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For Rainiers’ Olson, shortest trip will be the sweetest
By Karen Westeen

For Tacoma Weekly

Photo by rocky ross

TRAVELOCITY. Garrett Olson, a recent arrival in Tacoma, looking in for the sign in a recent game at Cheney Stadium.

His nickname could be “mileage-plus.” In the past couple of seasons, pitcher Garrett Olson might be the most experienced traveler on the roster of the Tacoma Rainiers. So it is a good thing he actually enjoys traveling.

Some of the miles come from navigating the circuitous route from college, through the minor leagues to the majors. Some of the big mileage comes from his taking vacations to places like Costa Rica or Australia.

Olson, 25, is one of the new pitchers on the Rainiers’ roster. Drafted out of college by the Orioles in 2005, he stayed with the O’s through 2008.

Then in January 2009 he was traded twice within 10 days. First he went to the Cubs, then to the Mariners in a trade that sent Aaron Heilman to Chicago.

Olson now lives near Santa Barbara, Calif.

He grew up and went to high school in Clovis, near Fresno. He played his college ball at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, from 2003 through 2005 – a long time to be playing baseball in the same place, by his standards.

While he was there, he set several school records in baseball.

He still holds those for wins (12) and innings pitched (136) in a season, set in 2005.

In college Olson was coached by Larry Lee. Lee says Olson started out as the team’s number three pitcher his freshman year, then moved up to number two when he was a sophomore. By the time he was a junior, Olson had taken over the number one spot in the rotation.

“There were a lot of high-profile pitchers in the colleges we played,” Lee said. “Garrett was as dominant that year as any of them.”

Lee could see that Olson had the ability to be a professional pitcher by the end of his freshman season.

In 2004, in the Alaska Summer League for the Anchorage Bucs, his record was 7-0 with a 0.88 ERA. That is where he began learning how to pitch against wooden bats, as opposed to the aluminum ones that colleges use.

Olson said that was the best summer of his life. Lee remembered that when Olson came back from his summer in Alaska, he was much more self-confident.

After he was drafted, Olson traveled nearly 3,000 miles to play his first year of professional ball.

He split the season between the New York-Penn League IronBirds in Aberdeen, Maryland (home of Cal Ripkin, Jr.) and the Frederick Keys. His combined record for 14 games was 2-1, 2.36 ERA. He pitched 10 scoreless innings in the Carolina League playoffs, helping the Keys win the league championship.

In 2006, Olson went 10-9 with a 3.09 ERA between Frederick and the Double-A Bowie BaySox. In three consecutive starts he posted 20 consecutive scoreless innings.

That got Olson to the Triple-A Norfolk Ties in 2007, where he was 9-7 in 22 starts.

He was selected to play in the All-Star Futures last summer in San Francisco, but by then he had started his Major League career.

Called up to Baltimore on July 4, Olson made his big-league debut that day in Chicago against the White Sox. In 4 1/3 innings, he gave up two runs and earned a no decision. He got his first win in his next start July 15 at home against the White Sox. Olson’s Major League record that season was 1-3 in seven starts.

Olson was with the Orioles all of 2008 except for seven games with Norfolk. He ranked fourth among American League rookie pitchers in starts (26), fifth in wins (nine) and innings pitched (132.2), and sixth in strikeouts (83). Ironically his best outing that year came in Safeco Field, where he pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings for a win.

So far, Olson has made one start in his new home park. He said he likes Cheney Stadium, especially the park’s pitcher-friendly, 425-foot deep center field. He considers his out-pitch to be a slurve, a cross between a slider and a curve, with his fastball his second choice.

As of April 27 his record in four starts is 1-2, 3.66 ERA, 19.2 innings pitched.

Asked if he is a power or finesse pitcher, the lefty says he likes to “just go out there and chuck the ball,” but did admit that the guys he pitches to say he throws hard.

“I’ve never considered myself a power pitcher,” he added. “I basically like to hit my spots.”

Olson says he likes the weather and the sports culture here, and also the fact that he is closer to his family (parents and one sister) who can now see him pitch in California and maybe even travel to Tacoma.

During the off-seasons Olson returns home to Santa Barbara to work out and enjoy his hobbies of cooking and photography. His thousands of miles of jaunts around professional baseball locales did not diminish his love for travel. Last year, he went to Costa Rica, the year before to Australia.

But he would not mind, if things go right, to later this season be making the short trip to Safeco Field.

Summer collegiate leagues a unique hobby source
February 26, 2008
by Ed Kobak

Over the years, articles have appeared in the pages of Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Los Angeles Times, New York Times and other print media, as well as television documentaries, on summer collegiate baseball leagues. Many of these articles have focused on the ever-popular Alaska Baseball League and the Cape Cod League, with their stunning backdrops of mountains, glaciers, wildlife and shorelines, while college ballplayers toil in the background with the hopes to catch the eye of pro scouts.

In all these past articles, the focus has been on the ballplayers.
In this article, as in one I wrote for SCD on the Fairbanks Goldpanners card set some 15-plus years ago, the focus is on the collectibles that are available from these teams and leagues.

A little history
The Alaska and Cape Leagues have always been among the most popular, while other leagues operated in relative obscurity until the baseball boom of the last 25 years. Now there are more than 40 summer collegiate baseball leagues operating within the states and Canada. There are leagues and teams from Maine to Florida, Texas to California and Alaska to Hawaii, including most states in between. There are leagues north of the border in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and the Maritimes, operating as either summer collegiate or senior leagues.

There are four leagues in the U.S. sponsored by Major League Baseball, 12 leagues sanctioned by the NCAA and the NBC in Wichita, Kan., runs an “unofficial” national championship tournament, much like the College World Series in Omaha. The AAU and the AABC (Stan Musial World Series for college age and older players) also run national championship tournaments.

The Cape Cod League is one of the oldest baseball leagues of any form in the country, founded in 1885, and it has deep roots in the annals of baseball history. The equally popular Alaska League features its Midnight Sun Game in Fairbanks, played on the summer solstice with the game held up at midnight (in daylight) for celebrations. This league is relatively new in baseball history.

The league was formed in 1974, though organized baseball teams have played in Alaska since the early 1900s, with pros, semipros and amateurs who were servicemen, merchant marines, mariners, pilots of sternwheelers and steamships and gold prospectors.

The leagues
Through all the Cape League and Alaska Leagues popularity and immense draw to college ballplayers during the 1970s and 1980s (the Cape has sent 198 players to the bigs, with Alaska sending 170 to date), other very successful leagues have been in existence since the 1960s.

The Central Illinois League was founded in 1963 and claims Mike Schmidt among its ranks of alumni. The Valley Baseball League, once known as the Shenandoah Valley League for a beautiful region in Virginia, was established in 1962 and has sent many players to the pro ranks.

The highly competitive Cranberry League, also operating in relative obscurity, is a amateur league that began in 1960. The Atlantic Collegiate League is going 41 years strong and has had success in sending players to the pros. Count the Clark C. Griffith League in the Washington D.C./Maryland area as one of the elders.

Out in the Midwest, the Jayhawk League was formed in 1976, followed by the New York Collegiate League in upstate New York in 1978. The highly regarded Great Lakes Collegiate League got its start in 1986. The hugely popular and well-attended New England Collegiate League was formed in 1993, with teams in all six New England states, gaining a foothold in Cape League territory and taking on the Cape with a few all-star games between the leagues early on.

The equally popular Northwoods League with teams in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Thunder Bay, Ontario, was formed in 1994, followed by the equally popular Coastal Plain League in the Carolinas and Virginia, founded in 1997. Both the Coastal Plain and Northwoods teams play before packed ballparks and operate in many former minor league towns. Both leagues also took the names of former minor leagues.

In the late 1990s and turn of the new millennium, the Pacific International, West Coast League, California Collegiate League, the hugely popular Texas Collegiate League, the MINK League (Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska and Kansas), Cal Ripken League in Maryland, KIT League, Southern Collegiate, Carolina-Virginia League, Hawaii Collegiate and Mountain Collegiate League (Colorado and Wyoming) have vied for players and fans.

The Texas Collegiate League is currently involved in a major lawsuit between its founder, who set the league up as a nonprofit league, and team owners who see huge crowds but large dollar losses. Seven team owners wanting to start a new, for-profit league.
New leagues are springing up yearly around the country, offering fans a chance to see future pro players hone their skills.

The players
To name a few, the Cape Cod League has had the likes of Rich Aurilia (he played in both the Cape and Alaska Leagues), Jeff Bagwell, Lance Berkman, Craig Biggio, Darin Erstad, John Franco, Nomar Garciaparra, Todd Helton, Jeff Kent, Javier Lopez, Tino Martinez, Carlos Pena, Tim Salmon, J.T. Snow, Ben Sheets, Scott Spezio, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Frank Thomas (1988 Orleans), Chase Utley, Jason Varitek, Mo Vaughn, Robin Ventura, Billy Wagner and Barry Zito among its illustrious alumni, with 1,004 players to date who have played in organized pro leagues.

Add that to the Alaska League alumni, which includes the current career MLB home run record holder Barry Bonds (Fairbanks Goldpanners), Bob and Bret Boone, Chris Chambliss, J.D. Drew, Terry Francona, Jason Giambi, Eric Hinske, Randy Johnson, Adam Kennedy, Dave Kingman, Spaceman Bill Lee, former season home run record holder Mark McGwire, Doug Mientkiewicz, Harold Reynolds, HOFer Tom Seaver, J.T. Snow (also with the Cape), Dave Winfield and Jered Weaver, among a host of others. Twelve former ABL players made the 2007 MLB playoff rosters.

Add these to HOFer Mike Schmidt (’69, ’70 Peoria & Springfield) from the Central IL League, along with Bob Brenly, Norm Charlton, Denny Doyle, Joe Girardi, Gary Gaetti, Danny Goodwin, Ken Holtzman, Ryan Howard (Decatur ’99), Art Howe, Don Kessinger, Joe Niekro (’64-’65 Springfield), Steve Ontiveros, Jon Papelbon, Jack Perconte, HOFer Kirby Puckett (’81 Quincy), Dan Quisenberry and Rick Reuschel for a total of 169 major league ballplayers past and present from CICL.
The Atlantic Collegiate League proudly counts Biggio, Rick Cerone, Pete Harnisch, Pat Kelly, Jeff Kunkel, Jamie Moyer, Matt Morris, Terry Mulholland, John Valentin, Frank Viola, Walt Weiss and Eric Young as its MLB contribution.

The Coastal Plain counts Kevin Youkilis and Justin Verlander among its ranks, while the Jayhawk League can proudly name Bonds (Alaska and Jayhawk League), Bud Black, Albert Pujols and HOF’er Ozzie Smith as players who have gone on to the pros.

Add the Valley League alumni such as David Eckstein, Roberto Hernandez, Brandon Inge, Javier Lopez, Mike Lowell, Tom Martin, Sam Perlozzo and Chad Tracy, along with many other players from these leagues, and you have some great ballplayers who passed through the ranks of the summer collegiate leagues.

The collectibles
Just think of the possibilities when it comes to collectibles. If you are a player collector, college collector, card collector (true rookie cards!), program collector, photo collector, media guide collector or schedule collector, the possibilities are endless. Most of these leagues mentioned have all their teams print programs and some even have yearbooks and media guides that rival minor league and MLB teams.

Just about every team in the Alaska (with exception of the AIA Fire), the Cape Cod, Coastal Plain, New England Collegiate, Northwoods, Valley League and Texas Collegiate leagues print programs. The Quakertown Blazers from ACBL always have nice programs chocked with league history. Several teams in the Great Lakes League have had programs over the years. These same teams have other souvenirs such as caps, team photos, T-shirts, pennants and other souvenirs.

A few teams over the years even sell game-used uniform tops and caps at the end of the season. Most teams print pocket schedules, and some even have magnet schedules. However, most teams require an SASE to receive them. Get your hands on the 2007 Fairbanks Goldpanners schedule card, which has a photo of Bonds in his Goldpanners uniform on the front side – a true collectible for a Bonds collector.

The leagues mentioned have high attendance, thus they can afford more souvenirs for their fans. The Kenai Peninsula (Alaska) Oilers give away their game programs. I always pick up one as I go to 10-12 home Oiler games in the summer, as well as volunteer in getting schedule posters and pocket schedules around town, as I live in Alaska from May to November.
I also embark on a road trip to take in home games for the other five teams in the league. The ballparks have a great setting among the wilds of Alaska. Just keep in mind that many of these teams operate as nonprofits, so funds are limited. The Hyannis Mets still receive their game uniforms from the New York Mets.

The independent Humboldt Crabs of the northern California coastal town of Arcata have been around since 1945, having a rich history and drawing in excess of 30,000 paid fans in a seven-to eight-week season. It’s all about “placing butts in the seats,” as a member of the Humboldt Crabs board of directors said. The Crabs are a first-class club, with nice programs (great history), schedules and major league-looking card sets (more on team card sets further along in this article). They also sponsor another summer collegiate team named the Humboldt Stealheads.

From the league offices, the Cape Cod, Coastal Plain, New England, Northwoods and Texas Collegiate leagues annually print league guides/yearbooks. The Cape and New England leagues print season-end guide/record books. The Alaska League has never had a league guide, though the Fairbanks Goldpanners lead the way with great yearbooks, programs and card sets, along with the Anchorage Glacier Pilots. The Central Illinois League used to have basic record books in the 1970s (without photos, but full of season/career stats and records). I haven’t come across other leagues printing league guides, though I am always surprised each year.

Books, videos and the big screen
The following are some of the film and books
based on the summer leagues.
Movies:

* Summer Catch, 2001 Hollywood release
* Touching the Game, by Jim Carroll, a 2003 documentary on two-disc DVD set chronicling the 2003 Cape season and league history. Price is $19.95, plus shipping; www.touchingthegame.com. Carroll was in Alaska this year for an ESPN documentary.

Books:

* Baseball by the Beach by Christopher Price, 1998
* Baseball on Cape Cod by Dan Crowley
* Beach Chairs and Baseball Bats by Steve Weissman, 2005. A behind-the-scenes look at the Cape League.
* Diamonds in the Rough: Baseball Stories from Alaska by Lew Freedman, 2002. A great look at Alaska.
* The Last Best League by Jim Collins, 2002. A behind-the-scenes look at the Chatham A’s.
* The Official Minor League Checklist 1970-1990, by Don and Carolyn Harrison; (804) 827-1667.

Reference books
Both are annual directories listing league
and team contacts.

* Baseball America’s Baseball Directory;
* www.baseballamerica.com
* The Sports Address Bible & Almanac;
* www.sportsbooksempire.com.

The cards
The first known sets are two very limited print run sets from TCMA, which gained its fame in the minor league ranks with highly popular sets that changed the psyche on true rookie card collecting.
Tom Collier and Mike Aronstein (original owners of TCMA before Aronstein bought out Collier) were true card visionaries. Aronstein even printed a card set for me in 1982-83 when I was general manager for the Lancaster Lightning of the CBA champions basketball club.

1974 TCMA Tri-Valley Highlanders:
The first-ever known amateur set
This is a 30-card, black-and-white, nondescript card set that will set you back about $125. It’s rarely seen, with a 750-set print run. Don Harrison, author of Official Minor League Checklist, 1970-1990, lists this set as a semi-pro team from the New York/New Jersey area Metropolitan League. In actuality, the Metropolitan (Met) League’s official status with U.S. Baseball Federation (USA Baseball) was that of “unlimited amateur,” not semipro. This allowed former pros (not paid) to play alongside amateur players without amateur players jeopardizing their amateur status. It is an old term rarely used nowadays.
The now-defunct Met League issued record books, and several teams had nice programs, such as the Clifton Phillies.

1977 TCMA Atlantic Collegiate Baseball Set
This 45-card, black-and-white set was TCMA’s last foray into amateur or summer collegiate baseball. This had a very limited run, and it’s another pricey set if you can find it.
The ACBL league office doesn’t have a set available for collectors.

1988 Cape Cod League Top Prospects
Two sets were issued for this year – a 30-card set by the league and a 198-card set by P&L Promotions, with the 30-card set being the rarer version.
The Frank Thomas and Mo Vaughn cards will set you back. You’ll see them on eBay and PSA slabbed. This set changed the face of collecting summer collegiate team sets in the eyes of the NCAA.

Collecting summer collegiate baseball team and league card sets is very challenging. It is very much like pulling teeth to obtain these sets, which is an attraction to a true collector, unlike MLB-sponsored minor leagues and the independent league sets, which are rewarding to collect but are readily available for sale from teams and card dealers.

What makes collecting card sets from summer collegiate teams so difficult is the NCAA rules and bylaws, which do not allow summer collegiate teams to profit from the sales of card and photo images, autographs, etc., of college players. Doing so would disqualify a ballplayer’s eligibility. Thus, the teams do not sell these card sets, but they are only available at giveaway nights or to children only, meaning collecting these sets is harder for current years than older sets.

The 1988 Cape Cod sets that were sold in 1988 drastically changed the NCAA rules on how it views summer collegiate teams. Check team websites at the beginning of the season to view their promotional schedule for giveaway nights. It is a challenge. I have called and e-mailed teams, and it is tough to get responses, as they can’t sell the sets. Network with other collectors in these towns/cities.

To date, both Corvallis (Oregon) Knights and North Adams Steeplecats of the New England League have failed to return my numerous calls, e-mails and faxes. They simply can’t sell sets to anyone. Keep this in mind when calling on these teams.
A few teams asked for an SASE with proper postage to get a set. The Fairbanks Goldpanners are champions at printing sets – not necessarily sets with rookie cards, but all-star sets, annual player sets, etc.

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots also have printed a number of sets over the years, as have the Peninsula Oilers in their early years. On the whole, the Alaska League has been great for card collectors.

Most of the team and league all-star sets are usually independently printed sets by teams that try to find a sponsor to defer the printing costs. A new player for card printing in summer collegiate ball is Choice Sportscards, which has printed a few quality, top-rate sets for teams. Choice is very active in printing minor league sets and college team sets.
Final thoughts

Summer collegiate baseball collecting is great for the young and older collector. Most items, including cards are rewarding, yet difficult to collect, but can offer much fun without breaking the bank.

Credits: Stephen Greene of STBsports.com image of the Tri Valley Highlanders set; Choice Sportscards for information and images; Jay Sokol of the Delaware Cows; Humboldt Crabs organization; Dennis family with the Fairbanks Goldpanners; league PR directors who sent their league pubs; the GMs of summer collegiate teams that sent along their cards and collectibles; and Jack Whittleton in Canada for his insights on Canadian baseball collectibles.

Ed Kobak, is a former columnist for SCD and a collector since 1965. He is the author/publisher of sports reference books, spending his summer nights in the land of the Midnight Sun watching and hearing the crack of the bat of Alaska League ballplayers. He can be reached at ekobak@yahoo.com.

Click here for price guides from Sports Collectors Digest

The Anchorage Bucs of the Alaska Baseball League have announced that Thom Dreier has been selected as the team’s field manager for the 2009 summer baseball season. Dreier was an assistant coach for the 2008 Saratoga Phillies and worked under manager Kevin Graber.

Dreier is in his first season at Arizona State University as a recruiting and operations assistant working under 15th-year head coach Pat Murphy. The St. Louis, Mo., native joined the ASU staff after serving as the director of baseball operations at Marshall University. Last year, Marshall won a school-record 30 games and reached the championship game of the Conference-USA postseason tournament. Dreier’s boss, Thundering Herd head coach Jeff Waggoner (Schenectady ‘99, ‘00 asst.), was named the national Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.

Dreier played collegiately at Oklahoma State University from 1996 through 1999 and was part of OSU’s 1999 College World Series squad. He was tabbed by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 20th round (613th overall) of the 1999 Major League Baseball draft a year after being taken as an underclassman by the San Diego Padres in the 13th round (382nd overall) of the 1998 draft. Dreier pitched in the Toronto Blue Jays organization for the St. Catherines Stompers and Hagerstown Suns in 1999.

The Anchorage Bucs compiled a 21-24 overall record last summer and a 15-20 mark in the Alaska Baseball League.

Lewis-Clark State College baseball coach Ed Cheff has been named the winner of the American Baseball Coaches’ Association’s 2009 Lefty Gomez Award for his lifetime contributions to amateur baseball.

Cheff will receive the award at the ABCA’s annual convention awards dinner, which will be held Jan. 3 at the San Diego Convention Center.

Cheff also will receive the ABCA’s NAIA Region I Coach of the Year award for 2008 at the awards dinner.

The Lefty Gomez Award is considered one of the most prestigious awards in all of amateur baseball. The award is presented by the ABCA each year to an individual who has “distinguished himself amongst his peers and has contributed significantly to the game of baseball locally, nationally, and internationally.”

Cheff, who was selected to the ABCA’s Hall of Fame in 2006, has led LCSC to an unprecedented 16 NAIA World Series titles, far and away the most by any program at the NAIA level. Grand Canyon University, which no longer competes at the NAIA level, is second on the all-time title list with four.

Cheff is entering his 33rd year as coach at LCSC and has led the Warriors to all 16 of their titles in the last 25 years, including the last three. He has an all-time record of 1,627-410-2 at LCSC for a winning percentage of 79.9. His win total is the most accumulated by any coach at the NAIA level and is fourth overall on the all-division list, trailing only University of St. Francis coach Gordie Gillespie (1,783) Texas coach Augie Garrido (1,668) and Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson (1,653)

Under Cheff, the Warriors have appeared in 27 NAIA World Series and have an overall Series record of 116-31 for a 78.9 winning percentage. Along with the 16 titles, LCSC has five second-place finishes, three thirds and a fourth under Cheff.

The veteran coach has been named the NAIA Coach of the Year eight times and was inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame in 1994. He also was on the coaching staffs for the 1991 and ’94 United States national teams, and the 1994 U.S. team which played in the World Championships.

At LCSC, Cheff has won at least 71 percent of his games every season. His best record, percentage wise, was 58-5 (92.1) in 2006, while his 1983 team posted the most wins at 69-7, which was his second-best winning percentage mark (90.79).

During 1982 to ’92, Cheff led LCSC to 11 consecutive national championship games, a feat unequalled by a collegiate team in any sport at any level. The program also has produced three NAIA National Players of the Year, including the last two.

Cheff, who also has coached in the Alaska Summer League with the Anchorage Bucs and Fairbanks Gold Panners, has had more than 100 of his former players go on to play professional baseball, including 14 at the Major League level.

The Lefty Gomez Award is named after a former major league pitcher who played for the New York Yankees during 1930-42 and the Washington Senators in 1943. Gomez was a 20-game winner four times, a seven-time All-Star, and the winning pitcher in the inaugural Major League All-Star Game. Following his baseball career, Gomez was a sought-after speaker because of his humor and personality.

Take Me Out to The Ballgame- Alaska Traveler
Written by Sherry Simpson

November 2008

It was the bottom of the first inning by the time we found the entrance to Mulcahy Baseball Stadium in Anchorage.

We’re late,” I told my husband.

“That just means we missed everyone mumbling their way through the Star-Spangled Banner,” Scott said.

“But that’s what I came for,” I said. Little things count when you’re auditioning a sports team. Can your fellow fans carry a tune? Do the players have fire in their bellies? Is it from a passion to win or from the hot dogs? Speaking of which, what kind of snacks do they sell?

I’m not much of a sports fan, but the older I get, the more I need a team. I never had a team growing up in Juneau. Not only did Alaska lack teams, but television arrived on tape and two weeks late. My childhood was one long news embargo designed to keep my father from accidentally learning the outcome of any game before he could see it on TV.

Our families have long since outsourced their loyalties to Seattle’s Mariners and Seahawks. Scott and I aren’t much for sports, but we do have one team: The Canterbury Crusaders of Christchurch, New Zealand. The Crusaders won the only professional sports event I’ve ever attended, a rugby game during which the action on the field competed with the action in the stands. This is not surprising when fans arrive with 12-packs of beer tucked under each arm. I don’t understand the first thing about rugby, but it’s a fantastically entertaining sport, despite the fact that my team plays 6,800 miles away and I’ve yet to attend a second game.

This year I thought I’d hold auditions for a new team, an Alaska team. Other people have teams so they’ll have some place specific to channel overwhelming feelings of futility, hostility or despair by hating incompetent coaches, flawed heroes and corrupt owners, interrupted briefly by moments of transcendent joy that bear absolutely no relationship to their worthiness as fans, but for which they’ll happily take all credit.

We decided to audition the Anchorage Bucs, one of six teams in the Alaska Baseball League, which fields top collegiate players from across the United States. Alaskans have been playing organized baseball for more than a hundred years in mining camps, villages and towns, possibly because there’s nothing more cool than playing at midnight on the solstice. Since the 1960s, almost 400 ABL players have entered the majors, including Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire, Dave Winfield and Tom Seaver. (I looked that up.)

I also looked up footage from a 2003 Bucs vs. Fairbanks Goldpanners game during which a Cessna Skywagon crashed into the left-field fence. Amazingly, only two of the four passengers received minor-ish injuries. Not so the Bucs—the game resumed 47 minutes later (Goldpanners 10, Bucs 2).

The day we chose to attend a game was Fan Appreciation Day at Mulcahy Stadium, and admission was free. About three hundred people were there being appreciated. True fans brought comfy bucket seats from which they tracked stats and cheered players by name. I gave it a try.

“C’mon … dude,” I yelled. “Batter, batter, batter.”

Scott looked at me curiously. “Do you even know how read the scoreboard?”

“Yes,” I lied.

People from United Way wandered through distributing key chains, plastic water bottles, yo-yos, and T-shirts. Wondering why I didn’t get a water bottle occupied me for the third and fourth innings. The cheerful hijinks of Beekmin the mascot might have vanquished my disappointment, but no giant parrot appeared.

“Where’s Beekmin?” I asked.

“Parrots don’t like to work in the cold,” Scott said. It had yet to break 60, making me one of the few people in America wearing fleece to a baseball game that day.

Watching baseball was a lot like watching television—I needed someone to pay attention to the game while I did other things. Bucs fans were interesting people—little old ladies in matching hats, families that had biked to the game, a man who helped me interpret the game by yelling things like, “That’s trouble, that’s trouble.”

My neighbor’s nachos had attracted my interest when the stadium made a collective “Oooh” sound. I looked up to see a batter limping around.

“What happened?” I asked.

“The batter fouled the ball off his own foot,” Scott said. “Walk it off. That’s what it’s all about. Sometimes you got to man up and walk it off.” His voice dropped. “Unless your wife is there, in which case she’ll yell at you.”

I was noting down this inspirational speech when Scott asked, “Is this going to be another one of those ‘make-fun-of-my-husband’ columns?”

“Let’s see how it goes,” I said.

Suddenly it was top of the fourth, 1-0 Miners.

“When nothing happens, baseball goes pretty fast,” I mentioned.

“It’s good to get those runs out of the way early,” Scott agreed.

Nothing much continued happening for a few innings.

“Was that a sacrifice bunt?” I’d ask.

“Yes.”

“Was that a ball?”

“No, when the umpire points it’s a strike.”

“Did they have onion rings at the food stand?”

“I didn’t notice.”

“What happened?”

“There was a kerfuffle.”

“What happened that time?”

“He tried to steal third and got thrown out.”

“Don’t they have cheerleaders?”

“No.”

“What time does the plane crash happen?” I asked.

By the sixth inning, we’d scored but still lagged 1-3. Also, the girl selling 50-50 tickets hadn’t returned, and I still hadn’t won any drawings for gift certificates. We ate nachos with an alarmingly colored, cheese-like sauce. Three boys raced the bases between innings, but it wasn’t clear whether they were being rewarded or punished. Two Mat-Su players clocking their pitcher’s ball speed let a kid play with the radar gun. The announcer announced that it was someone’s birthday, and those nice United Way people delivered a cake to a true fan, who shared it with everyone around her. It was fun being a fan.

In the seventh our pitcher threw two consecutive strikeouts. Apparently we’d scored another run some time. Things were looking up, until they weren’t. Top of the eighth, the score was 4-2. Then 5-2. In the ninth, the Miners scored. I looked away, and bam, another run.

“We’re going to lose, aren’t we?” I asked Scott.

“Of course we are. We’re here. We are death to sports.”

I remembered then why I don’t have a team. It’s because they always lose, except for the Crusaders, who never once failed me during the one game I’d seen.

The Bucs lost. But I discovered that having a team isn’t about winning, especially when you lose. Probably it’s about getting an autograph from a future big leaguer. Keeping your eyes peeled for plane crashes. Playing under the midnight sun. Winning free loot.

Or maybe it’s about mascots. If I could make one teensy suggestion to my future team, the Bucs, it would be to ditch the parrot. I’m going to need a mascot who’s committed to giving 110 percent to the game. The way I am.

-Sherry Simpson teaches creative writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is the author of The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska, and The Way Winter Comes: Alaska Stories, both published by Sasquatch Books.

Price of life? For Dennis Mattingly, $127,000

BETH BRAGG

The topic of conversation was Dennis Mattingly’s terminal disease and the life-extending transplant he may or may not be able to afford, but you never would have guessed the subject was so grim.

Mattingly — the founder and general manager of the Anchorage Bucs baseball team — could have been talking about the stubborn patch of yellow grass in the Mulcahy Stadium outfield, or the merits of barbecue sunflowers seeds, or the star infielder whose work habits didn’t match his hype.

This was no pity party. Just straight, plain talk, delivered in the rough-around-the-edges style favored by blue-collar guys like Mattingly, who call ballparks and bowling alleys their homes away from home.

“So far I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I broke a rib; that ain’t no big deal. I broke my jaw; that ain’t no big deal.”

But the reason behind those broken bones is a very big deal: multiple myeloma, an insidious cancer that makes bones brittle and renders the body’s immune system all but useless.

The expected life span for multiple myeloma patients is five years. Mattingly was diagnosed in 2000, after he broke a rib when sneezing and re-broke it three months later while bowling.

In 2005, a stem-cell transplant extended his expiration date by three years. Now the cancer’s back, and without another transplant, Mattingly might not see another baseball season.

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“I don’t really like to broadcast it,” said Mattingly, who for years has politely rejected timid requests to tell his story. “I’m not looking for sympathy. I’m looking for a cure, and trying to find a way to pay for it all.”

A retired driver for the Teamsters, Mattingly depends on wife Sandy’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance. The policy has a $250,000 cap for transplants, and about $95,000 remains from the 2005 procedure.

Three years later, the price of a transplant is higher. Before Mattingly can even check into a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center facility in Seattle, the Mattinglys must deposit $127,000 to cover the surgery. That’s on top of the $95,000 insurance money.

Sandy, who works at a law firm, is ready to say goodbye to her retirement plans, cash in her mutual funds and buy her husband three more years. Only that nest egg isn’t worth what it was before the economy took a nosedive. And besides, Dennis doesn’t like the idea of leaving his wife destitute, just so he can live a little longer.

So he has agreed to let his family and friends put on some fundraisers in the hope they can raise the necessary $127,000.

“That’s a lot of money to spend to get three more years,” Mattingly said. “We blew $200,000 doing it the first time and now we’ve gotta turn around and blow another $200,000 for another three years?

“I told Sandy, you may live to be a hundred. We can’t spend everything we’ve got trying to save me.

“Of course, she won’t listen to that.”

The clock is ticking, not just on Mattingly’s life, but on the transplant. The hospital needs the deposit by Dec. 3. That’s less than four weeks from now, and fund-raising efforts only started a week ago and are very much in the early stages.

Though there is no guarantee a transplant would be successful, the first one worked — for three years, just as advertised.

The cancer is back. It’s eating away at Mattingly’s jaw, and doctors are constantly vigilant to see where it might show up next. They bombarded Mattingly’s jaw with 15 radiation treatments, and now Mattingly is getting twice-weekly chemotherapy treatments.

Mattingly, 59, says he feels fine, but is often fatigued.

“I used to bowl 40, 60 games a week,” he said. “Now I bowl three games and I’m bushed. If I bowl four, put a fork in me. I’m done.”

Yet he still shows up to work at the Anchorage Bucs office almost every weekday.

Mattingly started the team in 1980, when it was called the Cook Inlet Bucs. He’s the only general manager in team history.

Sometimes it seems like he’s the entire franchise. He mows the outfield lawn, drives the team bus to games in Fairbanks, figures out flight schedules for the players who arrive each summer from all over the country to play in the Alaska Baseball League. Before the cancer returned, he pitched batting practice. Before the Bucs had a clubhouse, he did the team laundry.

“He’s down there at 4 in the morning watering the lawn. It’s amazing what the man has done,” Bucs board president AnnaBell Stevens said. “I really don’t know if the club could exist without him.”

With any luck at all, a transplant would mean we won’t find out anytime soon.

Which brings us back to all that money Mattingly needs to get another shot at another three years.

Two events — a spaghetti feed and a bowling benefit — are scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 22-23, but the prospects of those events raising $127,000 seem daunting.

Maybe some former Bucs who went on to draw a Major League paycheck — Jeff Kent, Geoff Jenkins, Wally Joyner, Jeff Francis and many others — will get wind of Mattingly’s plight and help out their old GM. Maybe Nolan Ryan — who sent two sons to play for the Bucs — can work something out through his foundation.

In lieu of that kind of miracle, though, maybe help will come from baseball fans — from anyone who has watched their kid scramble under the Mulcahy bleachers for a foul ball, or taken in a Fourth of July fireworks display after a Bucs doubleheader, or enjoyed a cold beer and a crisply turned double play on a long June night.

If everyone who’s ever gone to a Bucs game pitched in the price of a general admission ticket, we could put down a deposit on Dennis Mattingly’s life.

“I want to live. I want to be around,” Mattingly said. “But at some point you have to say whoa. I don’t want to put my wife in the poorhouse in the process. Dad-gummit, I’m trying to be a realist here.”

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How to help the Mattinglys

A spaghetti feed to benefit Anchorage Bucs general manager Dennis Mattingly is planned for Saturday, Nov. 22, at Lake Otis Elementary School. A bowling benefit is the next day at Center Bowl. For more details, call the Bucs office at 561-2827.

Donations can be made at Alaska USA Federal Credit Union, account number 1425535 (MA).

Take Me Out to The Ballgame- Alaska Traveler
Written by Sherry Simpson
November 2008

It was the bottom of the first inning by the time we found the entrance to Mulcahy Baseball Stadium in Anchorage.

We’re late,” I told my husband.

“That just means we missed everyone mumbling their way through the Star-Spangled Banner,” Scott said.

“But that’s what I came for,” I said. Little things count when you’re auditioning a sports team. Can your fellow fans carry a tune? Do the players have fire in their bellies? Is it from a passion to win or from the hot dogs? Speaking of which, what kind of snacks do they sell?

I’m not much of a sports fan, but the older I get, the more I need a team. I never had a team growing up in Juneau. Not only did Alaska lack teams, but television arrived on tape and two weeks late. My childhood was one long news embargo designed to keep my father from accidentally learning the outcome of any game before he could see it on TV.

Our families have long since outsourced their loyalties to Seattle’s Mariners and Seahawks. Scott and I aren’t much for sports, but we do have one team: The Canterbury Crusaders of Christchurch, New Zealand. The Crusaders won the only professional sports event I’ve ever attended, a rugby game during which the action on the field competed with the action in the stands. This is not surprising when fans arrive with 12-packs of beer tucked under each arm. I don’t understand the first thing about rugby, but it’s a fantastically entertaining sport, despite the fact that my team plays 6,800 miles away and I’ve yet to attend a second game.

This year I thought I’d hold auditions for a new team, an Alaska team. Other people have teams so they’ll have some place specific to channel overwhelming feelings of futility, hostility or despair by hating incompetent coaches, flawed heroes and corrupt owners, interrupted briefly by moments of transcendent joy that bear absolutely no relationship to their worthiness as fans, but for which they’ll happily take all credit.

We decided to audition the Anchorage Bucs, one of six teams in the Alaska Baseball League, which fields top collegiate players from across the United States. Alaskans have been playing organized baseball for more than a hundred years in mining camps, villages and towns, possibly because there’s nothing more cool than playing at midnight on the solstice. Since the 1960s, almost 400 ABL players have entered the majors, including Randy Johnson, Mark McGwire, Dave Winfield and Tom Seaver. (I looked that up.)

I also looked up footage from a 2003 Bucs vs. Fairbanks Goldpanners game during which a Cessna Skywagon crashed into the left-field fence. Amazingly, only two of the four passengers received minor-ish injuries. Not so the Bucs—the game resumed 47 minutes later (Goldpanners 10, Bucs 2).

The day we chose to attend a game was Fan Appreciation Day at Mulcahy Stadium, and admission was free. About three hundred people were there being appreciated. True fans brought comfy bucket seats from which they tracked stats and cheered players by name. I gave it a try.

“C’mon … dude,” I yelled. “Batter, batter, batter.”

Scott looked at me curiously. “Do you even know how read the scoreboard?”

“Yes,” I lied.

People from United Way wandered through distributing key chains, plastic water bottles, yo-yos, and T-shirts. Wondering why I didn’t get a water bottle occupied me for the third and fourth innings. The cheerful hijinks of Beekmin the mascot might have vanquished my disappointment, but no giant parrot appeared.

“Where’s Beekmin?” I asked.

“Parrots don’t like to work in the cold,” Scott said. It had yet to break 60, making me one of the few people in America wearing fleece to a baseball game that day.

Watching baseball was a lot like watching television—I needed someone to pay attention to the game while I did other things. Bucs fans were interesting people—little old ladies in matching hats, families that had biked to the game, a man who helped me interpret the game by yelling things like, “That’s trouble, that’s trouble.”

My neighbor’s nachos had attracted my interest when the stadium made a collective “Oooh” sound. I looked up to see a batter limping around.

“What happened?” I asked.

“The batter fouled the ball off his own foot,” Scott said. “Walk it off. That’s what it’s all about. Sometimes you got to man up and walk it off.” His voice dropped. “Unless your wife is there, in which case she’ll yell at you.”

I was noting down this inspirational speech when Scott asked, “Is this going to be another one of those ‘make-fun-of-my-husband’ columns?”

“Let’s see how it goes,” I said.

Suddenly it was top of the fourth, 1-0 Miners.

“When nothing happens, baseball goes pretty fast,” I mentioned.

“It’s good to get those runs out of the way early,” Scott agreed.

Nothing much continued happening for a few innings.

“Was that a sacrifice bunt?” I’d ask.

“Yes.”

“Was that a ball?”

“No, when the umpire points it’s a strike.”

“Did they have onion rings at the food stand?”

“I didn’t notice.”

“What happened?”

“There was a kerfuffle.”

“What happened that time?”

“He tried to steal third and got thrown out.”

“Don’t they have cheerleaders?”

“No.”

“What time does the plane crash happen?” I asked.

By the sixth inning, we’d scored but still lagged 1-3. Also, the girl selling 50-50 tickets hadn’t returned, and I still hadn’t won any drawings for gift certificates. We ate nachos with an alarmingly colored, cheese-like sauce. Three boys raced the bases between innings, but it wasn’t clear whether they were being rewarded or punished. Two Mat-Su players clocking their pitcher’s ball speed let a kid play with the radar gun. The announcer announced that it was someone’s birthday, and those nice United Way people delivered a cake to a true fan, who shared it with everyone around her. It was fun being a fan.

In the seventh our pitcher threw two consecutive strikeouts. Apparently we’d scored another run some time. Things were looking up, until they weren’t. Top of the eighth, the score was 4-2. Then 5-2. In the ninth, the Miners scored. I looked away, and bam, another run.

“We’re going to lose, aren’t we?” I asked Scott.

“Of course we are. We’re here. We are death to sports.”

I remembered then why I don’t have a team. It’s because they always lose, except for the Crusaders, who never once failed me during the one game I’d seen.

The Bucs lost. But I discovered that having a team isn’t about winning, especially when you lose. Probably it’s about getting an autograph from a future big leaguer. Keeping your eyes peeled for plane crashes. Playing under the midnight sun. Winning free loot.

Or maybe it’s about mascots. If I could make one teensy suggestion to my future team, the Bucs, it would be to ditch the parrot. I’m going to need a mascot who’s committed to giving 110 percent to the game. The way I am.

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-Sherry Simpson teaches creative writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage and is the author of The Accidental Explorer: Wayfinding in Alaska, and The Way Winter Comes: Alaska Stories, both published by Sasquatch Books.

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GO:
Among the most popular games in the Alaska Baseball League are the traditional Midnight Sun and Fourth of July games. The Alaska Baseball League site includes information about all of the league’s teams and season schedules, as well as historical photos, statistics, archived news articles, streaming audio, and more. See www.alaskabaseballleague.org. For updates on a documentary in progress about Alaska baseball, see http://touchingthegame.com. For more about the Anchorage Bucs, including footage of the 2003 plane crash, see www.anchoragebucs.com.

Parque picks college over pro ball (for now)
Pacifica Tribune Staff
Article Launched: 09/18/2008 02:38:27 PM PDT

Jimmy Parque, one of the best collegiate baseball players in Northern California, has chosen education for now over an offer to play professional baseball.

Parque, who grew up in Pacifica playing Little League baseball, and ultimately was a star player on two Serra High School championship teams, was selected in the 40th round of this year’s Major League Baseball draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“This was a dream come true for Jimmy,” said his dad, Jim Parque, himself a former athlete at Terra Nova. “However, he decided to take a full scholarship to St. John’s University in New York. It’s an excellent baseball school in the Big East Conference.”

Parque, who completed two years at Skyline College playing baseball, will most likely

be drafted again next year. At Skyline College, Parque became a two-time junior college All-American, and the first baseball player to carry that honor from Skyline.
This summer the 19-year-old Parque played baseball for the Anchorage Bucs in Alaska. The team plays in one of the top college summer leagues in the country.

Parque follows in the footsteps of another Pacifican in playing baseball at St. John’s. Terra Nova graduate Will Vogl attended the college and later played pro ball in the New York Mets farm system.

Other prominent professionals attending St. John’s were New York Mets pitcher John Franco, San Francisco Warriors’ Chris Mullins and Rich Aurilla of the San Francisco Giants.

Parque graduated from Serra in 2006. He played baseball and football four years. The 2004 and 2006 baseball teams won the WCAL championship. In football, he played on the varsity team three years, making All-League and All-San Mateo County.

His junior year at Serra he was selected to the North-South baseball team which played against a Southern California team. He was named the most valuable player for the North team. In his senior year he was Serra’s MVP. He made All-Central Coast Section, All-Metro and second team All-State.

As the

baseball team’s MVP, his named was placed on an athletic blanket which dons the wall of the Serra gym. He joins Serra graduates Barry Bonds and Greg Jefferies as top athletes for this award.
Following his senior year he was chosen to represent California at the Senior Sun Belt Classic at the University of Oklahoma. He still found time to play for his hometown Joe DiMaggio team.

In six years of playing Joe DiMaggio baseball he is the only two-time DiMaggio World Series MVP. He earned the award playing for the 2004 and 2006 Pacifica title teams. He also won a third championship in 2007 playing with San Bruno.

A feat he accomplished twice is hitting two grand slam home runs in one game. The first came in 2007 for the DiMaggio team and again in 2008 with Skyline College.

Championship bloods runs in the Parque family. Parque’s dad, Jim, played on the last Terra Nova Central Coast Section baseball championship team (1980) and was named the team’s MVP. His name is also etched on a MVP blanket which hangs in the Terra Nova gym.

Tribe ink Taiwanese hurler Lee
Right-hander projected as third- or fourth-round Draft pick
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

CLEVELAND — Things have been going so well with one pitcher named Lee that the Indians have brought another into the fold.
And they had to go all the way to Taiwan to get him.

The Tribe once again dipped into the international waters and signed Taiwanese right-hander Chen-Chang Lee to a Minor League deal Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not announced.

A candidate for next spring’s World Baseball Classic, Lee will report to the Tribe’s fall instructional league in Goodyear, Ariz., this week, and he’ll likely begin his professional career at Class A Kinston next season.

Lee, 21, recently finished his junior year at Taipei Physical Education College and was a member of Taiwan’s national team that participated in the Beijing Olympic Games, going 0-1 with 2.00 ERA and 11 strikeouts in nine innings.

“We’ve known him since he was 16,” Indians assistant general manager of scouting operations John Mirabelli said. “We tried to sign him when he was 16, and he decided to go to college. It paid off big time for him. He made his mark internationally.”

The 5-foot-7, 176-pound Lee made a name for himself in his native land when he held Cuba to a run on two hits over eight innings in a victory at the 2006 World University Baseball Championships. He also pitched in the Alaska Baseball League, which includes college players from around the world, in 2007.

With his sidearm delivery, Lee throws a sinker, slider and split-finger. His fastball reportedly reaches up to 94 mph.

Because of his delivery style, Lee probably profiles best as a reliever, Mirabelli said.

“With him using that arm slot, it’s hard to project a lot of upside as a starter,” Mirabelli said. “I think his future is clearly in the bullpen.”

Mirabelli projected that Lee, if eligible for the Draft, would have been a third- or fourth-round pick, based on his college experience and raw stuff. The Indians feel he can rise quickly through their Minor League system, especially considering he’ll likely work in relief.

Lee, who was given a tour of Progressive Field on Tuesday, was sought after by several teams, including clubs in Japan. Mirabelli said Lee could have made twice as much money signing with a Japanese team, but he wanted to come here.

“It’s a better opportunity to play in the States,” Lee said through an interpreter. “That’s why I wanted to come to America.”

Mirabelli confirmed three other international signings by the Tribe: third baseman Giovanny Urshella from Columbia, shortstop Jose Ozoria from the Dominican Republic and catcher Alex Monsalve from Venezuela. All three players are 16 years old, Mirabelli said.

Anthony Castrovince is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.