracted the novel coronavirus. Arrangements for his funeral are pending.
Baseball historian and researcher Greg Garrett called Doria “one of the biggest icons of Spanish American sports in San Antonio.”
He recalled when Doria took part in a Spanish American baseball event, signing balls for young baseball fans.
“He was an ambassador for the game, his community and San Antonio,” Garrett said. “His attitude for life, that’s what struck me. You could see his eyes light up when he talked about how important the game was to him.”
Doria grew up on the South Side, near South Flores, playing baseball on unpaved streets.
Often his bat was a broomstick handle and the ball was made of
string and twine. His bare feet kicked up bits of gravel as he rounded homemade bases.
In November 1942, after World War II had broken out, he enlisted in the Navy and served in the Pacific. According to the book, “U.S.S. Saratoga: CV-3 & CVA/CV-60,” Doria, an aircraft mechanic on the Saratoga, fought with his shipmates in the campaign for the Solomon Islands.
When he returned to San Antonio, the Navy veteran played in the Spanish American Baseball League on teams named after their sponsors: Fred’s Place, Grand Prize Beer, Saldaña Food Stores and Texas Consolidated Transporters.
He first started playing on Fred’s Place team in 1946, going on to win championships four years straight.
He was married to his wife, Mary Louise, for 52 years. After they had been together for 15 years, the couple adopted three children: Samuel, Andrew and Catherine.
Samuel L. Doria, 57, said the humble couple “gave three kids a chance to live.”
“There’s an old saying that heroes are remembered,” he said, “but legends live forever. My father was a legend.”
Doria batted cleanup on teams coached by Sandy Sanchez, Joe’s father. He was invited to try out for the Boston Braves at spring training in Temple. The day before the scheduled audition, however, his younger brother committed suicide, and he was too distraught to keep the appointment.
Though he never made it to the minor or major leagues, friends said Doria always carried himself like a professional baseball player and was the nucleus of any ballclub’s roster.
In December 1957, he enlisted in the Air Force, working on the high-altitude reconnaissance U2 aircraft. It was a period he never spoke about, even years later, because of his top-secret clearance.
After he retired, he worked for 20 years in civil service in flight preparation of aircraft at Kelly AFB, including B-52s.
Never one to remain idle, Doria spent what would have been most people’s retirement years working for the Spurs and the San Antonio Missions.
He served as an usher for more than 20 years with the Spurs and the Missions. He also interpreted for Spanish-speaking players at Wolff Stadium. He was still at it as recently as last November, guiding fans to their seats and helping new players get the lay of the land.
Doria often relived the glory days with Joe Sanchez, his former coach and the last president of the Spanish American Baseball League.
They would sit in Sanchez’s trophy room and reminisce about the days he smacked balls from stadiums that are now ghosts of the past. What remains of those days are old jerseys, team photos and trophies that Doria helped win.
“He was a grand person,” Sanchez said. “We didn’t like Willie — we loved Willie.”
Sanchez, 74, said he imagines that those who passed before Doria are looking down upon him from heaven. In his mind’s eye, he sees Doria’s wife, mother and father coaching the veteran player from third base.
Sanchez said, “As Willie rounds the bases, I can hear them say, ‘Dig in Willie, dig in, you’re coming home.’”