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About Keizertimes. (Salem, Or.) 1979-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2021)
PAGE A14, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 7, 2021 LIFE UNITED at the shores A look at the model for modern independent baseball BY MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes V olcanoes Stadium will offi cially begin a new chapter next week as the host of the Mavericks League — a four-team, independent, amateur baseball league where all contests will be played at one site from May to September. “It seemed like a setup that could work for us, especially with COVID-19 compli- cations. If we keep everything centralized here at Volcanoes Stadium, we eliminate travel and we can make accommodations for players better,” Mavericks League CEO Mickey Walker said. “Ultimately we decided that this was the best path. Once we started to get the pieces in place, we realized that this could be really special.” The idea of an independent base- ball league playing every game at one site might be a new one to Northwest The four teams in the USPBL play all of their games at Jimmy John's Stadium in Utica, Mich. The Mavericks League will be creating a similar model to the USPBL this spring. Submitted photo baseball fans, but according to Walker, the Mavericks League is attempting to model their product after the United Shores Professional Baseball League (USPBL), which is located in Utica, Mich., just out- side of Detroit. The USPBL was founded in 2016 by Andy Appleby, who is the league's CEO and former senior vice president of the Detroit Pistons. The four teams (Birmingham-Bloomfi eld Beavers, Eastside Diamond Hoppers, Utica Unicorns, Westside Woolly Mammoths) play all of their games at Jimmy John's Stadium, a $12 million, 4,500-seat venue Families are our main demographic and our goal is to bring a Disney-like atmosphere into the stadium. — KATIE PAGE Director of Public Relations, USPBL Photo courtesy USPBL that was built specifi cally for the league. It didn't take long for the league to become a hit in the local community. In 2019, the season before the COVID-19 pan- demic hit, 62 of the league's 75 games were sellouts, including a record attendance of 4,926 people who attended the champion- ship game. Katie Page, director of public relations with the USPBL, believes that the exponential growth the league has experienced in their fi rst fi ve seasons is due to not only the play on the fi eld, but the emphasis on promotional events — such as nights that featured the ZOOperstars and the Budweiser Clydesdales. “We have a diff erent promotional event every single game night, whether it be fi reworks, concerts or other special events. We are an enter- tainment venue as much as we are a sports venue,” Page said. While there are open tryouts for the league before the season, the USPBL also has people on staff that are in charge of recruiting players. A majority of the players are between 18 and 25 years old and are either undrafted or recently released from playing Minor League Baseball. Since the league was founded, 36 players have gone on to sign profes- sional contracts with Major League Baseball (MLB) affi liated organiza- tions, including Randy Dobnak, a right-handed pitcher who became the fi rst alum to reach the MLB when he made his debut with the Minnesota Twins on Aug. 9, 2019. “We consider ourselves a developmen- tal league. Our goal is to get them to the next level,” Page said. One of the keys of getting their play- ers looks from MLB organizations is that the USPBL streams all of their games on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter and a num- ber of their games get picked up by ESPN3. com — the Twins never scouted Dobnak in person but signed him based on seeing at his performances on YouTube. When the pandemic rocked the country last spring, the vast majority of the sports world stood still. But the USPBL still found a way to play a modifi ed season in 2020. After the league put together a 172-page return-to-play guidebook with health and safety measures, the USPBL was able to begin their season on July 4 weekend, mak- ing them the fi rst pro baseball organization to return to play during the pandemic. While the league was limited to hav- ing just 100 fans in attendance, Appleby elected to upgrade the broadcast for the fans watching at home, going from one camera to four cameras and using estab- lished on-air talent to call the games — which resulted in an average of more that 10,000 views per game. The USPBL ended up completing their three-month season without having to lay- off many full-time employees. “Players did a great job of taking