LONG BEACH — Seven years after the juice in his right arm ran dry for good, Jered Weaver could still walk in front of a crowd at Blair Field and strike some college kids out without stuttering, he’s certain.
Talking in front of them, however, was a different story.
For two nights, before his famed No. 36 jersey was retired at alma mater Long Beach State on Friday, Weaver tossed and turned. He was quiet as a Dirtbag, his former coach Mike Weathers remembered, always more of a listener than a talker. And he wasn’t ever “real positive about himself,” Weathers recalled, even through a legendary 2004 senior season that won him several National Player of the Year awards and catapulted him to a 12-year MLB career with the Angels and Padres.
“I’ve never thought of myself as a – I don’t know what you want to call it, notable person? I guess, or whatever it is,” Weaver told the Southern California ɫ̳ Group on Friday night. “I just go about my life one day at a time.”
On Friday night at Blair Field, however, there was no mistaking Weaver’s notability, the legendary Southern California kid returning home a grizzled 41-year-old. As a slow-filling crowd hooted with pride ahead of LBSU’s game against UC Irvine, Long Beach State athletic director Bobby Smitheran minted Weaver as the first player in the program’s storied history to have his jersey retired.
And a few moments later, his voice shaking over stadium speakers in a combination of nerves and emotion, Weaver assumed a microphone and delivered another gem as the stadium twilight lights flickered on.
“Thirty-six,” Weaver said to the crowd, “that number doesn’t just represent me. It represents every teammate that’s ever took the field with me, and grinded with me. Because without them, this day doesn’t exist.”
As the fans whooped and applauded, Weathers looked on in pride, seeing his once-reserved right-hander having grown into a family man with a public confidence.
“To see that,” Weathers said later, “was unbelievable.”
Before the game, Smitheran announced perhaps the greatest honor of all: Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, Smitheran said, had solidified May 10 as “Jered Weaver Day” in the city of Long Beach. And the city, Weaver’s mother Gail told SCNG, was “still instilled in his life,” an alumnus .
They had stopped at local favorite Riley’s earlier in the afternoon for a bite to eat. As they drove to Blair Field, Gail said, he was pointing out the window in a drive-by of various memories. There was 2nd Street, the downtown hotspot. There were the apartments he’d lived in.
It was plain to see on Friday night, as Weaver ran through the gamut during a 10-minute speech, thanking everyone from former coach Weathers, who he called a father figure, to his academic advisors from two decades earlier.
“I just wanted to make sure that I touched on everything that I wanted to, and mentioned people that were important to me while I was here, and I think I did that,” Weaver said. “And now I’m not shaking as much.”
It was current Long Beach State coach Bryan Peters who had originally “set those wheels in motion” to honor Weaver, part of a larger stance to try and welcome former alumni back, Smitheran said. It was a special night, the athletic director affirmed, to show former players they were taking that serious.
“I just hope the alumni come back, and that it starts to build,” Weaver said. “And to keep that tradition alive, I think it’s going to take a lot of guys that have been here and been through it to keep it going.”
“So, I think the new A.D. – Bobby is trying to make that happen, and for him to reach out to me this year for this occasion is a step in the right direction.”
And in a long program history that has included MLB standouts like Evan Longoria and Troy Tulowitzki, Weaver will stand as the first, the former “Friday Knight” taking the mound one final Friday night at Blair Field to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.
“He deserves to be the first one, above everyone else,” Weathers’ wife Charlotte said, watching from a seat behind home plate. “His humility, and his personality, and his generosity.”
