Ruben Patron participated in baseball while attending Franklin High School, San Joaquin Delta College, and Long Beach State, and continued playing for the Cal-Mex Baseball League. He was an All-Star while playing in Little League, Babe Ruth, Franklin HS, Delta College, and Long Beach State.
At Franklin HS, he was selected as Most Valuable Player of the Central California Conference, leading his team to a Conference Championship in 1970. He was selected as the Record’s Player of the Year on the 1970 All-City Team. He had a 7-3 record as a pitcher with a 1.36 earned run average and was the leading hitter on the team with a .395 average while playing the outfield.
At California State Long Beach, in March 1973, Ruben set an NCAA record pitching 20 innings in a game called because of darkness, with the score tied 1-1. He threw 197 pitches with 147 strikes. That college record of 20 innings pitched still stands.
Playing in Stockton’s Cal-Mex league, he threw a no-hitter and also struck out 21 batters in a game. He was inducted into the Mexican-American Hall of Fame in 2009.
After college, Ruben was a teacher and coach in the Lodi Unified School District for three years before taking an administrative position in Modesto and then with Merced County. He retired in 2013 after 33 years as the Director of Migrant Education with the Merced County Office of Education. He was also a program administrator for the Sportsmen of Stanislaus Club in Modesto from 1980 until his death.
After his college career, Ruben had entered a golf hole-in-one contest and won a new GMC pickup.
Ruben passed away on August 18, 2019, at the age of 67.
