WAILUKU — Warren Shimabukuro will be at Maehara Stadium early this morning — before sunup most likely — to make sure the field and everything else are ready to roll for the final day of the 73rd annual Hawai'i State AJA Baseball Federation Tournament.

It has been the same routine for Shimabukuro, 74, for more than 40 years for numerous leagues on the Valley Isle.

He puts colorful wording near the dugouts and behind the batter's box to note the occasion, lines the baselines and batter's box, evens out the holes on the mound and at home plate and makes sure the baseballs are ready for the umpires — all before sitting down to keep score.

Shimabukuro has done the same for the Maui Interscholastic League, Maui Colt and Pony leagues, Maui Open League, Hawai'i Winter Baseball League and AJA for about four decades.

After today, the list of leagues to get Shimabukuro's services will be down to one. The groundskeeper, scorekeeper, and gatekeeper of Maehara Stadium has just about done all he can.

''He does everything,'' Kenji Kawaguchi, the first MIL Executive Secretary from 1960 to 1986, and a man who has spent 53 years with Maui AJA baseball, said to The Maui News. ''He says he learned from me, but he does everything better than me.''

Shimabukuro says he followed in the footsteps of Kawaguchi — ''My idol when I was growing up,'' Shim-abukuro says of the former Lahainaluna High School standout who grew up with Wally Yonamine, a member of Japan's baseball Hall of Fame, and then was a football star at the University of Hawai'i.

Now, with the state AJA tournament here in its four-year rotation, it is time for Shimabukuro to put down his scorekeeping pencil in another league.

Over the last few years, the MIL and youth leagues have also seen him ''retire.''

''Sooner or later, I've got to go,'' Shimabukuro said between outs of Maui's 10-6 win over Kauai yesterday. ''With the state tournament being here this year it seemed like the right time — I'm not getting any younger.''

Shimabukuro, who will still assist the Maui Open League, was the Maui AJA league president from 1991 to 1998. Since then he has been league manager while Neal Fujiwara was president.

''He did the whole gamut of things,'' Fujiwara said. ''The field, scoring, statistics — he was just invaluable. Words can't really put it all together what Warren has meant to baseball on this island.''

At one point in the mid-1990s, when the Maui Sting-rays played in the HWBL, Shimabukuro estimated he spent most nights and lunch hours at the stadium for nine months a year.

''He takes care of this field probably better than he does his own home,'' Fujiwara said during the AJA tournament's opening ceremony. ''Hopefully we can find suitable replacements to do what he has done.''

Shimabukuro said stepping back will allow him to spend more time with his granddaughters — Cassidy, 6, and Syndie, 4.

''My granddaughter asks me where I'm going and before I tell her she says 'baseball,' '' he said. ''I just love the game.''

His boys, Neal and Wade, played at several levels on the field he took care of, and his wife, Eleanor, lives with his passion for the game.

''It is a good thing my wife understands,'' Shimabukuro said. ''She knows that I'm not going anywhere bad. She knows I'm here.''

Shimabukuro has seen all of the best Maui baseball players over the last 40 years at some point, including current major leaguers Shane Victorino and Kurt Suzuki.

One of the teams he holds closest to his heart is the 1985 Maui Colt League All-Stars.

The names rattle off his tongue like it was yesterday.

''That was a great team — Jon Viela, James Ballao, Kaeo Ah Sau, Dana Mendoza, Gaylen Nakamura, Ryan Lau Hee, Warren Okada, Marshall Mindoro, Mike Marciel, Lance Yokoyama,'' Shimabukuro said of the team he followed to the Colt World Series in Lafayette, Ind., when he was that league's president. ''They beat the California team in pool play that ended up winning the World Series.''

Shimabukuro will not be as active at the stadium as he has been, but admitted that he might not be able to stay away if needed in a pinch.

''If they ask, I will do what I can,'' he said. ''When I approach the field, I want to imagine I see it as if I'm above it. So, like today, I came at 5 a.m. to get it ready. Everybody tells me, 'They are going to mess up the batter's box anyway.' And that may be true, but at the first pitch I want everybody to say, 'Wow, the field looks great.' First-pitch impressions are important to me.''

Shimabukuro was at the office of Maui County Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Zach Helm in January letting him know exactly what needed upgrading.

''I wanted to make sure everything looked good for my last games,'' he said.

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