Smith: Coach Shirlee Zane still pulls for Brandon Poulson

If a certain strapping young minor-league baseball player makes it to the Big Time, his story could well become the stuff of a major motion picture.

And if that happens, the first person to buy a ticket may be Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane.

The athlete is 6-foot-6, 240-pound pitcher Brandon Poulson, a Santa Rosa native who's now 25 and on the Minnesota Twins' minor-league team in Fort Meyers, Florida.

Brandon played baseball at Piner, persisting after he failed to make the Prospectors' junior varsity team as a freshman. Barely a year ago he was driving a truck for a living and playing weekends for the Healdsburg Prune Packers when an incredulous Twins scout clocked him throwing balls nearly 100 mph — while warming up.

The Twins paid him $250,000 to give up his 18-wheeler for baseball. These days the team works with him to better control his fireballs.

If and when Brandon makes it to the big leagues, expect shrieks of joy from Zane. 'I basically taught him to play baseball,' the supervisor said.

Brandon was 6 and new to the game when Zane volunteered to coach the Santa Rosa T-ball team whose roster also included her son, David. She remembers using chalk, a blacktop diamond and Ninja Turtle characters to teach the little guys how to run the bases.

'If Donatello is on first base and Leonardo hits the ball, which base should Donatello run to?'

A prized possession on display in Zane's office is the baseball autographed almost legibly by Brandon and her own kid and the rest of the 1996 T-ball Dodgers.

FIND SANTA ROSA: Julia Pastis invites us to come play on Sept. 20 and perhaps to go home with our heads overflowing with fascinating facts and tales of Santa Rosa history.

Julia's a Santa Rosa High freshman and director of the 2nd annual Great Santa Rosa History Hunt. It's a scavenger hunt that has participants clutching printed clues and fanning out on foot in search of points of historical interest.

When they find such a place, they'll be greeted by appropriately costumed Historical Society of Santa Rosa volunteers and given a collectible card. The first player to gather all 10 cards and beat it back to the starting point wins a $50 prize.

That starting point is Santa Rosa Middle School. Clues will be handed out at 10 a.m.

Kids younger than 10 will play for free; everyone else pays the Historical Society 10 bucks.

Julia Pastis, daughter of Santa Rosa native Staci Pastis and 'Pearls Before Swine' cartoonist Stephan Pastis, takes over the running of the hunt from her brother, Thomas, who graduated from Santa Rosa High and prepares for college.

To register, email Julia at Stacipastis@aol.com or bop by historicalsocietysantarosa.org.

THAT'S $66 A POUND: The junior livestock auction at Ukiah's Redwood Empire Fair was another roaring success, raising nearly $630,000 for youngsters in 4-H and Future Farmers of America.

For the first time, turkeys were sold at the auction. The top bird was a 37½-pounder raised by 13-year-old Annbelle Hallman of Potter Valley.

Friedman's Home Improvement paid $2,500 for the turkey the pragmatic Annabelle named 'Dinner.'

Chris Smith is at 521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @CJSPD.