It has been almost 39 years since John Dye has donned a University of Oregon uniform.
Thirty-nine long years since he last laced up his cleats and pulled the catcher’s mask on, sitting behind home plate while his pitcher dug his toe against the rubber.
Now, Dye is a 60-year-old insurance and investments consultant, and the only thing he can do is remember what it was like. But even that isn’t so bad, considering the fact that baseball has remained constant through the years.
“Some things have changed,” Dye says. “When I played there was a wooden bat, now they have metal bats. But the game itself stays consistently the same in a lot of ways. It’s an intricate game. It’s a sport where no one can bully you around. It’s made for me because you always have a chance and you can gut it out. Sometimes you beat people on pure hustle. That’s what I love about baseball.”
And then there are the memories.
There was that one time, when he was a 15-year-old junior at Parkrose High School in Portland, when his dad told him to try to catch batting practice for the Triple-A Portland Beavers. Dye wasn’t sure he could, but after the coach said yes, he was there every home game, dressed in an over-sized uniform so big he could barely tuck all the loose fabric in his pants.
But he soon grew to fit the uniform better, and the highlight of his time as batting practice catcher was getting to warm up Satchel Paige, the Hall of Fame Negro League and Major League Baseball pitcher.
Or there was that time, after his Ducks career from 1966-70, when he played on a semi-pro baseball team and traveled to Alaska, where his team started a double-header at midnight – with no lights. There was so much light in the air because of how far north they were, that ball games could be played at any time of the day. Sounds like heaven.
The list of stories and funny instances goes on for miles, but the newest story picks up this summer with Dye taking my roommate and me to a Eugene Emeralds game. It was a Sunday afternoon game in early August, and there couldn’t have been a better day for a baseball game. There wasn’t a cloud in sight, and the smell of a warm day mixed with the aroma of hot dogs and beer.
We just sat in the stands, taking in the game, while Dye occasionally tossed out his two-cents about what he thought of the umpire. It was exactly what one expects when going to the ballpark.
But it wasn’t the game that was so memorable. It was the company that made the moment. Dye’s love for the game is so apparent that anyone who talks to him can’t help but be drawn in to the mystique of America’s pastime. That afternoon, Dye talked about baseball in Eugene back in the late ’60s, his old coach Don Kirsch, and about the type of player he was.
“Defensively, I could play the game pretty well,” Dye says. “I had a good arm. But I wasn’t the typical type of catcher that (scouts) were looking for back in that era. They were looking for a guy who could hit the long ball. I maybe hit one home run in my years at Oregon, and that might have even been during summer ball, so that might not count. I never got the ball up; I was a line-drive hitter that hit them into the gaps.”
And even though he never made it into professional baseball, Dye says that just playing at the University of Oregon with some great players was enough.
“I guess playing against some of the players, and also the guys I played with was pretty special,” he said. “I think when you’re playing Division I baseball you come in thinking you might have a shot to play some pro ball, and if you don’t get to play pro ball, at least you rubbed elbows with guys who did get there, and you understood what it was like. It’s nice for an old guy to sit back and talk about things like that.”
Now Dye has a chance to relieve the experience all over again, but this time from an alum’s point of view. He said it was disappointing when the University decided to cut baseball in the 1980s; however, he’s glad the sport is back and he can cheer on the Ducks.
“It’s exciting,” Dye said. “They have a great coach who knows a lot about baseball, and has a lot of energy. He has a lot of commitment to the program, and I think he recognizes a lot about the history of the program and the people who played ball at the University of Oregon before, and how they care about the direction of the program. Horton saw the history there, and saw how much passion the players have for the game.”
Dye’s advice for the new set of Ducks is to keep that passion and tradition alive.
“Baseball is an interesting game because it’s a game based on complete failure,” he says. “You’re a freaking hero if you get one hit out of every three times at bat. You’re a hero, and you failed two out of three times. That takes a unique attitude right there. It’s unusual that way. You have to overcome repeated failures to succeed. It really teaches a lot of discipline and perseverance. You have to love the game.”
Dye’s story is unique. It’s a story that is distinctly Oregonian, because nowhere else can you find such passion for a sport that is usually synonymous with sun and warm weather – not rain and umbrellas. But no one here cares, especially not here in Eugene, and especially not this weekend. Not on opening day 2009.
And John Dye will just be another face in the crowd when the Ducks throw out the first pitch today against Fresno State. He’ll witness the moment, like he has so many others, and think back to when he was a teenager, with a jersey too big, playing the game of baseball.
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