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HUMBOLDT NINE WILL PLAY FIVE LEAGUE TEAMS THIS SUMMER

ARCATA – After four frustrating years of struggling to build a new baseball league from scratch all on their own, The Humboldt Crabs Board of Directors today approved the historic team’s affiliation with the newly forming Sierra Baseball League, which plans to include 13 summer collegiate wood-bat baseball teams stretching from Los Angeles to Medford Oregon.

Beginning with the 2009 season, the Crabs will play 24 of their summer season’s approximately 50 baseball games against opponents in the SBL Northern Division, plus another four games against one opponent from the South. The top two teams in each division at the end of the season will enter a round-robin playoff to determine the league’s championship.

“We’ve been trying to organize a league of our own for the past four years,” said Crabs board member and former president Jerry Nutter. “It frankly felt like trying to stack marbles. Every time we thought we had it put together, someone would bump the table.”

After endless hours, dozens of meetings, hundreds of phone calls and countless e-mails, the Crabs Board concluded they did not have the finances and the personnel to inaugurate a new league, continue to run the local program and at the same time try to help weaker organizations build themselves into outfits that could logically compete with the Crabs.

“Lord knows we tried. But it simply wasn’t going to happen,” Nutter said.

The solution to the Crabs’ organizing agonies came this winter with the arrival of Stevie Mac, a radio sports talk show host and baseball entrepreneur who is taking on the development of the Sierra Baseball League.

Some of the new league’s teams are familiar to Humboldt County fans. Several have not played here before. Teams currently committed to the SBL include the Medford River Dogs, Redding Colt 45’s, California Cobras (Carmichael), Lodi GrapeSox, Folsom Pioneers, San Jose Seals, Nor Cal Longhorns (San Mateo), Clovis Outlaws, San Luis Obispo Blues and the East L.A. Dodgers.

The former Santa Maria Indians, one of the oldest teams in California after the Crabs, are being reorganized as the Packers and have committed to the SBL. A new team is forming in Woodland, and four other teams are reviewing participation. Mac owns the GrapeSox. He and the SBL will work with Medford and Redding to help them build and strengthen their organizations to take full advantage of their league affiliation.

The SBL Northern Division will include Medford, Redding, California Cobras, Lodi, Woodland, Folsom and the Crabs.

Nutter noted that both Medford and Redding originally had been part of the Crabs league plans, but both were experiencing difficulties in development, problems which Mac’s participation now resolves.

The Solano T-Birds, which was to be part of the Crabs league, lost their ballpark and had to fold when their land lease expired. The ballpark has been dismantled and, at last report will be moved, nuts, bolts and seats, to Redding. The team’s management is now working with Mac and the SBL.

“Sometimes summer collegiate baseball today looks a lot like the Oklahoma land rush,” Nutter said. “According to industry publications, it’s one of the fastest growing segments in baseball in America.

“We’ve recognized this stampede since 2003, as have one of our favorite competitors, the Corvallis Knights. The Knights organized the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and British Columbia specifically to compete against other summer leagues for top college players.”

Nutter said the competition in summer collegiate baseball is underscored by the increased value of teams in leagues. “When the Knights first approached us about joining them in 2005, we didn’t see how we could manage both the $20,000 buy in and the heavy travel expenses required to play in the WCCBL, so we declined. Today new teams joining the WCCBL must pay an initiation fee of $100,000. That is scheduled to jump to $250,000. And that is likely to increase yet again, because one of the WCCBL teams recently sold for $350,000. Yeah, it’s crazy, but that’s summer collegiate baseball today.”

Nutter said there are six major reasons behind the Crabs decision to be part of a league.

1. A league increases each member team’s credibility with college coaches and their players; it helps the teams recruit.

2. With more credibility in its across the board recruiting efforts, a league will offer fans an improved level of baseball with a more consistent level of competition.

3. A league offers fans a clear measurement of just how their team is doing.

4. A league offers players clear objectives – a championship they can chase, an annual league all-star game, and a precise measure of just how they and their team stack up against other teams and players.

5. A pennant run gives fans something for which they can cheer; which will increase fan interest and participation; it will put more fans in the bleachers.

6. A league and its attendant pennant race will enable the teams and their players to get more exposure, not only to fans across the league’s cities, but to the media and the scouts who cover such competition, particularly at play-off time.

As the league evolves in the early years, the Crabs expect that most teams will take advantage of the Crabs ability to help subsidize opponents travel expenses, so they will choose to play their games in Arcata before big crowds.

“As the league grows, we will travel a bit more than these past few years to play more home and home series,” Nutter said, “but keeping our league schedule to less than two thirds of the summer schedule will still allow us to bring in a lot of other teams and new teams to Humboldt County.”

Nutter described it as a win-win for Humboldt County fans. The Crabs and fans will benefit from participation in a league, but the Crabs will continue to play a great majority of their games at home in Arcata.

Five Sierra Baseball League teams are on the Crabs schedule this summer. The Medford River Dogs and Redding Colt 45’s will participate in the Western Invitational Tournament July 18, 19 and 20. The Lodi Grapesox will play a double header on Wednesday, June 18. The San Jose Seals come to town for a four-game series starting on Friday night, June 20 and concluding with a traditional Sunday afternoon game at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 22. The Folsom Pioneers begin a three-game series on Friday, July 4, concluding on Saturday, July 5 at 7:00 p.m.

And, yes, there will be fireworks at the park after the game on July 4.

Do you like baseball? Be a part of the Crabs' tradition by becoming a volunteer. Call our Hotline at 826-2333 and let us know that you'd like to be considered for a volunteer job.

We are always looking for folks with special expertise or interest to assist in the various planning committees - golf tournament, acquiring player jobs, planning and conducting the opening dinner, taking pictures at the games, working on the Crabs' history project, researching player bios in preparation for the new season and other tasks.

This year we will be looking especially for someone with some creativity accompanied by computer tech knowledge to help with the ad portion of our program booklet.

1986 - 2007

The Humboldt Crabs would like to thank everyone who attended the memorial and celebration of Kevin Morsching on Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Arcata Ballpark. More than 200 fans, Crabs players and coaches gathered at the ballpark to remember Kevin and his family, as well as celebrate his life and contribution as a player, teammate and individual to the greater community. The Crabs also wish to thank Kevin's aunt and uncle, Kirk and Karen Richards, who drove up from Menlo Park to attend and represent the Morsching family.

While we all deeply feel the loss of Kevin, it is important to know that Kevin's family gave the gift of life to many others across the country through the organ and tissue donor program. From their loss, the Morsching family has helped to provide life and hope to many individuals and families. The Humboldt Crabs urge everyone to follow the shinning example of Kevin and the Morsching family to register to be an organ and tissue donor. The Crabs will soon provide a link from the website to information on the organ donor program in California. The Crabs will also provide information on the organ and tissue donor program throughout the 2008 baseball season at the Arcata Ballpark.

The Humboldt Crabs were declared McCullough Division Champions of the Yuba Sutter Gold Sox Horizon Air Summer Series, edging out the Corvallis Knights in a tie-breaking analysis conducted by the Gold Sox.

In addition to the Humboldt team's victory, the Gold Sox also named second year Crabs Manager Matt Nutter, Manager of the Year, and Crabs slugger and premier utility player Jeff Giacomini as Summer Series Player of the Year.

In his second season at the helm of the Crabs, Nutter went 29-11 in Summer Series approved play and 42-12 overall. Playing at first base, behind the plate and often deadly DH for the Crabs, Giacomini hit .402 over the summer, including a team-leading 6 home runs and a .580 slugging percentage.

An interesting concept, the Horizon Air Summer Series is an informal league composed of teams that play the Gold Sox during the summer season, which teams have their own unique schedules and do not necessarily play each other. The Gold Sox organize their competition into two divisions and record the won-lost records of each team according to a formula devised and managed by the Gold Sox.

"We're not quite sure how all these formulae work," said Crabs Manager Matt Nutter, "but we certainly appreciate the recognition, particularly for our players". Head Coach Robin Guiver watched the standings in the Summer Series closely the last week of Crabs baseball and was confident of winning the McCullough Division with a good series against the Crabs final opponent of the 2007 season, the Solano Mud Cats. The Crabs swept the Mud Cats in the final series of the summer and as Coach Guiver correctly determined the Crabs took the McCullough Division of the Horizon Air Summer Series.

"The statistics don't even begin to tell the story of the team this summer. These guys were terrific, and they bonded as no team with which I have ever had the pleasure of being associated. It was an honor to be their manager. They were champs the minute they took the field."

In addition to Nutter and Giacomini, the Summer Series also recognized the Crabs Richard Cates, All-Series First Team, utility, and pitcher Tyler Graham and catcher John Parham, Honorable Mention.