August 14- Baltimore Orioles

I don’t know how to start this post, so I’m just going to get into it. I’m very lucky and very happy to be alive and I'm sorry for the families who were affected by the shooting at the Clackamas Town Center Mall. I know the heading date doesn't correspond, but the real time does. Please forgive that error.

Each of my 350 New Era Caps tells a specific story, but only a small handful of them have become synonymous with specific life-changing moments. Prior to today I had only worn this cap once on December 12, 2012, even though I bought it from the Lids in Eugene, Oregon about eight or nine months prior. I really don’t have a specific reason as the why I never wore it. To be honest, when you have as many caps as I do, you tend to forget about wearing a lot of them. This cap in particular carries the story of one of the most intense, depressing days of my life, and I couldn’t be happier to still be able to tell the tale. As I look back on the way my day started, I have to attribute this accessory decision to Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones.

I was living at my parents’ house in Portland, Oregon at the time since my final term at the University of Oregon didn’t start until the first week of January. Rather than be bored and jobless after the baseball season had ended, I went back to work at Just Sports (@JustSportsPDX) at the Clackamas Town Center Mall in southeastern Portland to help out my friend/boss Jason Cobb (@JasonMCobb) and to put some extra cash into my pocket. This day in particular I was set to work the closing shift of the higher-volume store downstairs as Jason used it as one of his days off and I always preferred to close rather than open since I’m usually livelier in the evening. This day in particular was especially gloomy and cold, but thankfully not raining. My dog Tuaca, a Rottweiler, woke me up around 9:30 AM by jumping on the bed to lick my face, just like she did every morning before the last. My parents had already left for work, but what I remember most is that my mother didn’t come into my room to wake me up as she likes to do around 7 AM, well before I have any desire to see the light of day. With dog slobber running down my face I made my way to the bathroom to wash up before I headed into the kitchen to destroy a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It was tasty.

I still had plenty of time to get ready as the drive to the mall was only about 40 minutes away (holiday traffic) so I did my usual Twittering. At this time I was still posting photos from my time in the MLB Fan Cave and my tour across the country to my Instagram account and for some reason I had decided to chat about when Jones and then-Oriole Robert Andino had dropped in to shoot the “Put Some Birds on it” sketch. Andino didn’t say much, but Jones was certainly the life of the party, all smiles and willing to do whatever. Due to the fact that nobody in the Fan Cave was an Orioles fan I opted to rock the home style cap along with a Nike shirt that my friend Samuel had designed for the occasion. Besides my apparel, Jones had taken a shine to me because of my MLB tattoos, most notably the Billy Ripken homage and my “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” piece. When the time came for Jones, Andino and the production crew to hit the streets to continue filming, Jones told me to come along too.

I didn’t say or do much while we were out and about except snap pictures and occasionally swap jokes, but just being there and being wanted to be there was really all the prize unto itself. Jones and Andino made me feel appreciated, even if I wasn’t an Orioles fan. I think deep down they both knew that I didn’t take all of the glitz and glamour serious, and that I just wanted to have fun. So, when I posted the photos of before…

and after…

 And tagged him in them, we had a bit to talk about seven months removed from that day. To give clarification, the top photo was from the two of them walking the streets with the big Orioles logo and the bottom one was a photo I personally wanted to send to my friend Scott Landis (@ScottCLandis), an actual Orioles fan, for his birthday that was a month away at the time. Not too long after I posted them Jones hit me up, started following on Twitter and we gabbed for a bit about Andino going to Seattle to play for the Mariners. After we wrapped things up I hit the shower, got dressed and picked out my cap.

Despite the number of Orioles caps I own I had yet to dedicate any of my markings from the current caps to anyone except Andino, which I’ll get into in a later post. With the 2012 to present road cap still available I marked it up with the two guys who I knew would be superstars in Baltimore when their careers came to an end..

 #10- Adam Jones

#13- Manny Machado

In retrospect I realize how amusing it is for me of all people to give Machado this accolade, especially after all the guff I got from Orioles fans all season after I said Josh Donaldson was better, but none of that means that I don’t think Machado is going to be a star. He most definitely is.

This majority of this  portion I wrote around 2:00 AM on December 13, 2012. I have added a few pieces since.

I arrived about 15 minutes early and checked my online activity on my phone at the Starbucks at the southwestern side of the mall, as that was the best spot for me to get internet access. Before I left my house I had posted (above) my 4-step New Era photo of me taking off the stickers, creasing the bill and marking the hat with jersey numbers for one of my newer Orioles hats. I had gotten a few likes, which I was satisfied with and headed in a little early to see if any new freight had come in. There had, but only about 4 new boxes, nothing terrible. I clocked in and dove in to try and get caught up on the previous freight. We had gotten in a load of NFL, Oregon Ducks and NBA jersey restock as well as a lot of popular sweatshirts. My co-assistant manager Clayton and I stuck to the freight whilst the other employees: Adam, Connor, Justin and Kevin helped the customers. Every now-and-then I popped out onto the floor to help someone, but for the most part I stuck to getting the product out. I had quickly knocked out one of the boxes. Since a lot of the product required sensor tags, I first put out all of the stuff that didn’t need them: Portland Timbers gear. We had about 5 adult and youth jersey to throw on our 50% off rounder so I finessed them in, along with about 7 hooded sweatshirts. I walked back to grab the last two shirts when I heard a loud bang.

I have heard in moments like this that time stands still. A few of the customers around me and I exchanged glances and all had puzzled looks. Somewhere in a matter of a fraction of a second we all came to the conclusion, mentally at least, that the sound was probably a large box that had fallen to the ground and made the commotion. As I turn to hang up the last two shirts it started… BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!!! Having fired off an array of hand guns, assault rifles and sniper ripples with my stepfather, I knew what I was hearing. Everyone in the store, roughly 12 people including myself, had stopped in their tracks. I on the other hand sprinted to the door to close and lock them. I remember yelling, “Get out!” to everyone as I ran, but still no one moved. I saw dozens of people running eastward as I got to the door and told and grabbed as many people as I could into the store before no one else was within my grasp. I closed the doors, hit the deck and locked the massive glass doors as quickly as I could. One kid in particular was standing next to me doing nothing. I yelled, “Get the fuck to the back of the store!” He froze. I then pushed and yelled at everyone else to go out the back door. Clayton and the rest of my co-workers to notice and began rushing everyone out. I had never been in a situation like this before, by a sense of leadership overcame me. As soon as I saw everyone clear out the back I quickly closed the door completely and ducked behind the sales counter, waiting to see if anyone would walk by. After a few moments I walked toward the front to see if there was anyone else out there. Sure enough there were patrons casually walking through the mall on their cell phones. I unlocked one of the doors and called for them to come in. Once they cleared the threshold I locked it again, explained what had happened and got them out. I then moved back to the counter area and got on twitter to post that there had been a shooting. I’m still not sure why, but I momentarily went back about my business as the phone rang from other stores in our company looking for product. I told them all that there had been a shooting and their attitude quickly changed, making sure I was OK. I said yes, asked what they were looking for and gave them an answer. In between calls I continued to tweet what I was seeing.

Clayton and Adam had started texting me, asking if I was still inside. I told them yes and that I was waiting. At this time they informed that the police had arrived and surrounded the building. When I read that I knew I couldn’t just walk out into safety. Looking the way I do, with my beard and all, I would be greeted by local law enforcement with all guns on me, ready to be taken into custody to be questioned. Obviously I had no involvement, but they don’t know that. I continued to stay behind the counter and kept tweeting. For some reason I took to trying to be a bit more humorous for a few. I remembered reading about Brett Lawrie being in a mall when a shooting had broken out and so I sent out a tweet to the tune of, “I feel a lot like Brett Lawrie right now.” After that I sent, “I'm glad I have shoes on. Last thing I need is broken glass and bare feet like John MacLaine,” an obvious Die Hard reference. Almost immediately after that tweet SWAT had taken siege. I saw three teams of three stroll by the front of the store, all armed with AR-15 rifles and full body gear. After they passed I hit the floor and crept my way across to the front to snap some photos. 

 I finally saw a sheriff’s deputy across the way and signaled to him that I was trapped inside. He motioned for me to get back, so I did. Ben Lacy, a producer at KGW in Portland, and fellow Oregon alum, hit me up on Twitter and asked if they could do a live interview. I sent him a DM with my number and said yes. Five minutes later I was live on the air, taking the reporter step by step as to what had happened. A few minutes in, the police had arrived at the door and motioned for me. The glass isn’t soundproof, so they told me to unlock the door and be ready to stay low and move out. I had forgotten my Galaxy Note and jacket, but didn’t care. I wanted to get out. As soon as I got the green light, I cleared out. I looked back and noticed that there were six totally officers, all armed to the teeth with .45s, shotguns and rifles. I booked a sharp right and headed out.

Now, at the time when I made my exit I thought I had an officer tailing behind me as an escort. I didn’t. As soon as I cleared the threshold of the door I was “greeted” by five officers with shotguns and assault rifles all pointed at me.

“Get your hands up!” I heard someone yell.

I complied.

“Get on your knees and drop the phone!” I heard.

I did

“Slowly lay down and cross your legs!”

As soon as I did I felt my Orioles hat slip down over my face, but I remained motionless. The last thing I wanted was a bullet entering any part of my body. All I could think about was the first two seasons of the TV show “The Wire” that I had been going through whenever I had free time. More than likely you can chalk that up to the fact that the show takes place in Baltimore and I happened to be wearing an Orioles cap. One of the deputies came around and slapped handcuffs on me, pulled me up and walked me to the left for questioning. I stood up straight and answered everything he asked: Name, business at the mall, etc. He then got on his intercom and asked for a description of the suspect, which luckily I didn’t fit. As I stood there shivering in khaki and pants and a polo shirt in the cold more people began exiting… all of which glared at me as they passed as if I was the shooter. I didn’t let it bother me. I turned my head to the left to get a look at the deputy and listen in on the responses he was getting. He was almost a foot shorter than me with short grey hair and an amazing salt and pepper mustache and glasses. He then slipped his business card into my pocket and told me to call if I had any information to give as he unlocked the steel bracelets. He pointed me toward the left of the parking lot and told me to get out that way. I did what he asked and walked away… for a bit. Around this time I was getting texts and calls from a lot of people making sure I was safe. Since my Note was still inside the store I couldn’t get on Twitter to let everyone know I had made it out. I texted everyone I knew who had Twitter to let them know and to let others know I was fine. Unfortunately, most of the people that I knew who had large followings on Twitter are all on the East Coast. Not until the end of the night did it dawn on me that they had no idea what was going on. Therefore, I got a lot of confused texts back. My friend Kat in Boston, who works for NECN, called me up; made sure I was doing fine and asked if I would do an interview.

Kat and I went to the University of Oregon together and I crashed at her place in Boston during my second trip there over the summer during my MLB stadium tour. She is also one of the few reporters to be on the scene as the bomb went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I said I’d be more than happy to. As we chatted on the phone I noticed more people leaving the mall… I then hatched a plan. I really wanted my Note back so I could get back on Twitter to give updates so I asked the deputy at the door if he could escort me back to the store so I could lock it up, which is actually true. He said yes and took me back. About halfway there he asked another deputy, the one who handcuffed and questioned me, to take me the rest of the way. He jokingly said yes and followed me in. I quickly ran in and grabbed my jacket, cigarettes, Note and locked the door on my way out. It was during this time that I noticed tables, chairs and product from stores strewn about the walkway of the mall.

It was a rather eerie feeling, but for some reason I was still calm. I half sprinted back to the original doorway I had exited the mall and passed by a girl crying hysterically and talking to two officers as she had witnessed the shooting. I didn’t gather much as I wanted to get back outside. Once again, as I cleared the door way the same officer was about to yell at me to get down, but realized I was the same guy as before. A slight moment passed and he told me to be on my way. I called Kat back and did the interview with one of their reports and walked across the road where I knew there was a Starbucks with Wi-Fi. I sat down and typed away. Giving updates on Facebook and Twitter what I knew, and what I had overheard. It also gave me time to call my parents and assure everyone that I was safe.

Over the next hour or so I did interviews with KATU in Portland, NECN live in air, the Jeff Sammut Show (@JeffSammut590) in Toronto and even Good Morning America. I posted photos and got hit up by FOX and CNN for permission to run the photos and do more interviews. It was a weird feeling. Despite going to the U of O for journalism, I had always wanted to do sports. This was way more important and I gave my clearance on everything as it is my responsibility to relay the information.

Around 5:45 PM PST, over two hours since the shooting had started; I finally got in my car and headed home. Mentally I was burnt out and just wanted to get back into the familiar. Traffic was pretty ridiculous and I called ahead to my mom to let her know. With nothing but the steering in my hands and my thoughts, my brain drifted back to when I was 14-years-old, living in Bakersfield, California. (This part of the story I have never told anyone)

I can’t really remember the date, but I do remember it was spring. I was with a few of my friends at his parents’ house, a few blocks from Centennial High School where we all attended. We had been sitting around, watching TV and gabbing about usual high schooler things. Around 4:30 his older brother walked into the house and sat down with us. As he sat down he pulled out a bad of marijuana and his .45 from the waistband of the back of his pants. What I didn’t know and everyone else did was that he was a drug dealer. At that time I really didn’t like guns too much so I sat away from everyone else as they talked about it and wanted to see it. After about five minutes of that nonsense I had to pee so I got up and went down the hall and around a left turn corner to go. I finished, washed my hands and walked out. As I was about to bank right back into their living room the gun fired. I didn’t realize it at first until I turned my head to the right and noticed the gun pointing at my face. I then turned me head quickly left and noticed a bullet hole in the wall. The bullet had whizzed about 7 inches from my face and by the grace of God had missed. Everyone in the living room froze, except for my friend’s brother who quickly snatched the gun out of the hand of the kid who had fired it. Despite the clip being out of the gun, my friend’s brother forgot to take the one in the chamber out before he handed it off to let the younglings play with it. The last thing I remember was yelling at everyone, crying and running home. I didn’t tell my parents and I stopped talking to the kid who had pulled the trigger for years. That, realistically, is the closest I had ever come to dying as a result of gun-related means.

Throughout my day I had been calm and collective. The shooting at the mall took place about 200 yards away from me, yet I still went into protective mode over everyone else. Perhaps the trauma from my youth made me less scared? I’ll never really know. After seeing my parents, having dinner with them and watching “North by Northwest” with them, the gravity of today’s events didn’t hit me until they went to bed.

What happened when I was a kid was in isolated incident, but what happened today took place on a much larger scale. Three people are dead, including the shooter. Thousands of people will be affected by this for the rest of their lives. As terrible as things got, I am forever grateful that I was there to have a clear head and to help people get to safety. Hero is a word I’ve heard a few times since. Thrown around casually as we do with our sports icons, but I certainly don’t feel like one. I just did what needed to be done. I can only hope that others do the same in a similar situation.

Back to today

Over the last year I have spoken to a few people about it, but for the most part I don’t really bring it up unless somebody else does. In the time shortly after that night our country was dealt with another vicious blow as 26 kids and a teacher were gunned down in a similar fashion at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Dealing with the death of adults via shooting has been something I’ve been able to deal with; however, the death of kids, in any fashion, is an unfortunate blight that is truly hard to shake. The one thing from that day that I haven’t been able to shake is the information that came to light when my co-worker/friend Adam Weaver and I went back to work to clean up the store right before the mall re-opened their doors, we had in fact met the shooter a few days prior.

Adam was the one who had helped and rung him up for a Pittsburgh Pirates Cooperstown Collection New Era Cap, but the three us, along with his friend he had with him, all chatted it out for a bit afterward. Nothing from that moment would have indicated that he would come back and do the horrible thing that he did. But then again, what really are the warning signs for these kinds of things? I’m not going to spin this into a philosophical piece, but I do want to conclude by saying that every person I’ve met in my life, even for just five seconds, has some bearing on my shaping of who I am today. The same can really be said for all of us. Over the last year I had my ups and downs, but the most significant of downs came as my time in the Fan Cave came to an end and the way my relationships with those I worked with crumbled in the months to follow. Lindsay Guentzel, Ricky Mast and Shaun Kippins were the only three from my time to contact me after the shooting and Mike O’Hara and Ryan Wagner from the first season were on top of things with me as the information unfolded. As for the rest, nothing.

A lot of my turmoil between the rest of the group I had covered back on my July 16th post about the National League All-Star cap and how things went sour during the 2012 All-Star Game. One thing I may have left out in that was how, even in my later apologies, I had tried to get a hold of Ricardo Marquez as soon as I got home that night, but didn’t receive a reply. I’m not trying to make him look like a jerk, nor anybody else, but in the weeks that followed the shooting I really felt wrongfully neglected by the group even though I was doing my damndest to patch things up. To each their own, I suppose.

What I want to leave you all with is some insight. It’s very unhealthy to bottle things up. This is something I’ve learned and continue to learn when I write these blog posts. Not everyone will be your friend, but it’s almost important to put forth a good effort and let others know that you’ll be there for them. Who knows what kind of tragedies can be prevented down the road, but even if they can’t be prevented, at least you’ll have a clear conscience on knowing that you did everything you could. This could go for anyone really. It doesn’t matter how big or small or close the person is to you, resolving your issues, helping out others and showing someone that you care goes a lot farther than anyone can think. Not a day goes by that I wish I didn’t do more or could take back all the harsh things that happened between the people I care about and myself. For the rest of my life I’ll be living with these things, and for the rest of my life this hat will be a symbol to remind me of how to make it better.

July 21- Portland Rockies

It’s time to get a little bit old school on y’all. Follow me as we whisk away back to the year 2000. Ok, so it’s not that far back, but it was certainly a life-changing time for me as I had just moved to the Pacific Northwest which I captured so beautifully in my first Portland Beavers post back on March 6^th. It was a harsh reality coming face-to-face with the fact that the only professional baseball team within my proximity happened to be a short season-A club named the Portland Rockies. Portland’s population back in those days hovered in around 530,000 people; however, with Vancouver, Washington to the north (where I lived) there was an added 147,000 people, and another 137,000 people to the south in Oregon’s capital city, Salem. Mix that with all the surrounding towns within a 75-mile circumference and you could probably have over 1 million people. My point with this is that Portland was just too big of a city to be stuck with only a short season-A club, and they did it from 1995-2000.

Now, if you read my previous Beavers post you’d know that the former AAA Beavers were packed up and relocated to Salt Lake City, Utah by then-owner Joe Buzas at the end of the 1993 season. Luckily for Portland there was another team within the state that was having a difficult time drawing crowds and wins who was in the market for relocating themselves. So, at the end of the 1994 season the Bend Rockies, who had only been in existence since the 1992 season, made their way north and set up shop in the desperately-in-need-of-renovation Civic Stadium for the start of the 1995 season.

Had I moved up there prior to their final season I probably would have given a bit more care to the team; however, even in that final year I still made it to 10 games in which they went 4-6 and finished the year with a 32-44 record. For a city of over 500,000 people they were lucky to pull in 1,000 people per game. It was pathetic, especially considering the fact that the stadium is in downtown Portland and pretty easy to get to. Either way, I was one of the few to see the up and coming careers of the likes of Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins, Clint Barmes and Cory Vance before they all moved up and on to bigger and brighter futures. But this post isn’t really about them; it’s about the one year in which a team full of nobodies led by then-manager Jim Eppard did the unthinkable in 1997.

In the team’s third year in Portland, Eppard’s first, the Rockies had two players that would touch the Major Leagues even for just a few games, pitcher Justin Miller and first baseman Todd Sears. Sears’s Major League career would last only 40 games in two years with the Minnesota Twins and the San Diego Padres while Miller’s went seven years with Toronto Blue Jays, Florida Marlins San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and a brief stint in Japan. Both of their minor league careers stretch for more than 11 years each and neither were that big of a factor for the Rockies in 1997; however, both were a part of the team that went 44-32 which was good enough for their first division title as they then went on to win their only Northwest League title. After that, the only bit of success the Rockies found was in their second division title in 1999 under then-manager Alan Cockrell.

This cap, which lasted all six years, is one of the last relics from a team that only exists through records and memorabilia. Like a lot of teams whose name is derived from their Major League affiliation, the Portland Rockies logo was designed in the same styling as the Colorado Rockies, but with a few personal touches. Obviously the “PR” is the same as the “CR,” but the added rose is a tribute to the city which is known as the City of Roses which got its name from the perfect climate to grow roses as displayed in the International Rose Test Garden, one of the city’s most famous attractions. The other added feature is the mountain backdrop which could be said is Mount Hood, which can easily be seen from Civic Stadium; however, it is the same pattern which has been featured in the Rockies logo since their inaugural season in 1993. The thing that is most interesting about the use of the mountain is that the Colorado Rockies have only used this graphic on their twice in the team’s history. The first came in 1999 on their Turn Ahead the Clock jerseys, which were used for one game on August 18^th, which the second came this season with the team’s Diamond Era batting practice cap. The only time any team used the graphic before this came before the Colorado Rockies took the field for their first official game. That’s right, the 1992 Bend Rockies. 

Due to the fact that most of the people I listed above had mediocre careers with the Portland Rockies I decided to roll with two guys who actually had profound careers whose talents then translated to the Major League level. The only problem is that I can’t find any record of what jersey number they wore. And while I could assume that the first number they wore in the Majors was in fact their number in the minors, in this case that assumption doesn’t fly as they both played in Portland in 1998.

???- A fourth round draft pick by the Rockies out of Brandon High School in Brandon, Florida in 1997, Chone Figgins had the makings of being a superstar in the Major Leagues. Figgins only played one season in Portland and had a pretty successful season. In 69 games Figgins hit .283 with nine doubles, three triples, one home run, 26 RBI and 25 stolen bases. His three triples led the team and his 25 stolen bases were the second best. Figgins was traded to the Anaheim Angels in 2000 and made his Major League debut on August 25, 2002.

Contrary to popular belief Figgins is not a bust. While his time with the Seattle Mariners (three years) was rather lackluster, the eight years he spent with the Angels were incredibly productive. He made one All-Star Game appearance in his final season in Anaheim in 2009 when he led the league with 101 walks along with his .298 average, 30 doubles and 42 stolen bases. Figgins led the American League in stolen bases in 2005 with 62 and cracked the top-25 in AL MVP voting four times (2004-2005, 2007 and 2009). When Figgins made his debut he wore the #6 all the way through the end of the 2003 season.

???- The other mystery guest was drafted three times, twice by the Mariners in 1995 and 1996 in the lower rounds and then a third time by the Rockies in the 13^th round in 1998 out of the University of South Alabama. 

Juan "Pornstache" Pierre’s first year as a professional came that season in Portland with Figgins, with Pierre having a borderline Hall of Fame first season… for the minors. In 64 games Pierre hit .352 with 93 hits, nine doubles, two triples, 30 RBI, 55 runs scored and a team-leading 38 stolen bases. How the Rockies didn’t win a NWL title that season as well is beyond me.

Pierre only spent two more successful seasons in the minors before getting called up on August 7, 2000 where he finished in sixth place for the National League Rookie of the Year Award batting .310. The following season Pierre would swipe a NL-leading 46 bases and hit .327 in 156 games, but get no love outside of that. Just wrong. Pierre’s Rockies career would only last until the end of the 2002 season as he and pitcher Mike Hampton were traded to the Florida Marlins right before the Winter Meetings. Pierre would end up leading the NL in stolen bases again with 65 while leading the Marlins to their second World Series victory in their 11-year history.

Pierre, somehow, has never made an All-Star team. His two best season came with the Marlins in 2003 and 2004 as he finished in the top-16 in NL MVP voting both of those years behind batting averages of .305 and .326 respectively, a lot of stolen bases and a ton of runs scored. Basically he was the prototypical leadoff hitter of the 2000s.

What’s really interesting about Pierre and Figgins is that they both elected to go with the #6 in their first year(s) in the Majors and then they both changed it to the #9 right afterward. I’d like to think that there is some kind of connection between the two of them to make them do that, but wouldn’t know unless I asked them. Until I get that opportunity, or until a reader has photos of either of them playing in Portland, I’ll have to keep this cap blank and update it accordingly.

March 29- Portland Beavers

The 2013 baseball season is only a few days away, and for some reason it doesn’t feel like it where I am.  Few weeks ago I wrote a post on my history with Portland baseball, and I can assure you that very little has changed to sway my opinion on the matter. Yes, there will be a new team moving in about three miles away from where I’m currently living, but it’s a short season-A club that relocated from Yakima, Washington. This isn’t a knock on the Hillsboro Hops; I’m honestly looking forward to watching them play. It’s just a mere observation in a city that houses two top-tier sports franchises (Trailblazers and Timbers) and yet the best it can do is attract, and hopefully maintain, a short season-A club when the Seattle Mariners reside 185 north of where I’m currently sitting and writing this piece. I think one of the more remarkable, and real eye-opening things about this move and the demise of the Portland Beavers all revolves around how I acquired this cap.

Despite the fact that the Beavers relocated at the end of the 2010 season, you can still find a few of their items all over Portland. What’s most insulting is that most of the shops are still charging full price for merchandise of a team that no longer exists. The Beavers hat that I wrote about on March 6 was one I had purchased from PGE Park (now Jeld Wen Field) in the concourse area during a game against the Sacramento River Cats. I think I paid about $30 for it. The one that I am writing about was one of two that I didn’t all ready own which happened to be sitting on the top row (not even mixed in with the other MLB or MiLB caps) collecting dust at the Lids in the Clackamas Town Center Mall in September. As soon as I saw them I said I wanted them as long as they had my size. Sure enough they did, and sure enough I was a bit shocked when they still rang up as $35 each. Granted, I do have a Lids Club card, but it was still a weird concept to have to pay full price initially for the hat of a Minor League team that no longer exists. Oh well. I’ll always be a little sad and upset over what happened.

This particular hat was introduced in 2008 when the Beavers changed their colors and logo from the traditional black/red/white that had been popular throughout the century. I remember thinking it was a bit weird, but I did like the new color scheme. I’ll be honest; I’m not that big of a fan of red. This featured logo served primarily on the front of the batting practice caps and batting helmets; however, those caps were all black. This cap was merely a random second style the team came up with the feature the logo on a different colored cap. The concept for a team to do that is quite genius actually. I’ve never been too much of a fan of mesh caps; however, there have been a lot of logos that only appear on the batting practice caps that I really enjoy; the 1999 Arizona Diamondbacks batting practice cap is the first that comes to mind.

Because this is the batting practice logo I figured it would be best to find numbers from a few guys who were big names with the Beavers, but most important, got the job done with their hitting.

#21- A lifetime pinch hitter and Minor League journeyman, Wily Mo Pena was originally signed as a free agent by the New York Mets back in 1998. Over the next 14 years Pena made a few half-of-a-season appearances at the Major League level whenever an extra power hitter was needed, but the other, longer half was spent in AAA. No matter who your team is, there’s a pretty good chance he was on the payroll at some point. In 2010, Pena never saw a second of action in the Majors as he was signed to an Atlantic League team called the Bridgeport Bluefish along with “One At-Bat” subject and current Baltimore Oriole Adam Greenberg. About midway through the season Pena got inked to a Minor League deal with the San Diego Padres which sent him to Portland for 40 games. During his time there he hit .324 with nine home runs and 24 RBI. From the few games that I saw I could never figure out why he never stayed up in the Big Leagues. The man can certainly hit. For the last season Pena played 130 games in Japan with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks along with former Oakland Athletics prospect Brandon Allen and former/current MLB pitchers Brad Penny and Brian Falkenborg.

#29- I went to a lot of Beavers games in 2005 as they had a lot of talent on the squad back then. One player in particular received the most attention simply because of his last name. I imagine that he knew it and had been hearing it all his life, which I can, once again, only imagine how frustrating that might be. Nonetheless, Josh Barfield did a fine job of earning his way to the Major that season hitting .310 with 15 home runs and 72 RBI. He was called up before the season was over, rightfully so, and stayed with the Padres through the entire 2006 season, but was traded to the Cleveland Indians in the offseason for Kevin Kouzmanoff and Andrew Brown.

Barfield played 130 games for the Indians in 2007, but didn’t quite have the bat flair he showed in San Diego as he finished the season hitting .240 with three home runs and 50 RBI. Barfield was demoted to the Buffalo Bisons, the Indians AAA affiliate, and replaced by prospect Asdrubal Cabrera in 2008. When Cabrera went on a skid Barfield was called up to replace him, but Barfield sprained his finger within days of getting back in the Bigs and ended up on the DL. 2009 was primarily spent in Columbus with the Clippers, the new AAA affiliate of the Indians.

In 2010 the Padres signed Barfield to a Minor League contract in which he played 78 games in the Rose City. If I remember correctly I caught him in four or five games that season. From what I could tell, very little had changed in his swing and side-to-side motions on the field. Granted, it had only been five years since I last saw him and he is only two months older than me. That year he hit .294 with five home runs and 36 RBI, but he never got called up on account of David Eckstein being the everyday guy. Barfield bounced around through the Philadelphia Phillies and Orioles organizations over the last two years, but has yet to see any MLB action since 2009. It’s a damn shame.

March 6- Portland Beavers

I’ve been in an especially feisty mood today, which has certainly helped fuel this blog post. Take warning. It’s going to get ugly.

Portland, Oregon is a horrible baseball city. Yah, that’s right, I said it. When I moved to the Pacific Northwest (specifically Vancouver, Washington) I was regaled by stories and banter from hardcore Portland sports fans about how amazing it would be to have a Major League Baseball team within the confines of the city. For years I was told that Portlanders would give undying support if a team was ever relocated, because after all, “we’re huge sports fans.” I bought that bullshit for years. The illusion of seeing a top tier in the city I called home was brought on by this…

a more than clever bumper sticker which I first saw in the manager’s office at the Just Sports (@JustSportspdx) location at the Lloyd Center Mall. For those who don’t know, Lloyd Center is the state’s largest indoor mall and it sits roughly 10-12 blocks away from the Rose Garden, the home of the Portland Trailblazers of the National Basketball Association. It’s not very becoming of me to mention other sports within my baseball articles; however, the important thing to know about Trailblazers fans is that they are extremely loyal, more so than most other franchises. I know that seems like a “homer” thing to say, but you should probably take into consideration that I’m a huge Indiana Pacers fan. In fact, the one thing to prove my assertion true is that the Trailblazers hold the record for most consecutive sell-outs at 814 from 1977 (the year of their only championship) through 1995. Oh yah, and by record, I don’t mean NBA record. I’m talking about most consecutive sell-outs in American sports history. The next closest streak? The 2003 through present Boston Red Sox at 712 games. For those doing the math at home, the Trailblazers record will more than likely be broken in 2014. Now, with that logic, one might think that the validity of Portlanders supporting a baseball team might be true. Think again.

In 2000 Portland all ready had a professional baseball team, the Portland Rockies. What was incredibly shocking about this is that 1. They were a short season-A squad in a major city. 2. They hardly drew anyone. Trust me on this one; I caught a few games at the old Civic Stadium and saw how empty it was. But… hope was just around the corner. What I didn’t know before moving North was that Portland was once a decent baseball city who housed a storied AAA franchise known as the Portland Beavers. From 1903-1917, 1919-1972 and 1978-1993 the Beavers came and went, but always seemed to find its footing anytime they set up shop. If you read my Salt Lake City Bees post from January 28 you’d know about the last run of the Beavers, and how then owner Joe Buzas cut and run at the end of the 1993 season to not only establish the franchise in Utah, but also had the balls to name the team after himself (Buzz). Every now-and-then when I get back up to Portland for a few beers with my friends Buzas’s name comes up in conversation. To this day I have yet to hear one positive thing about the man other than, “I’m glad he’s dead.”

Following the 2000 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres swapped AAA affiliates. The Albuquerque Dukes (a charter franchise of the PCL in 1903 as the Los Angeles Angels) moved to Portland, becoming the Beavers, as the San Diego Padres affiliate. As part of the relocation agreement, Civic Stadium was renovated in 2000 and renamed PGE Park. Things were certainly looking bright. Like most new franchises, attendance was booming. The team brought up such budding talents as Sean Burroughs, Kevin Witt, Ernie Young and Ryan Radmanovich as well as brought down/rehabbed such stars as Jim Leyritz, Jeremy Powell, Jason Middlebrook and even Rickey Henderson. Popularity of the sport was certainly on the rise, and one moment I will never forget took place on March 29, 2002 as the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners played one exhibition game in front of a sold out crowd. The Mariners, coming off their 116-win season proved to be the perfect draw. The Padres won the game 3-1 thanks to a two-run shot by Phil Nevin and six strong innings of pitching from Brian Lawrence. Attendance drew pretty well for the rest of the season and on into the 2003 season when the news “we all wanted” broke.

Back in June 2001 a story was released, but very few people knew about it. Bud Selig had sent one of his representatives, Corey Busch, to Portland to attend a Beavers game as the Montreal Expos were considering playing a few home games at PGE Park as, a Montreal Gazette article mentioned, the Expos were looking for a temporary home until a new stadium in Montreal was built. At the end of the 2002 season the possibility of a new stadium in Montreal was looking rather bleak, but the possibility of the Expos moving to Portland was looking promising. As a long-time Expos fan, I was champing at the bit with just the thought. Another thing that most people didn’t know is that Lynn Lashbrook, the founder and President of Sports Management Worldwide, had been rallying for a Major League team in Oregon for the previous six years, and made sure to head the committee to try to bring the Expos westward. For almost the entire winter on into spring of 2003 I helped work in the campaign. Well, as much as they would let me do: hand out fliers, make calls, send emails; you know, bitch work. At the end of January 2003 things were moving at an incredible pace. Only Washington, D.C. and Portland remained in the running for the team. Then Portland Mayor Vera Katz was in great support of it as she met with representatives from MLB in New York despite criticism from Republican politicians who didn’t see the benefits of allocating $350-400 million for a new stadium, especially with unemployment rates being one of the highest in the country at the time at 7% (the rate went as high as 11.6% in 2009, but is now around 8.3%). At the same time; however, Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos was protesting the move to D.C. as the Orioles had territorial rights. Oddly enough, the Mariners tried to pull the same move with Oregon with little merit. Even more interesting is that the Oakland Athletics and Florida Marlins names were being tossed around as other possibilities of relocation if Portland lost the Expos bid by the end of 2003.

On into 2004 very little seemed to be moving forward. The Expos and their fans in Montreal were well aware of the fact that the team would be playing its last season in Canada, but no one knew where that would be. All appeared to be going well for Portland as one of the Native American tribes even offered to front $250 million to build a new stadium as long as they were allowed to build a casino within the city limits. Mayor Katz balked at the idea and somehow around September 29 the announcement was made that the Expos would be moving to D.C. And I mean, it was really out of the blue. We were all dumbfounded, and we especially wanted to throw Katz out of office for not accepting the offer. But in the end, there wasn’t much that even Katz could do. Angelos had back off from his previous comments (more than likely paid off) and D.C. was getting their THIRD team throughout MLB’s history (because the first two panned out so well).   

As the years progressed attendance figures for the Beavers dwindled. Every game I attended from 2005-2007 seemed to be a jab to the ribs. I would have thought that in lieu of everything going to Hell that people would support the team in protest to MLB which would hopefully pave the way to luring another team to the city. Nope!

Years continued to roll on with little hope. The Beavers weren’t all that successful on the field which deterred a lot of people from going to the games. I had moved to Eugene in April of 2007 which made going to games on a regular basis a bit of a challenge, but I always made sure to catch the Sacramento River Cats (the A’s affiliate) when they visited.

In 2009 the AAA All-Star game was held at PGE Park. I was one of a little over 16,000 of the possible 18,000 it could fit to attend. Not too long after that the Portland Timbers were promoted from the United Soccer League to Major League Soccer under the stipulation that PGE Park be converted into a soccer/football specific stadium. The Beavers were forced out, but were given a slew of possible locations in which to build another stadium… at which ever possible site was protested. Without a home to play in, Merritt Paulson, the then owner of the Beavers sold the team to a group headed by Padres owner Jeff Moorad before the end of the 2010 season. Ever since that day I've had a lingering hatred of Portland and its residents. 10 years of boasting itself as a great baseball town went right out the window.

On September 6, 2010 the Beavers played their final game at PGE Park. The game ended with a 6-5 win over the Las Vegas 51s. I didn’t know it until today, but that was only the third sell-out the Beavers had since returning in 2001. The other two games were their first game back on August 30, 2001 and a July 4 fireworks night in 2009. I happened to attend all three.

For years I had kept this hat blank, even after I established my marking system. Today I finally set on one…

9/6/10- The Beavers wore this hat on their final game, a thought that still brings me to tears even as I write this two and a half years after the fact. It served as their home hat from 2008-2010. A lot of my other hats have specific dates, but I will wait to feature those on their specific anniversary. In the case of this hat I made an exception for the sake of my depression on this matter. When I went to Montreal this summer and visited my friend Dave Kaufman, all the heartbreak and sense of loss came rushing back anytime we talked about our teams. With Dave it was something deeper rooted as his beloved Expos were ripped out of the hands of the fans in Montreal despite their best efforts to hold on. I felt awful for all of the hours I put in to try to bring the team here, not really seeing both sides of the coin at the times.

In the case of the Beavers it became an oversight; something that only true baseball fans were affected by including then owner Paulson who regretted not doing more to keep the team in Portland. In an open letter following the last game Paulson predicted that the Beavers would make a return to Portland in the future. I guess we’ll wait and see.

January 5- Tucson Padres

Believe it or not this hat turned out to be one of the hardest hats to track down over the last year. Even more unusual was where I ended up buying it. The story really dates back to 2008, long before the Tucson Padres were even a glint in anyone’s eye. I was a regular attendee of the then Portland Beavers, the AAA franchise of the San Diego Padres, while at the same time I was a season ticket holder for the then-USL Portland Timbers. Having moved to Eugene the previous year to attend the University of Oregon full time, it became a bit difficult to make the trip north to a lot of games. Yes, I realize we’re talking about summer sports; however, I was taking summer classes, so in your face! 2008 proved to be the last year I attended either team’s games at a high frequency as the hit my wallet was taking due to gas prices was becoming a bit crazy. It was also around this time that the Timbers were being considered for a call-up to Major League Soccer, something I really didn’t think would have such a major impact on the baseball market in Portland.

The AAA All-Star game in 2009 was the last time I attended a game at, then-PGE Park. Something that big was pretty hard to resist. The most notable part of that game was that Oklahoma City RedHawks infielder Esteban German was named one of the “Top Stars” of the game. This was personally amusing to me as I had a brief encounter with him back in 2000 when he was playing for the Modesto A’s and I was the bat boy for the Bakersfield Blaze. (That story will come in another post.) The really interesting thing about the game being played in Portland; however, was that it was supposed to be THE large stepping stone to keep the team in Portland and prove how big of a baseball town Portland actually was. Well, a year after that, the team played its final season as the stadium was now going to be renovated to a soccer-specific park for the Timbers as their promotion was approved.

Since October 19, 2010 the Beavers/Padres have been in a weird state of limbo. The team was supposed to move to Escondido, CA in 2013, thus making their home in Tucson temporary; however, as of May 2011 the plans for said move were put on indefinite hold. On July 30, 2012, after a large legal battle, the team was purchased by a group in El Paso, Texas which will move the team there by the start of the 2014 season once a new stadium has been constructed.

Now, as far as acquiring and marking the hat: I was a bit stewed after the team was sold and moved out of Portland, but not terribly upset as I still had the Eugene Emeralds to visit anytime I wanted only 2 miles away from my house. One night toward the end of the 2011 season I combed through the assortment of Minor League caps that Lids had to offer and came across the Tucson Padres. Needless to say, I was impressed. I’ve always loved the swinging Padre logo, hence why I hat it tattooed on my body. Also, I the color scheme was quite impressive so I put it on my “to get list.” I had all ready placed a 6 hat order a few days earlier so I was in no rush to scoop it up. My size (7 3/8) was available to so I didn’t worry too much about it. About 2 weeks later when I was ready to final get it, my size was gone. Seeing how the season had just ended, I was a bit screwed in hoping that there would be a restock in the near future. So I waited…. an entire year!

Almost everyday I checked Lids’ inventory for a restock with no success. The only other time I came across one was when I went to San Diego to catch a Padres/Reds game with my fellow MLB Fan Cave Top 50 finalist and friend Andy Bishop, at which the stadium store was asking $45 for the hat. Hell no! Months would pass, and still no restock available. I kind of figured the hat would be popular, but not like this. It wasn’t until late August when I was traveling between Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH and Buffalo, NY that I finally came across it. Having met and made a few friends with New Era, I was invited to their home office in Buffalo for a tour by retail marketing coordinator Seth Ehrenberg and events marketing manager Jim Wannemacher. At the end of the tour I took a peek inside the Flagship store they had set up. I spent a good 20 minutes canvassing the joint when I finally came across the “holy grail.” I was especially shocked when they had my size in stock. I tried it on and quickly threw it up on the counter. There was no way I was letting that bad boy go.

I really didn’t have any plans on marking my Minor League caps as players come and go too quickly to really add something of note; however, in this case, adding 2011 (their first year) seemed like a good fit. I put a – next to that to mark their final year played, but won’t put the exact date until their move to El Paso becomes a reality. The significance of this also marks one of the shortest stints for an AAA team in any location; something that really surprised me as Arizona is a hot bed for MLB talent. I guess it really shows what I know about the business of baseball.

January 2- Pittsburgh Pirates

Amongst the large assortment of hats I own, I decided to throw on something that I hadn’t had a chance to wear. The biggest reason why I brought this particular hat to Miami with me was simply because of the shirt that I had packed along with it. The Pittsburgh Pirates font “Portland” tee is the creation of one of my friends, Jason Cobb (JasonMCobb), whom I worked with for many years for Just Sports (@JustSportspdx) in Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR. Of all the shirts he’s created over the years, this was one of my favorites.

While I could have gone with an array of Pirates hats to pair with it, I couldn’t think of one better than the 2000 Sunday cap with the red outline on the “P” and a red bill. For as awesome as the hat is, I’ve always found it a bit strange that the Pirates only used it so rarely and for one season. Therefore, keeping with the theme, I had to choose numbers which were prevalent on Sundays during their 5^th place, in the National League Central, finish of 69-93 under then manager, and current 3^rd base coach for the Detroit Tigers Gene Lamont.

The first option I had debated was #69. Very few people would understand this reference in Pirates history, but I found it especially funny because the person who sported this number for this season was then rookie pitcher Bronson Arroyo. With that, I looked up his stats. I honestly don’t even recall seeing any starts on Sundays so I sadly had to pass up on the opportunity. The next two were easy choices and the only two guys who did consistently well on Sundays, and were household names for the Pirates during their tenures...

#18- Kendall’s best years at the plate came with the Pirates as he never matched the power numbers he posted in Pittsburgh. In 2000 he hit a career best 14 home runs on top of his .320 AVG, which is the third best had posted, playing over 125 games a season.

#24- Giles had always been a pretty consistent .290 hitter; however, the best year of his career came in 2000 when he batted .315/35/123. The previous year he had swatted 39 home runs and posted the same average, but had 61 less plate appearances. Impressive nonetheless. 

On top of their offense, both players will stellar defenders. Therefore, there really wasn’t a pair better to honor.