Robert Mendoza, a former professional baseball player and San Diego Hall of Champions inductee, is now an Old Mission Beach Athletic Club hall-of-famer.
Mendoza was honored recently at OMBAC’s Over-The-Line championship banquet for having played in more Over-The-Line tournaments than any other player in the history of the game. He started playing in 1957 and continued through this year, missing only two tournaments. During that span, he won six OTL championships as well as many second- and third-place finishes.
Mendoza, who retired in 2000, was “truly” surprised to be an OMBAC honoree. “They gave me a plaque and a shirt that had all the years on the sleeves,” said Mendoza. “It’s a long-sleeved shirt so it worked. I really didn’t know about it (award), though I knew something was up when my wife, Cordelia, said we were going to have dinner with a couple of guys from OMBAC at some restaurant. I came to find out it was at Mission Beach Ski Club where OMBAC meets for their annual award dinner.”
Over-The-Line was created more than seven decades ago by a group of OMBAC locals who had gotten together on South Mission Beach to play volleyball. As they waited for a coveted net, they came up with the idea for OTL, which evolved into its own batty sport, with the first OTL tournament held in 1954.
Today, it’s a San Diego summertime tradition. Teams are known for their quirky names, and spectators enjoy attending the free event for the good vibes.
OTL games last three or four innings, no one runs bases, and the main goal is to hit the ball “over the line” about 55 feet in front of the batter. It’s all about making the catch or hit at the right moment and anyone can play. You don’t need to be an athlete, or a baseball or softball player.
Throughout his life, Mendoza has been a standout athlete. A third-generation San Diegan, he graduated in 1956 from Lincoln High where he lettered nine times in three sports: football, baseball, and basketball.
In 1958, Mendoza was drafted as an outfielder by the Boston Red Sox. He left baseball to continue his education at SDSU after playing 2 1/2 years for the Red Sox organization.
Mendoza coached football, baseball, and golf at Morse High School for 30-plus years. He was also part of the first Little League baseball team in San Diego.
In the 1960s, Mendoza was a Triple A volleyball player in two-man beach volleyball, teaming with Al Scates, the head volleyball coach at UCLA for 48 years. Mendoza played six-man indoor volleyball and won four USAV Volleyball Nationals in the 50-and-Over division.
Mendoza is a six-time champion of the annual OTL tournament. During 55 years of OTL competition, he missed two tournaments, one because of a knee replacement.
In 2001, the California Coaches Association honored him with the Dan Fukushima Lifetime Achievement Award. In November 2011, Mendoza was inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame as a Coaching Legend. “He is so humble,” said Cordelia of her 84-year-old husband’s longtime athletic prowess.
Of his OTL chops, Mendoza lamented, “All those other guys (competitors) that placed (highly), they’re all gone. They were all my buddies.”
Mendoza continues to be a big fan of the homegrown OTL sport. “It was a cultural thing, something to go out and do with the guys when they got together,” he said adding it was fun too. “Some of the guys dressed up in costumes and put seaweed all over their bodies.”
Mendoza said being a minor league baseball player was tough, performing in obscure places like Lexington, Neb., and Waterloo, Iowa. “The Red Sox farm system wanted to sell my contract to the Pittsburgh Pirates,” he said, prompting him to tell them, ‘I’m going home.’ I got my teaching credential and I coached for 32 years in San Diego.”
“I don’t regret anything,” concluded Mendoza. “It’s all worked out really nice. I just hope to do it for a little longer.”
“He’ll be out there (OTL) again next year,” predicted Cordelia Mendoza.
