As Major League Baseball’s spring training goes through its paces and players prepare for a new season, Bakersfield’s George Culver, a former MLB pitcher with six teams and minor-league manager, pitching coach and roving instructor in the Dodgers and Phillies organizations, has his ways of staying close to the game.

He does private pitching lessons, maintains relationships with former teammates, coaches others in the game, keeps up with the baseball exploits of North High and Bakersfield College, has helped secure big league guest speakers for Bakersfield College and Cal State Bakersfield baseball fundraisers, and his The Light Brigade foundation supports local youth and high school baseball programs and scholarships to BC players who move onto the four-year college level.

“I miss spring training when I was coaching, since that’s the only time of the year when the whole organization is together,” Culver said. “Now I enjoy going just to say hello to some of the people I worked with or coached who are still around. I love it when baseball season starts.”

While Bakersfield and Kern County have produced numerous professional baseball players over the years, Culver, 81, is among the last of the major leaguers who played as far back as the 1960s. The right-hander pitched from 1966 to 1974 with Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Houston, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Both a starter and reliever, his overall record was 48-49 with a 3.62 ERA in 355 games. He started 57 games (seven complete games), earned 23 saves and pitched 789 innings. He struck out 451, walked 352 and intentionally walked 54.

While he never played in an MLB postseason game, Culver’s highest accomplishment resulted in an item having a permanent place in Cooperstown, N.Y., home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It is a baseball from his July 29, 1968, no-hitter while with the Reds and thrown against the Phillies.

It was the second game of a doubleheader at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium. The first game started at 6 p.m., pushing Culver’s start to 10 p.m. The Reds won 6-1. Culver, 25, faced 34 batters, including Phillies and East Bakersfield High standout Johnny Callison. Culver struck out four, walked five, and there was an infield ground ball that was ruled an error instead of a hit. The runner eventually scored on a sacrifice fly for the Phillies' lone run. It is a no-hitter and Culver often signs autographs with the no-hitter date under his name.

It is one of so many fond memories Culver has in a 45-year-plus professional baseball career. He pitched against 40 Hall of Famers, but he also played alongside Johnny Bench, Pete Rose, Steve Carlton and Bob Gibson to name a few. He also had a brief stint in 1973 with the Dodgers when the steady infield group of Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Bill Russell and Davey Lopes first played.

Last year, at the urging of his wife, Rosie, who George will celebrate a 48th wedding anniversary with in April, Culver self-published a 170-page autobiography, “The Earl of Oildale (Why Me?)”

In January, Culver did a book signing at Russo’s Books, a small bookstore at 1601 New Stine Road, No. 150, in Bakersfield. Another book signing with Culver will take place this Saturday, March 8 from noon to 2 p.m. Russo's will have books on hand for purchase, but Amazon is the main distributor.

The book, whose title was inspired by the late, famed Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully, lets Culver share his compete life story.

”It means so much because Vin was one of my favorite all-time people and to be able to honor him and my hometown in one sentence is special,” Culver said.

There are 21 chapters sharing his upbringing, the first baseball pitching appearance — he volunteered to pitch for his youth team in a late-season game — high school, BC, the minor leagues, one on each MLB team he played for, playing in Japan, coaching experiences from the Bakersfield Outlaws to stints with the Dodgers and Phillies organizations.

He has a doting reflection on Bakersfield, Buck Owens, and his passion for golf. He has a double-digit number of hole-in-ones, and has played some of the best courses around the world. On April 24, he will host a sold-out Light Brigade golf tournament fundraiser at Bakersfield Country Club, where some of his former teammates and stars from other pro sports will play.

He reflects on the baseball Hall of Famers who hit him hard, such as Carl Yastrzemski, Roberto Clemente and Lou Brock, and those who did not, such as Hank Aaron hitting only one home run, against him, Willie Stargell and Ernie Banks.

“I have what I thought were great some stories and I was just itching to tell them to people,” Culver said. “A lot of stories I couldn’t tell before, but this let me tell all the stories I could. I had a good time doing it and it was fun to bring back all of the wonderful memories. I did have some teammates ask ‘How did you remember all of that stuff?’ I just didn’t forget about it.”

Born on July 8, 1943, in Salinas, his family life wasn’t much fun and was a struggle. His parents divorced, his father died young and he lived for a time with mom Izora's aunt and uncle in Delano. He eventually lived in Oildale, which is why he attended North.

His first memories of sports participation date back to age and living in Delano and tagging along with Aunt Celeste and Uncle Elmer’s son, Erwin.

“Erwin was a very good athlete and served as a big brother and tutor for me. This was my first big break. He would take me out in the backyard and play catch with me, even though he was a great deal older. I would follow him to his softball games and tend the scoreboard. He was a softball pitcher and made me serve as his catcher when he would practice. I would beat my shins up pretty bad, leaving me in tears. But I still loved the game,” Culver writes in his book.

Culver writes warmly about those who coached, mentored and were father figures to him, such as Sam Barton, Bob Russell and Gerry Collis.

He talks about people he played with, managers and coaches he played for in the minors, majors and winter baseball trips to Puerto Rico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. He talks about numerous celebrity entertainment and sports figure encounters.

He doesn't shy away from his life, from failed marriages to the long, solid one he enjoys now with Rosie, who was already a mother of three children and reluctant to date George. They met when a date canceled on Culver at Maison Jaussaud's and friends there said they had someone they wanted to introduce to him.

Slow and steadily, George and Rosie began dating. Culver's celebrity was a bit irritating at times on dates.

"Whenever we'd go out to eat, people would stop by and say hi," she said. "I joked with him one time, asking if he knew anyone in Lamont. 'If not, maybe we could go there and eat.' He was so well-known here."

The book discusses Culver's life with Rosie, becoming a stepfather and, later, step-grandfather and loving it. He's also been sober from drinking and smoking for more than 20 years. Asked to describe himself, the Bob Elias Kern County Sports Hall of Famer and inductee in many others divides his life in half.

"There's the person before Rosie and the one after meeting her," he said. "If I'd not met her, I would have been dead long ago. I had no idea where I was going. Rosie and her family have been so great and so welcoming to me."

Why, George Culver? Why not?