Mixed Nutts Ballers Hit Ten-Year Mark in 2024
Resident veterans Tom Parkinson and Dave Trisch were sitting together in the stands enjoying a ballgame at the historic Cleve Borman Field on the campus of Yountville’s Veterans Home more than a decade ago when their casual conversation, common during ballgames that span at least nine innings and several hours, evolved into an idea: Let’ s play ball!
On that same day, recalled Parkinson, who now coaches the team, there was a 19-year-old travel ball player from Rocklin, California sitting nearby who overheard the pair, turned around and asked if they had any equipment, which they did not.
“This kid went back home, raised $1,000 dollars, and we bought our first uniforms, hats, bats, the whole thing,” he said. That young man, Aidan Malm, and his parents Tiffany and Steve still attend games today.
Intent upon finding players to build their team roster, Parkinson and Trisch went into the Vets Home mess hall to recruit.
“We looked around at all of the veterans and thought, this is like a bowl of mixed nuts!” Thus the team was named, and the Mixed Nutts played their first season in 2014.
Perhaps it was the undefeated success of the team, which continues today, that caught the attention of Jennifer Brusstar, CEO of the Tug McGraw Foundation, which has sponsored the Mixed Nutts since 2015. Brusstar’s former husband played for the Philadelphia Phillies and was a teammate of the late Tug McGraw, who was also a United States Marine. McGraw, known for the phrase “Ya Gotta Believe,” succumbed to brain cancer in 2004.
With the Tug McGraw Foundation’s natural affinity for baseball and its focus on brain health and veterans, Brusstar recognized an immediate synergy with the Mixed Nutts. For the past nine seasons, the Tug McGraw Foundation has been the organizational, administrative, funding and encouragement entity for the team that it sponsors. Brusstar is at the center, acting as a literal and figurative team mom – her son Jack plays on the team.
At a recent practice, with the hot late-afternoon sun beating down on the pristine field, Brusstar shared the history of the Mixed Nutts program while keeping a careful eye on each player in case they needed a break, some shade or a cold drink that she personally retrieved from the Borman Field snack shack.
According to team captain Parkinson, the Mixed Nutts never lose. “We are the Harlem Globetrotters of baseball, and I always get to make the final call,” he said, smiling. Clearly the calls are always in his team’s favor.
The crew from Cal Fire Station 12 in Yountville are the Nutts’ “cross town” rivals, he said.
Members of the Mixed Nutts team include veterans who live at the Vets Home, non-resident veterans of any arm of the United States service, or relatives who served in the armed forces.
Team members range in age from the 20s to the 90s, and the veterans have served at home and abroad, in wars in Korea, Viet Nam, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East.
The 2024 Mixed Nutts team includes the following players and staff:
Coast Guard veteran Barbara Holderman, who said that at age 55 she may be the youngest resident veteran at the Yountville Home. She recently married another resident of the Home, Navy veteran Nelson Holderman. If his name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s the grandson of his namesake, Nelson M. Holderman, a highly decorated Army officer who commanded a rifle company in World War I and for whom the hospital at the Veterans Home is named.
There’s also Bob Hogan, Navy; Dale Bell, Army; Daniel McAllister, Army; Don Kelso, Air Force; Elizabeth Boyd, Air Force (Voice of the Nutts); Jack Brusstar, grandfathers served in Air Force / Army; Jennifer Brusstar, father served in Air Force and husband was a Navy SEAL; Jim Treadway, Marines; John Cant, father Air Force; John Colombero, Army; John Lew, Army; Lisa Peake, Army; Paul Sullivan, Marines; Randall Kall, Army; Sandra Woodford, Army; Tadd Thayer, Navy; Tom Budny, Army; Tom Parkinson, Army; Noah O’Bryan, grandfathers veterans; Olivia Perata, aunt Army; Albert Vienop, Army.
Honorary 2024 members are David Trisch, Hank McGraw and Mark Ibanez; Umpire: Dylan Brusstar.
Cleve Borman Field, first used more than 100 years ago on the grounds, is a mini Major League Baseball field, built with the same specialized clay used in MLB parks across the United States. The field is maintained by the Napa Valley Baseball Club, which has several youth teams ranging from ages 13 to 19 that play their season at Borman.
In July 2024, the Tug McGraw Foundation hosted the “Warrior Dogs Double Header” which included a pancake breakfast, ballgame, speaker session and BBQ. The Mixed Nutts took on teams from the Napa County Sheriff’s Office and Cal Fire.
Navy SEAL Will Chesney who, along with his late war dog, Cairo, was a member of SEAL Team Six, which took down terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, was in attendance and recognized that day.
More information and a complete schedule can be found online at TugMcGraw.org/mixed-nutts-softball
