Read the entire article here on the Oregonian website

Portland gets a taste of the big leagues
The Mariners' visit to PGE Park revives questions as to whether the Rose City will get a team
By JOE FREEMAN
The Oregonian
Saturday, April 01, 2006

Baseball fans arrived at PGE Park hours before the first pitch Friday, eager to catch a rare glimpse of Major League Baseball, the elusive sport that Portland has tried to lure for years.

They trotted in wearing Ichiro jerseys, Chicago Cubs jackets and New York Yankees hats. Kids, young and old, brought baseball mitts and balls.

Fans lined the entrance on the corner of Southwest 20th Avenue and Morrison Street four hours before the Seattle Mariners took the field against the Portland Beavers in a sold-out spring training exhibition game. Nearby, a ticket scalper, holding a sign reading "I NEED TICKETS," asked passers-by whether they could help.

Tigard's Barry Greenwood was playing catch with his son, Sam, outside the entrance when an usher shouted, "Let's play ball," and opened the gates. If for only a day, Portland was a Major League Baseball town.

"We go up to Seattle to watch games once a year, but it's exciting watching the big leaguers at home," Greenwood said.

Indeed, as fans trickled in, they couldn't help but wonder: When is the Rose City going to stop staging exhibitions and become a real major league town?

The Mariners were only passing through in preparation for their season opener Monday at Safeco Field in Seattle. That same day the Beavers will be back at PGE Park to prepare for the Thursday opener of their sixth Triple A season, one step below the big leagues.

Portland was in the running when the Montreal Expos considered relocating here before moving to Washington, D.C., prior to the 2005 season, even passing a bill in the Oregon Senate to provide for partial stadium funding. And when word spread last November that Major League Baseball granted the Florida Marlins permission to explore relocation, Portland jumped in again.

Marlins President David Samson and his top two executives visited Portland in January for informal meetings with city officials. Oregon Sports Authority CEO Drew Mahalic said Friday that he has remained in "regular" contact with Marlins officials since their visit to keep open the lines of communication, but acknowledged that things are "still in a courting phase."

Greenwood wishes the phase would mature.

"It's exciting that the Marlins are thinking about coming here," Greenwood said. "I really do think we could support a major league team. Especially with everything that's happened to the Trail Blazers; we're ready for a different sport."

The Marlins also have visited San Antonio, Norfolk, Va., and Hialeah, Fla., as part of preliminary relocation efforts, Mahalic said, and the process is still in the early stages. But that doesn't stop Oregonians from dreaming.

"It sure would be nice if we got a team," said Kyle Meyer, 15, of Medford, who attended the game with his mother, Kathy, sister Katie, and brother Trevor. "It'd be cool to have a team in Oregon."

For a night, though, the Meyers and other Portland baseball fans relished their major league opportunity. They cheered for Ichiro, Seattle's popular Japanese outfielder, when he was announced during warmups and groaned when he popped out to start the game.

More than a hundred fans circled the Mariners dugout during batting practice, holding baseballs, programs and trading cards in search of autographs. Jamie Moyer, the Mariners' venerable starting pitcher, satisfied their cravings at one point, hopping on top of the dugout with a pen.

Not even a short rain delay prevented the fans from soaking up the moment.

"I think this will send a healthy message to Major League Baseball," Mahalic said, "that Portland has a community that truly appreciates Major League Baseball."

Joe Freeman: 503-294-5183; joefreeman@news.oregonian.com

Gee, two sold-out Mariners exhibition games in Portland and $150 Million in the bank for a stadium plan, yet Potter thinks that Portland doesn't need baseball or isn't ready for it? Well, that's good logic.

I would like to see PGE be sold out a third time and I would like to see the reaction on Tom's face...

I should also note that the Oregonian had nerve to post an article like this after bashing the OSC effort time and time again. I think they would just laugh this thing off like they always have. Anyone want to pony up to start a donation-like rally for the OSC's cause?

While walking to the game last night, my wife commented on the amount of people making their way to the game along Burnside. I must admit, I was pretty surprised at her observation, as well as the turnout. The scene outside the stadium was enough to convince anyone that MLB would be a huge hit here. It looked like a real major league game, with vendors and ticket scalpers, and a large mass of humanity packed into the plaza area as they waited to get into the stadium. It was a good mix of people too; young, old, little kids with families, college aged kids, etc. Once inside, we were cheerfully notified that they were temporarily out of brats (hahaha), so we settled for some fries and a coke and made our way up to our seats. The weather was not very good last night. It was kinda cold and misting/raining with a cold breeze, but by the top of the second if you looked around the stadium, there were NO empty seats to be found. NONE. Even after a fairly long rain delay, there were still a good number of people there to watch a meaningless exhibition game in less than ideal weather. We left at 10, after the Beavers finally linked a couple of hits together to score a run. What was the final attandance? Does anybody have any numbers of the amount of money that was spent there last night?! Did you hear the "mixed response" the Governor received when he threw out the first pitch? In his defense, he threw what looked like a strike from where we were sitting, and it certainly wasn't the typical first-pitch lob. Anyway, besides the weather, I would definitely have to classify last night as a smashing success. Anybody else head over there last night? What did you think?

What a great article. I love this quote.

quote:

"It's exciting that the Marlins are thinking about coming here," Greenwood said. "I really do think we could support a major league team. Especially with everything that's happened to the Trail Blazers; we're ready for a different sport."

What a great night with a sell out crowd. You can bet we would have sold thousands more tickets if our stadium was bigger. The weather was pretty bad as my wife and I toughed it out under the rain in our unprotected fifth row seats. We had a blast! Props to KOIN 6 news. Their lead story last night was the incredible turn out for MLB baseball in Portland and how Portland appears ready for their own MLB team. It was a very well done piece with team coverage by a station who usually ignores MLB. The mixed response of cheers and boos to Gov. K. seemed ironic and fitting since he helped pass SB-5 yet nixed the free stadium for casino deal. It is a disappointment Tom Potter was a no show. One of the duties of the mayor is to welcome rare major events to our city.
I had hoped he had the ability to put aside his personal view on MLB2PDX long enough to perform his mayoral duty but instead chose to ignore 20,000 local MLB baseball fans. That was a sad reaffirmation of his small thinking.

19,579 official attendance, second only since the renovation to 19,778 for the Mariners and Padres in '02.

Potter is unreal, he is the most unprogressive mayor we have had in my memory he probably is oblivious to this turnout. If Vera was still in office we probably would be in very very serious negotiations with the Marlins.

quote:

Originally posted by dean:
Potter is unreal, he is the most unprogressive mayor we have had in my memory he probably is oblivious to this turnout. If Vera was still in office we probably would be in very very serious negotiations with the Marlins.

Absolutly. Potter's not the most business oriented politican that ever came down the pike, that's for certain.

Get as much negative beef as you can to drive Potter out of there! At first I thought that Potter could be a guy that you could negotiate with, but it looks more and more clear to me that he just doesn't want Portland to dramatically change. That doesn't bode well at all to your cause.

Make sure that you get behind a candidate running for Portland mayor that supports MLB coming to the city. For once, please, I get on my knees and beg you, GET SOMEONE NORMAL. It's not that hard.

dang, I'll run! I may just not be weird enough to actually win.

Tom Potter for Mayor of Mayberry! eeeeeha!

Mayberry had normal, nice people, who wouldn't deserve such a backward thinker.