Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 20, 1993 TAG: 9305200022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE CORCORAN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: CASTRO VALLEY, CALIF. LENGTH: Medium
What Lloyd didn't realize was that he was about to become part of a tragedy unprecedented in Little League history. It would leave a 17-year-old spectator dead from a blow to the head with a baseball bat, a catcher facing murder charges and the umpire's family the target of death threats and an arson fire set in their own living room.
As the tale emerged Tuesday from bereaved family members, witnesses and a relentless rumor mill, it threatened the future of Little League in central Alameda County.
"I don't know what to do. I don't know what I can do," said Lloyd, 45, a lifetime baseball player and fan. "And it had nothing to do with the game. That's what's so frustrating."
The incident began Saturday when Joe Matteucci, a Castro Valley High School junior, told his mother he was going to watch his best friend play baseball in the season opener of the local Big League team, the 16- to 18-year-old division of Little League.
Alexandra Matteucci told her only child to come home right afterward.
"He looked at me and smiled and said, `I'm just going to Proctor School right here in Castro Valley, Mom. You worry too much,"' she recalled Tuesday, breaking into tears. "That was the last thing he said to me. Except `I love you.' He always said, `I love you."'
At the game, some Castro Valley fans were taunting two black players from the opposing team, the Ashland American, sometimes called the "Renegades." Lloyd sent the spectators to their seats before things got too heated, and said the rest of the game went smoothly.
"At the end of the game, the boys were all out of the dugout. They shook hands. They were good sports," Lloyd said.
But as Lloyd walked to his car, the taunts resumed against different players, and Ashland catcher Antonio Messina, who was carrying a bag of bats, "snapped," according to several witnesses.
He took off his shirt, grabbed an aluminum bat and swung at the crowd. Matteucci, a bystander who was not involved in the skirmish, was hit when another person ducked.
Messina dropped the bat and ran. Matteucci's best friend, a Castro Valley player, took off after the opposing catcher, heaved a rock at Messina and knocked him out cold.
Matteucci died Monday at Eden Hospital Medical Center in Castro Valley after being taken off life support.
"I was pretty shocked," said Sarah Yandell, 15, a fellow Castro Valley High School student. "I still expect him to come back tomorrow."
Messina, his health permitting, is scheduled to be arraigned on a murder charge Wednesday in his Highland Hospital bed, where he was listed in stable but guarded condition Tuesday night. Authorities tried to arraign the 18-year-old San Lorenzo resident Monday, but he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Matteucci's 16-year-old best friend was arrested on assault charges and taken to Juvenile Hall in San Leandro for throwing the rock. But he later was released to his parents, and the Alameda County district attorney doesn't plan to file charges.
Deputy District Attorney Kevin Murphy said the teen-ager used reasonable means to stop a fleeing murder suspect. "From a legal and equitable standpoint . . . it would not be just to charge him," Murphy said.
Although the boy wasn't charged, someone upset with umpire Lloyd for identifying the rock-thrower to police left threatening messages on his answering machine Monday morning. Deciding it was probably nothing to worry about, Lloyd went to Los Angeles on business that day.
Shortly after midnight Tuesday, Lloyd's wife, Kathleen, was awakened by a crash and the sound of a smoke alarm. Her living room curtains in flames, she evacuated her three children, called 911 and extinguished the fire with a garden hose.
The investigation revealed that someone had thrown a brick at her front window, then tossed newspapers and lighted matches inside.
On the brick was a note: "Testify and you're dead."
"This is so out of control," Kathleen Lloyd said.
Alameda County Sheriff's Lt. Ted Nelson said his department is keeping an eye on the house and will pursue the crime vigorously.
"What kind of animal would set fire to a house with people inside?" the umpire said. "I may keep a baseball bat by my bed tonight."
Dennis Sullivan, spokesman for national Little League headquarters in Williamsport, Pa., said it was the first time anyone had died as a result of violence at a Little League game. But he doesn't think the incident will change Little League policies.
"We have to find out what happened and try to stop this from happening again," said Wayne Irwin, safety officer for Ashland Little League. "Our little kids see people in the majors doing crazy stuff and think they can go out and do this stuff."
by CNB