sports__
Baseball cut irks former coach
By STEVE SPATZ
Olth* EnwaM
Last spring, four Oregon sports were cut from the
budget, leaving coaches, players and fans surprised
and disappointed.
The Emerald Sports department continues with its
fourth installment in the five-part series, "Feeling the
Cuts", by looking at what happened to the Oregon
baseball team.
May 13,1981, and the place is Oregon’s Howe Field
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and
Washington leading 5-1 over Oregon, Duck batter Kyle
Keaton made contact with a curve ball and sent a
grounder skimming lightly over the freshly cut grass
Routine play The Husky third baseman scooped
up the ball and made the long throw to first for the last
out End of inning, end of game
And the end of baseball at Oregon
Of all the cuts announced on May 7 last year, the
decision to dump baseball was perhaps the most
difficult
Since 1908, baseball has been a part of the Oregon
athletic program
FEELING
THE CUTS
Through the years,
Oregon teams have
won 17 league
championships, fin
ished as high as
seventh in the NCAA
tournaments, and
placed numerous
players into pro
baseball, including
Dave Roberts and
Donnie Reynolds
But then again, there was little doubt at the time
that cuts were being mulled, that baseball was going to
be one of the victims
“I wasn’t overly surprised,” says Mel Krause,
baseball coach from 1971 to the end, and now the head
of Portland Community College’s physical education
department
“Baseball was in jeopardy for the last six years I
wouldn't have been surprised if it would have happened
then.”
One of the rationales given for the cut was the
program's direction in the past five years — downhill
The last winning season for baseball was in 1976, when
the Ducks went 20-18 The last time they won a confer
ence title was way back in 1974
Poor weather
Another reason was the Pacific Northwest climate
— more suited for outdoor water polo than the national
pastime Outdoor practice couldn’t begin until March,
just days before the season started
The most telling reason may have been the lack of
support within the athletic department Krause's budget
had gradually shrunk over the years, and he indicates
that office politics may have been the final straw
’’The signs were evident then that people in the
Krause rips officials
on commitment to sport
t
* #£?■
MIR
Photo by David Cofey
athletic department would like to get rid ot the sport,’
says Krause ‘‘But I really don't want to get into that
now "
Lack of success, lack of support, and lack of
sunshine — three strikes and Oregon baseball was out
"We didn't really believe it was happening,’’ says
Rick Moonitz, an infielder on the last team, and still
enrolled in the University
‘‘I mean this is baseball the national pastime How
could they cut it7 We were all just kind of laughing, like it
couldn’t be true."
"But then, a lot of us figured that if the ax was going
to fall, it would be on baseball "
"We never really took it seriously,” says Steve
Crum, the Ducks best hitter now playing at Portland
State University. "I didn’t think they’d ever completely
cut it out, and I didn’t realize they were serious until this
summer."
As is the case with every coach of a sport that the
University eliminated, Krause believes the decision to
cut out his sport was a mistake
Popular sport
"Baseball is very popular in Oregon high schools,"
he says, "And the main responsiblilty for the University
is to offer programs for the high school students in the
state of Oregon "
"If the adminstrators are really serious, then they'll
establish priorities that try to meet that criteria "
While Krause has moved on to bigger and better
things, most of his former players have not Crum, and
pitchers Bill Gwinn. Dan King. Dean Hummell, and Eric
Austad all ended up at Portland State James Nutt
transfered to the University of California at Davis, while
Eric Martinez is at Pan American University in Texas
But the rest, including Moonitz, pitcher Jim Givens,
infielders Bob Krueger, Keaton, Mike McLaran, Stuart
Heath, and outfielder Russ Batzer and Dan Alderman
are still in Eugene
"It was terrible that they were left holding the bag,"
says Krause "Here are 12 to 15 kids capable of playing
Pac-10 ball It comes down to whether or not they want
to transfer, and give up everything they had here, to play
baseball, or stay here and not play ."
“It is admirable that they (the athletic department)
are continuing to give (the players) the same grant-in
aids they had last year "
Blasts administration
But Krause would say few things are admirable
about the Oregon athletic administration's view of
baseball He leveled some blasts at the former and
present athletic department administrations as to their
stated commitments to baseball
"When f saw how the football team used to fly the
women's athletic director (formerly Julie Carson) to the
away football games, just to show that they have a
women's athletic director, just to show her off. well that
tells you something about how committed they were to
baseball Let's see. a plane ticket costs about $200 a
shot? That's $200 that could have gone to saving
baseball
"Now, when I see the football team holding
practices (at Howe Field), making a mess of that field
after we spent hours to improve it, that also tells you
something about how committed they are now to bring
baseball back "
Rick Bay, Oregon s new athletic director, has
stated that his second priority after balancing the
budget is to bring back all of the sports cut last spring
But a drive led by Bill Triplett, a Portland businessman,
is well under way to solicit enough private donations to
bring baseball back — as soon as this spring
Save baseball
The Save Oregon Baseball fund must meet a Nov
1 deadline of $150,000 pledged in order for the sport to
return this spring As of last week, they were still more
than $50,000 short of the goal (This topic will be
discussed at length in tomorrow's installment of
"Feeling the Cuts ')
If, by a slim chance, the money comes in, the
Ducks can field a team They wouldn't have a coach,
but they do have the players "We re covered at every
position, except for pitching," says Moonitz "I know
the guys still here would turn out "
But if that chance to play doesn't come to be for the
players still here, it won't really matter to Moonitz
"It was something to do in the afternoons," he says,
"Now I'll play golf."
“It had to end sometime "
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