LABOR OF GLOVE ALL AMERICAN SPORT SHOPPE STILL BATTING ON ITS 30TH ANNIVERSARY IN CANOGA PARK.

Byline: TONY CASTRO Staff Writer

Tony Czarnecki remembers a young boy just getting into baseball who would come into his Canoga Park sporting goods store in awe of his older brother who was already a star in the West Hills Little League program.

``He couldn't have been more than 8 years old,'' recalled Czarnecki, ``and was just learning to throw the ball. Who knew?''

Yeah, who knew that the kid just learning to throw back then, today is veteran major league lefthander Randy Wolf, the Los Angeles Dodgers' newest $8 million acquisition to the pitching rotation.

And, oh, yeah. Big brother Jim also made it to the big leagues -- as an umpire.

Wolf, who went on to star at El Camino Real High School and Pepperdine University, is just one of dozens of current and former major leaguers who in their early years growing up in the San Fernando Valley passed through Czarnecki's All American Sport Shoppe.

``Jeff Suppan, Jeff Weaver, Gary Mathews Jr., Bret Saberhagen -- those are just some of the names off the top of my head,'' said Czarnecki. ``We could almost start an all-star team.''

Wolf, himself a National League all-star pitcher, agreed -- and has fond memories of his boyhood visits to All American Sport Shoppe.

``For me at that age it was like going into a candy store filled with gloves and bats,'' said Wolf. ``My brother was a catcher, and he'd always go in there to get his equipment, and I'd tag along with him and my parents.''

Wolf's regard for the store is so high that when he needed some restiching on his 2003 NL All-Star jersey before having it framed for hanging, he trusted only one place to do it.

``I took it into Tony,'' said Wolf. ``It brought back old memories.''

Uphill battle

If Czarnecki, 58, himself a one-time baseball player at Cleveland High School, gets misty-eyed reminiscing about future stars who have been outfitted at his store, he can be excused. He is celebrating the 30th anniversary of a store that is among a dying breed -- the last of the sporting goods stores in the Valley specializing in only selling baseball and softball equipment.

Czarnecki and the All American Sport Shoppe are like the vanishing independent farmers, the mom-and-pop corner markets and the old drugstore soda shops all fighting a seemingly uphill economic struggle against the corporate multinationals and chain stores.

In a baseball metaphor, Czarnecki is Casey at the bat, but he can laugh about it. When a visitor suggested that he must be doing something right to have stayed in business this long, Czarnecki in a deadpan moment said:

``What makes you think that?''

He quickly laughed and continued with paperwork on a hurry-up uniform order for a local Little League that needed to be faxed to the manufacturer by the end of the day.

``We haven't had the lion's share of (baseball and softball) business in the Valley in 10 years,'' said Czarnecki. ``When the big corporations -- Chick's, Sport Chalet -- started moving into the league and team business, we started losing business. I can still stay within 5 percent of the big boys (in prices), but overall, it's not the business we used to do.''

Talkin' baseball

But Czarnecki offers one thing the big stores can't match. Walk into the All American Sport Shoppe, and you better be prepared to talk baseball -- Little League baseball, high school baseball, major league baseball. And especially Mickey Mantle.

``You're talking to someone who was a switch-hitting center fielder with bad knees,'' said Czarnecki, boasting of his youthful similarities to those of Mantle, a New York Yankees switch-hitting legend of the 1950s and 1960s whose career was cut short by a history of knee injuries.

Czarnecki himself was a star on Cleveland High School's 1965 city championship baseball team who later signed with the St. Louis Cardinals for a $500 bonus only to see his own young career cut short by a serious knee injury suffered in a collision sliding into a catcher at home plate.

Stepping into Czarnecki's store is like immersing yourself in the golden age of baseball. It is full of the distinct smells of leather, old and new, from well-used baseball gloves being refurbished to a large wall lined with gloves and mitts. If you've been around the game, you can also pick up the faint smells of pine tar and rosin coming out of cans and packets that have been opened and checked.

Unique offerings

The All American Sport Shoppe is also perhaps the only place in Southern California where you can find some unique baseball items:

Leather belts like the ones the major leaguers use and not the adjustable, stretch belts offered at most sporting goods stores; batting-helmet decals not only for the major league teams but for most of the high school teams in the Valley; actual stirrup socks -- not the fake ones -- that big league teams used to wear and are now coming back in vogue, along with the white sanitary socks that go under the stirrups.

Each year around this time, with the start of youth baseball and high school seasons just around the corner, Czarnecki and his store begin bracing for an onslaught of Little League-equipment buyers, school baseball and softball coaches, managers of teams of all ages and the moms and dads needing to outfit their growing young prodigies.

On this particular winter day, Czarnecki is already in spring training -- his store's spring training.

``I'm understaffed,'' Czarnecki said in a friendly complaint. ``I've got an employee who just started on Tuesday and three rookies.''

The rookies are part-time workers who work after school helping Czarnecki with the stock in the store. Another part timer who has been at the store for four months has already caught on.

``We carry more major league teams' catchers masks than any other store around,'' he said, pointing to a wall covered with catching gear in all colors, capable of matching the color scheme of any local high school team or even those of the numerous adult baseball league teams in the Valley.

Czarnecki takes the cue and starts explaining the ins and outs of glove-buying for another customer looking at one of the ``pro models.''.

``Let me fill you in on something,'' Czarnecki tells him. ``It says `pro,' but it's not the real glove that the pros use. It may look like the glove that Derek Jeter uses -- and even have his name on it as a `pro' model. But if Derek needs a new glove, the Rawlings rep doesn't go into their stock and get another Derek Jeter model. He goes to Glovesmith and has them make Derek another copy of the glove he actually uses.''

The customer is dumbfounded.

``So I'm not getting the glove Derek Jeter uses when I buy the top-of-the-line Rawlings Derek Jeter Turn-Two model?'' the customer finally asks him.

``Look,'' Czarnecki said. ``I haven't stayed in business 30 years lying to my customers.''

tony.castro(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Tony Czarnecki is celebrating 30 years of operating the All American Sport Shoppe in Canoga Park. His business is one of the last of the sporting goods stores in the Valley specializing in selling only baseball and softball equipment.

(2 -- color) The All American Sport Shoppe also handles uniforms for local teams and leagues. Sales representative Marc Aronson positions a number that will be heat-pressed onto a basketball jersey.

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer