Leyden's low-key Wolf hits 400-victory milestone

There could be an unexpected bonus with Leyden playing its home baseball games at its West campus on Wolf Road in Northlake.

There would be no need to create any street signs honoring varsity head coach Gary Wolf. He achieved a milestone 400th career victory Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader with Proviso East.

Not that Wolf would see any need for something like that anyway.

"I feel kind of funny about those things," Wolf said of former star pitcher and current pitching coach Rob Hamann making sure announcements were made in school Monday.

Wolf even flashed his sense of humor about the achievement. He wondered if he should have been at only 399.75 wins since Proviso East finished the game with just eight players.

Reaching the milestone in his 21st season proves playing Leyden is hardly a laughing matter for opponents.

This year is no exception as Wolf has a young team at 13-7 after Tuesday and in the West Suburban Gold title hunt after losing a lot of talent from consecutive 26-win teams that reached sectional finals.

"It says a lot about the type of student-athletes coming into the program," Wolf said of averaging more than 19 wins a year, "to be competitive year after year.

"I told the group after the game I'm really glad it happened with this group. We have nine seniors who don't play a lot but it's such a classy and high-character group. It will be nice to remember winning 400 with these guys."

It's also been nice for Wolf to have guys such as Mike Fazzio and Hamann help him get there as players and now coaches. Hamann, who was also a basketball star at Leyden, got as high as Triple-A in a five-year minor-league career.

"I think he's the best pitching coach in the area and one of the classiest people I've met," Wolf said. "He's really made our program that much better."

So has freshman coach Tim Dykes, who pitched at Hersey in the mid-1990s.

"Having him as a freshman coach, and he's good enough to be a varsity coach, is pretty special," Wolf said. "I've been really fortunate over the years to have some really good people."

Wolf joked about going through all of his little league records to close in on the 892 games won by the legendary Jack Kaiser at WSC rival Oak Park-River Forest.

But Wolf, who also had an excellent mentor in Leyden basketball coaching legend Norm Goodman, is in no hurry to pass along his fungo bat.

"It's still a lot of fun," Wolf said. "You have highs and lows but when you enjoy what you're doing and the people you work with, it's hard to stop."

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com