Fred Warrecker

Fred Warrecker is Santa Barbara’s Mr. Baseball.

For 43 years, he ran the Santa Barbara High baseball program, producing five Major League players, countless collegiate players and, more importantly, respectful, disciplined young men.

Respect is Warrecker’s mantra. The kids who played for him learned how to respect the game. They also learned the value of hard work and keeping things in balance. One of his favorite sayings is “Rock Steady.” When things are going great, or rockin,’ it’s important to keep an even keel, or be steady, and not let the success go to your head.

His youngest son, Donny, who took over the reins of the Dons baseball program this season, follows that same approach.

Baseball has played a big part in Warrecker’s family. Eldest son Wes is Donny’s assistant at SBHS, and Teddy, the second youngest, is an assistant at Cal Poly after 10 years of being head coach at SBCC. Willy, the second oldest, is an orthopedic surgeon for the Oakland A’s and Cal-Berkeley athletics.

Fred Warrecker started his baseball and coaching life in Santa Barbara in the mid-1950s at UCSB. He was named the team MVP as a senior. He also played for the Santa Barbara Foresters from 1957-60.

After a stint in the U.S. Army, he returned to Santa Barbara and earned a second degree at UCSB in English Literature – his first is in Physical Education “because the line was shorter to register,” he jokes.

Warrecker started his teaching and coaching career at Dolores School before moving to Bishop Diego, where he coached football, basketball and baseball. Santa Barbara High principal Gene Snyder hired him in 1970, and he coached alongside local legends Sam Cathcart, Mike Moropoulos, Chuck Sylvester, Lito Garcia and Craig Moropoulos. He had a 41-game winning streak as the freshman football coach for the Dons.

He was part of Sylvester’s staff with the baseball team and was handed the head coaching reins in 1972. His teams won 615 games, 13 Channel League titles and made 22 CIF playoff appearances in more than four decades of wearing the Dons uniform. He guided the Dons to the CIF Finals in 2000.

Players from his program who made it to the Major Leagues include Jesse Orosco, Ryan Spilborghs, Virgil “Matt” Vasquez, Dylan Axelrod and Cord Phelps.

Fred and his wife Marcia are the proud parents of six sons: Wes, Willy, Jonathan, Tony, Teddy and Donny.