WCL on OSC
by Bruce Baskin
January 4, 2014 - West Coast League (WCL)
KLAMATH FALLS FACING BALLPARK FUNDING CONCERNS
Although the Klamath Falls Gems will host the 2014 WCL All-Star Game on July 23, concerns are mounting about maintenance funding for 65-year-old Kiger Stadium, where the contest is scheduled. According to a story by Herald and News writer Holly Dillemuth, the Klamath Falls City Council voted 3-to-2 in December to donate $27,000 for ballpark improvements and a groundskeeper. The City already allots $15,000 annually for Kiger Stadium but may cut future donations due to limited resources.
Councilor Trish Seiler said she met with the non-profit Kiger Association, which oversees the city-owned wooden ballpark, to encourage them to apply for grants, but "I never saw the Association board of directors make an effort to do those things." Seiler added, "I don't see baseball as a core City function." Once current Parks Superintendent Ken Hay retires this year, the City will not budget for support staff for the office. Seiler said the Parks Department will transition to a maintenance level.
Kiger Association co-chair Keith Stotts said, "We need about $85,000 to $90,000 just to break even" at the facility, which seats 2,878 spectators (although a regular season WCL-record 4,156 fans crammed in for a 2011 Gems contest).
YAKIMA EXPANSION TEAM TO BE CALLED "PIPPINS"
The West Coast League's newest franchise is dipping into the past in choosing a team nickname. The Yakima Valley Pippins will take the field at 2,654-seat Yakima County Stadium for their first season in 2014. The moniker was selected from among five choices in a "Name the Team" contest sponsored by the club.
When Yakima entered the Class B Western International League in 1937, the team was known as the Pippins (a brand of apple grown in the agriculture-centered region) until Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II and led to the shutdown of several minor leagues in 1942, including the WIL. The city returned to field teams in the circuit, renamed the Northwest League in 1955, from 1946 through 1966 and again between 1990 and 2012. In their final year prior to moving to Hillsboro, Oregon, the Bears drew an average of 1,629 fans, a number that would've paced the WCL in 2013 (see below).
Yakima becomes the seventh former WIL/NWL city in the West Coast League.
WCL RELEASES 2014 LEAGUE SCHEDULE
With the addition of a twelfth team in Yakima, the West Coast League has released its largest regular season schedule ever for the 2014 season. In all, 324 WCL games will be played between June 6 and August 10, or 54 per team.
Each club will play 27 home and 27 away games, but that's where much sense of balance ends. With 12 teams across three divisions playing 18 three-game series each, perfect scheduling is impossible. Let's try breaking it down.
There will be three WCL divisions for 2014: Bellingham, Cowlitz, Kitsap and Victoria in the West; Bend, Corvallis, Klamath Falls and Medford in the South; and Kelowna, Walla Walla, Wenatchee and Yakima Valley in the East. Teams will play three series each against division opponents (9 series), one series against each non-division opponent (8 series) and one extra series against a non-division opponent. Outside their divisions, West teams will host only South squads, South teams solely entertain East clubs and East teams exclusively welcome West sides.
In 2013, eleven WCL clubs drew a record 402,958 fans to 339 regular season, playoff, All-Star and non-league games for an average of 1,188 per opening. Bend led the loop with 51,283 attendees for 32 WCL and exhibition games, or 1,602 spectators per night.
WEST COAST LEAGUE
2014 Home Schedules
BELLINGHAM BELLS
June 12-14 Wenatchee, June 18-20 Victoria, June 21-23 Kelowna, June 27-29 Walla Walla, July 5-7 Cowlitz, July 8-10 Kitsap, July 15-17 Corvallis, Jul 30-Aug 1 Medford, Aug 2-4 Bend
BEND ELKS
June 6-8 Corvallis, June 13-15 Victoria, June 27-29 Walla Walla, Jun 30-Jul 2 Kelowna,
July 7-9 Klamath Falls, July 10-12 Yakima, July 25-27 Wenatchee, Aug 1-3 Medford,
Aug 8-10 Klamath Falls
CORVALLIS KNIGHTS
June 11-13 Yakima, June 14-16 Walla Walla, June 20-22 Kelowna, June 27-29 Wenatchee,
Jun 30-Jul 2 Medford, July 7-9 Medford, July 10-12 Klamath Falls, July 29-31 Bend,
Aug 5-7 Bend
COWLITZ BLACK BEARS
June 6-8 Medford, June 17-19 Corvallis, June 23-25 Kitsap, June 27-29 Victoria,
July 10-12 Kitsap, July 17-19 Bend, July 22-24 Victoria, July 28-30 Klamath Falls,
Aug 8-10 Bellingham
KELOWNA FALCONS
June 6-8 Victoria, June 13-15 Cowlitz, June 24-26 Yakima, July 4-6 Wenatchee,
July 10-12 Bellingham, July 25-27 Yakima, July 29-31 Kitsap, Aug 5-7 Wenatchee,
Aug 8-11 Walla Walla
KITSAP BLUEJACKETS
June 6-8 Klamath Falls, June 13-15 Bellingham, June 17-19 Bend, July 4-6 Victoria,
July 14-16 Cowlitz, July 22-24 Corvallis, July 25-27 Medford, Aug 1-3 Walla Walla,
Aug 4-6 Bellingham
KLAMATH FALLS GEMS
June 14-16 Yakima, June 17-19 Wenatchee, June 23-24 Medford, June 27-29 Medford,
July 3-5 Corvallis, July 14-16 Kelowna, July 21 WCL All-Star Game, July 22-24 Bend,
July 25-27 Walla Walla, Aug 1-3 Corvallis, Aug 6 Medford
MEDFORD ROGUES
June 9-12 Bend, June 14-16 Wenatchee, June 20-22 Cowlitz, June 25 Klamath Falls,
July 4-5 Bend, July 13-15 Yakima, July 17-19 Kelowna, July 22-24 Walla Walla,
Aug 4-5 Klamath Falls, Aug 8-11 Corvallis
VICTORIA HARBOUR CATS
June 10-12 Cowlitz, June 16-18 Bellingham, June 23-25 Bend, June 30-July 2 Kitsap,
July 10-12 Medford, July 17-19 Klamath Falls, July 25-27 Corvallis, Aug 1-3 Bellingham,
Aug 8-10 Kitsap
WALLA WALLA SWEETS
June 6-8 Bellingham, June 10-12 Kelowna, June 17-19 Kelowna, July 3-5 Yakima,
July 6-8 Cowlitz, July 14-16 Wenatchee, July 17-19 Kitsap, July 29-31 Yakima,
Aug 5-7 Victoria
WENATCHEE APPLESOX
June 9-11 Kitsap, June 20-22 Walla Walla, June 23-25 Corvallis, June 30-July 2 Bellingham, July 10-12 Walla Walla, July 22-24 Kelowna, July 29-31 Victoria, Aug 1-3 Cowlitz,
Aug 8-10 Yakima
YAKIMA VALLEY PIPPINS
June 6-8 Wenatchee, June 20-22, Klamath Falls, June 27-29 Kitsap,
June 30-July 2 Walla Walla, July 7-9 Victoria, July 17-19 Wenatchee, July 25-27 Bellingham, Aug 1-3 Kelowna, Aug 4-6 Cowlitz
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West Coast League Stories from January 4, 2014
- WCL on OSC - OSC Original by Bruce Baskin
- WCL on OSC - OSC Original by Bruce Baskin
- WCL on OSC - OSC Original by Bruce Baskin
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