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Lee Jenkins of the New York Times has declared Chatsworth High to be the "official capital of prep baseball." And Chatsworth did win the Los Angeles City Championship and had the #2 and #12 picks in the draft today in Mike Moutsakas and Matt Dominguez. So they can claim that crown perhaps for this year.
But Jenkins, like any other typically myopic West Coast-based New York Times reporter, failed to even notice that just a few miles away in Granada Hills, John F. Kennedy High has actually won the same number of City Championships as Chatsworth (7), has three active major leaguers (Garret Anderson, Jon Garland, and Terrmel Sledge) to none for Chatsworth.
And there are numerous other great high school baseball programs in the San Fernando Valley, such as Cleveland High in Reseda (a 2-1 loser to Chatsworth in the championship game), El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills, San Fernando High, Granada Hills High, and the list could go on. It's an area rich in talent. And you could probably get a similar argument from people in the Long Beach area. Or the San Diego area.
But no, it's just one school, which is really just only marginally better than a few other rivals in the same area that gets the New York Times seal of approval.
Next up in the New York Times, a three-part story describing how the film industry has made significant inroads in Southern California.
The original ending to this post was going to be: "But the players at Chatsworth High would be better appreciated if they played in Brooklyn."
I hear the porn industry might make something of itself in the Valley too :)
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