Maury Ornest had several things in common with Freddie Freeman, the World Series hero of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Both were born of Canadian parents, and both grew up in Southern California. Their fathers groomed them to play baseball, tossing balls to them and taking them to Dodgers and Angels games.
Ornest was a major league draft prospect out of Beverly Hills High in 1977, but he decided to pursue a college education and came to UCSB. As a switch-hitter, he compiled a .363 batting average for the Gauchos and was taken in the third round of the 1980 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers.
Injuries prevented Ornest from progressing out of the minor leagues, and then mental illness plunged him a dark place far from the bright lights of the ballpark. But it was discovered after his death in 2018 that he had achieved a colorful legacy of his own. As productively as Freeman strokes base hits, Ornest’s brushstrokes filled hundreds of canvases.