Santa Barbara Foresters publish book documenting history of summer baseball success | Sports

Since the team’s founding in 1991, the Santa Barbara Foresters have grown into arguably the nation’s largest summer college baseball team.

The team’s 33-year history, which has never seen a losing season, has featured future major league players and some of college baseball’s greatest talents.

This story can now be found in its entirety in one place, as long-time Foresters volunteer Jim Buckley has written and published a 330-page book entitled “Ster It Up!” The story of America’s most successful summer baseball team.

“The book is a collection of over 30 years of writings we have done about the Foresters,” Buckley said. “The point of the book is to bring together as much of the Foresters’ 30-plus years of incredible history in one place as possible.”

“The subtitle of the book is ‘America’s Most Successful Summer Baseball Team,’ and this book is basically proof of that.”

The book will be sold at all Santa Barbara Forester games beginning Thursday, July 4. Buckley will be on hand at the July 4 game to sign copies.

It is also currently available online in paperback or as an e-book on BookBaby. The book will also be available at Chaucers and the Mesa Bookstore on Tuesday, July 2.

100% of the proceeds from the book, which costs $19.19, will go to the Hugs for Cubs Foundation. For more information about the book, click here.

The book includes chapters on each of the team’s seasons, the Foresters’ complete founding history, the team’s Hugs for Cubs foundation, as well as the volunteers and board of directors and the original game programs.

It also includes chapters by Mark Patton of Noozhawk and John Zant of the Independent. The final part of the book is a complete record book with all the statistics the Foresters have collected over the years.

“As I was researching and putting the pieces together, I noticed a few new things even though I thought I knew everything about the Foresters,” Buckley said. “It was really fun to relive so many of these games, many of which I was there for.”

“It has been a joy, a pleasure and an honor to be a storyteller for the Foresters for so long.”

Buckley’s favorite part of the research and writing process was gathering information from about 50 former Forester players and coaches, many of whom shared stories that were included in the book.

“I spoke to nearly 50 different people over the course of six or seven months and heard some amazing stories that had never been in print before, but had only been told in the shelters or on the bus,” Buckley said.

“We hope that even the most die-hard fans who have been coming to games for years or decades will find something new and interesting about what it’s like to be a ranger in this book.”

Some of these players later went on to pursue careers in professional baseball, including Ryan Church and Dylan Axelrod.

“The great thing about talking to these guys was hearing how two months in Santa Barbara shaped their lives,” Buckley said. “I kept hearing the guys say this was the best summer they’ve ever spent playing baseball, and these are guys who have always played baseball and for them this is still the best time.”

“It’s simply a credit to everyone who has been involved with the Foresters over the years, and I wanted to address this book to them.”