Don Mazzilli grew up in Stockton and played high school sports at St. Mary’s High School. In 1975 as a sophomore he played varsity baseball and was named to the first team as an outfielder in the Valley Oak League. He was also named second team on the Stockton All-City team. His junior year he played basketball with St. Mary’s, winning the Valley Oak League and Sac-Joaquin Section Championships, followed by participation in the Nor-Cal Tournament of Champions in Oakland. In baseball he again was named to the 1 st Team All Valley Oak League team as an outfielder and again to the 2 nd Team Stockton All-City Baseball Team. In 1977-78, his senior year, he led his basketball team to a league championship with the team finishing second in the Section and again participation in the Oakland Tournament of Champions. He was the St. Mary’s Team Captain and was voted the team’s Outstanding Defensive Player.
He was selected to play in the Kiwanis All- Star Basketball Game. In the spring he again was Captain of the Baseball team and team MVP. He led the Stockton area teams in home runs, RBI’s, and was second in batting average. He was named All League, All Stockton City, and to the All Northern California Team. After high school Don earned a baseball scholarship to Santa Clara University, where he played baseball for three years and earned his Bachelor’s Degree. In 1978 he played on the Santa Clara Junior Varsity Baseball Team. His sophomore year he led his team in hitting and was named to the 2nd Team All-Northern California Conference Baseball Team. He played summer ball in Holland.
His junior season he again led the team in hitting and also led the team in home runs and RBI’s. His senior year at Santa Clara he was voted Captain of the team but saw limited playing time because of an injury. After college in 1981 he was signed as a free agent by the San Francisco Giants and spent three years in their minor league organization. He was assigned to Fresno (A ball) and hit .288 before being promoted to Shreveport, LA (AA ball) where he hit .249. He spent the following season at Shreveport batting .280 for the season. In 1984 he was cut from the Giants’ AAA team on the last day of Spring Training. He then played one season in Riming, Italy, leading the league in hitting and home runs. He hit 33 home runs in 66 games which is a record still in place. After his professional baseball career ended he started a career in Sales Management with Nestle USA and retired after 32 years. He and his wife were blessed with three sons, which led to Don coaching Little League Baseball and a few traveling baseball teams for about ten years.
