Lost amidst the hoopla of March Madness, the stretch run of a wild NBA season and Major League Baseball’s Opening Day was another opening day that didn’t mean much to Eugene baseball fans.
At least not yet.
The Pacific-10 Conference baseball season started recently, with its final nine-team schedule. A year from now, George Horton’s first Oregon squad will be opening the Ducks’ first Pac-10 slate in 28 years.
While finally fielding a team at Oregon is satisfying enough, the full benefit for fans won’t be felt until a few years down the road. Not only will the team be more competitive (theoretically), but the better players will be starting to move through the minor-league system and hopefully cracking major league rosters.
Following local players, whether from a school or minor league team, as they work their way up to professional stardom is one of the joys of being a fan. Oregon basketball fans are experiencing that right now, with Aaron Brooks, Fred Jones, the Lukes and, if their plans work out, Malik Hairston, Maarty Leunen and Bryce Taylor.
Any football fan, from Oregon or otherwise, knows about Joey Harrington. Watching guys like Maurice Morris, Samie Parker, Haloti Ngata and Kellen Clemens work to make an impact in the NFL has been conversation fodder for years. This year, Duck fans are drooling over where Jonathan Stewart and Dennis Dixon are going.
I remember when the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes were created 11 years ago. There was excitement about the team, sure, but there wasn’t a history. Once players like Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser and Noah Lowry made the majors, the Mid-Willamette Valley had players of its own to follow. The Volcanoes could market their franchise as the breeding ground for future Major Leaguers all they wanted, but until it actually happened, there was no one to hang their hat on. The Volcanoes, like the Eugene Emeralds, are minor league clubs affiliated with the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, respectively.
Knowing that the next game you go to could have a future All-Star like Nathan – that guy you saw pitch back in 1997- gives fans a stronger connection to the team.
The same holds true in college baseball. While I’ve followed OSU baseball for most of the past decade, it wasn’t until the past three or four years that I’ve had much of an interest in how individual players do once they leave Corvallis. Beaver fans have, among others, Jacoby Ellsbury, Dallas Buck, Cole Gillespie and Mitch Canham, who played for the Emeralds last summer, to keep track of.
Oregon fans used to have guys like Don Reynolds, Dave Roberts and Joe Gordon. Now, they’ll possibly have Darrell Hunters and Justin LaTempas to follow through the minors.
That pride Oregon State fans felt when Ellsbury helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series? Duck fans now have a realistic chance of experiencing the same emotions.
With Horton holding the reigns, you know it’s just a matter of time before his system starts pumping out winning teams and professional players.
Get ready, Duck fans. Opening Day is less than a year away.
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