On August 16, 1914, the Indianapolis Hoosiers, with future Hall of Famers Edd Roush and Bill McKechnie in the lineup, destroyed the Pittsburgh Rebels 21-6 in Federal League action. That same day, Jim Carroll was born, in Winchester, Ind., 80 miles northeast of the capital city. In 1926, the Carroll family moved to San Diego, and 12-year-old Jim found a paradise where he could play baseball year-round. He was a star athlete at La Jolla High School and later played for the La Jolla Kiwanis baseball team in the 1930s and 1940s. The day after their wedding in 1936, Jim and his new bride, Lucille, attended a doubleheader between the fledgling San Diego Padres and Seattle Indians in the old Pacific Coast League at Lane Field. For the next 75 years, the couple’s shared love of baseball was instilled in their sons, Tim and Jim Jr. Both boys were diamond standouts at Mission Bay High School. Tim spent three years in the Boston Red Sox farm system, and Jim Jr. was all-league at Chico State University. The senior Mr. Carroll was in the grocery business in La Jolla from the 1930s until his retirement in the 1980s, when he sold his interest in the La Jolla Shores Market. In 1952, Jim Carroll was one of the first Little League coaches in San Diego. The next year, he helped organize the North Shore Little League for Pacific Beach and La Jolla. North Shore played in the 1955 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Despite the success of the North Shore Little League, Carroll would have preferred less emphasis on tournaments and winning. He believed all the boys on the roster should learn to play the game and that there should be “a good educational program for parents in regard to their actions and attitudes around the ballparks.” In 2005, the Carrolls relocated to Orland, near Chico, in 2005. Lucille died in 2011 at age 94. Jim Carroll, Sr. celebrated his 100th birthday last summer. He died shortly after on March 3, 2015. Today, few people remember the 1914 Indianapolis Hoosiers baseball team, but hundred of grandfathers who grew up in Pacific Beach and La Jolla remember Jim Carroll. They passed the same love and respect for the game of baseball to their sons and grandsons that coach Carroll had taught to them as boys. His legacy and memory are not forgotten in the beach community and beyond. You are invited to attend a memorial service for Jim and Lucille Carroll at Our Lady of Refuge Church at 4226 Jewell St. in Pacific Beach on Thursday, May 21 at 11:00 a.m.
