A new story in the "Whitman Pioneer"

Must have missed this one:

http://whitmanpioneer.com/sports/2009/10/15/summer-baseball-makes-a-comeback-in-walla-walla-revives-a-community/

What will we be...?

The time to announce the name of the team, the brand identity, and the official website is drawing near! We are targeting the middle of November as the launch date. I received my first drafts from the designer today and I can't tell you how excited I will be to roll out our plan. We have received fantastic ideas from the community and very good feedback. As with anything, not everyone will get what they want, but I am sure that the community will be excited about the presentation and how it represents our city and region. If you haven't shared with us your thoughts, you can still do it (and enter to win season tickets!) by clicking on www.wallawallabaseball.com.

It is funny as I try to explain to people that I can't just pick any name. It has to be unique (meaning no other team can legitimately lay claim to it and that I can trademark the identity), marketable (so that the masses will enjoy it, not just a select few), and color schemes have to allow me to work with what vendors already have so as to not incur massive production charges on items like uniforms and merchandise. It is something I look forward to sharing with people as soon as we release the brand.

I don't know how to change the flowers

That was NOT intentional. Anyone know how to change the flowers on the bullets?!

Players are starting to commit

This is a short post, but a few quick updates.

1. Players are beginning to commit. As soon as we announce the team name and official website, we will start announcing signings. We will have a very good and very competitive club. 
2. Speaking of the announcement, we will be announcing the team on November 12, 2009. Stay tuned for a location and time - it is a very unique place and will be fun for the community.

Remember to visit www.wallawallabaseball.com to add your two cents as to team name and colors. Submissions will end at the end of this week...we are getting there!

Bing Bang Rally Gang?

Greg Shaw is guest blogging for Zachary.

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I recently stopped by a great baseball collectors store on Queen Anne in Seattle called Brown’s Cooperstown. I found a stack of old Walla Walla Padres and Blue Mountain Bears programs and score sheets from 1982 and 1983.

It was fun to thumb my way through a dozen or so of these well-preserved programs. I bought them and look forward to sharing them with the community soon.

Old timers around Walla Walla will remember some of the highlights:

• The 1982 Padres cover was sponsored by Pastime Café (“where good friends meet for the fine food and drink). I see Walla Walla Wine Woman remembers it fondly.

• Ron Mihal was the field manager in 1982.

• Pat Nelly was the owner and GM. Bill Legg was the assistant GM.

• Remember the Bing Bang Rally Gang? That was the fan club back then.

Remembering the WW Padres and Bears

This is Greg Shaw guest blogging today for Zachary. If it were not for blogging I would not be one of the owners of the new Walla Walla baseball franchise.

It was through my own blog, CodBall (the unofficial blog of the Cape Cod Baseball League), that I first got excited about participating in the West Coast League.

The very first person I interviewed when I began doing research on a team in the Northwest was Bob Bavasi. At the end of 1983 Bob and his wife Margaret bought the independent Blue Mountain Bears of Walla Walla and moved them to Everett where they became the Aqua Sox.

When the first pitch is thrown at Borleske in June 2010 it will be 27 years since a professionally-run team has played there.

Bob emailed me just after we announced the Walla Walla team. Here are some fun excerpts:

“When I got out of college in 1976 I worked for the San Diego Padres. One of my jobs was working on the rookie league spring training. We had the club in Walla Walla during that time. I remember picking up Ozzie Smith at the airport when he got there and dropping him at his host family. At the time who would have known what a star he'd become.

The Padres sent a terrific manager there for many years, whose name was also perfect for the name of the town. Cliff Ditto.

By the time Margaret and I bought the club at the end of the 1983 season it was an independent team. The uniform colors were light blue, navy blue, and red.

We never played there. We moved it to Everett shortly after we bought it with an affiliation with San Francisco.”

Maybe Bob would come and throw out a first pitch one night next summer?

There are A LOT of college programs out there...

I have been, along with Jeff (one of the owners), working the phones introducing ourselves to college programs across the country. It is a fun sales call to make - and it IS a sales call. We are trying to get young men to commit to a nebulous idea, a dream...because we don't have anything to compare it to. I can't say, "well, last year we did..." because there was no last year.

A couple of good leads on guys from top-level programs in the West, the Midwest, and working on the East coast tomorrow. I am confident that we will have a very good roster of players that represent not only different parts of the country, but are programs that compete regularly for a national title.

More tomorrow...time to create a few sales proposals for sponsors. Which reminds me - if you know of companies in southeastern Washington or nationwide that are interested in an affordable option to creatively reach approximately 25,000 - 30,000 fans this summer, please have them shoot me an email: Zachary.Fraser@pacificbaseballventures.com.