McNamara's Blog

Francis Thomas "Mugs" McNamara December 20, 1933 - November 7, 2020 A Photographic Tribute The Five of Us Early Saturday morning, November 7, 2020, Francis Thomas McNamara took his final breath, in his own bed, surrounded by his family. Advanced Congestive Heart Failure may have won the battle, but he went out on his own terms, lucidly and methodically leaving instructions for his memorial service, lovingly sharing private farewells to each family member, listening to his classical music playlist of Debussy and Chopin, closing his eyes and then raising his right hand as if he was conducting his final concert. Young Mugs Born on December 20, 1933, he was the youngest of the five children of John and Josephine “Josie” McNamara and was the first to be delivered in a hospital. His mother was so smitten with her youngest that she called him her little “Muggings”, and old Irish term of endearment that was lost on his sentimentally challenged older brothers who shortened it to the m...

 McNamara, Francis Thomas (Mugs) passed gently into the morning light of November 7, 2020, 43 days short of his 87th Birthday surrounded by his family. He was the youngest and the last surviving child of John and Josephine McNamara and was preceded in death by his beloved siblings Mary, James, Anne, and John.  The son of an Irish immigrant, Mugs was bread and buttered in the town he loved so well attending Christian Brothers High School, Sacramento City College, and Sacramento State University. He graduated from Chico State University in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in education followed by a master’s degree in the same subject.   He was a lifelong learner devoted to his books and the arts. He would spend 47 years as a teacher and principal beginning with the Sacramento City Unified School District, commencing with the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, with indelible tenures at Joseph Bonham, Caleb Greenwood, John Bidwell, St. Ann’s, and St. Patrick’s. With quiet stre...

Walter Mails By Joe McNamara Sacramento greets The Duster On a beautiful October afternoon in 1920, Walter Mails, a former attendee of Christian Brothers High School, stepped off of his train and into one of the wildest homecomings Sacramento had ever witnessed. The hero of the 1920 World Series was swept up by a delirious crowd of well-wishers who serenaded and toasted their hero in a parade from the train station to a reception at City Hall. Feted by local politicians, and with his every step filmed by motion picture cameras, Walter Mails was indeed Sacramento’s first celebrity athlete.  Just three months earlier, Mails was pitching for the Sacramento Solons in the Pacific Coast League, but his success captured the attention of the Cleveland Indians, and he was sold for a staggering $50,000. As Cleveland readied  for a pennant drive, Walter calmly and efficiently won seven straight games for the club before pitching 15 and 2/3 scoreless innings in the World...

Jim McNamara Jim McNamara passed away last week at the age of 84. This is the eulogy regarding his baseball career. Every love affair has a beginning, and for the McNamara Family, a love affair with baseball began on July 4 th 1918 just outside the small French town of Cantigny. Europe was into its fourth year of bloodshed and the arrival of the American Army brought hope that the war to end all wars would soon be over. The Americans saw their first action in late May, when they were ordered to take and hold the strategic town of Cantigny. After several weeks of nightmarish casualties brought on by shells filled with shrapnel and mustard gas, the Americans were victorious, and the German Army began a slow, but stubborn retreat back to their homeland. John McNamara, 1918 An exhausted American Army was treated to a special Independence Day party with all of the trappings of home. There was to be a BBQ, followed by a concert, and then the best enterta...