RyanBeil:CheckinginwiththeghostsofNorthwestLeaguepast

The Northwest League we know, love, and revere today has existed in some form or another since 1890 Thats the year Wyoming became a state! This may seem to be a fairly irrelevant historical factoid for this column, but it's one of the only historical factoids I could find that wasnt a complete and total downer; 1890 was not a fun-filled year

But worry not, dear reader. This is not going to be a sorrowful essay about 1890 This is a fun column about baseball! With a gentle sprinkling of history mixed in. The Northwest League has seen many changes, adjustments, and developments over the years

One of the more recent changes, adjustments, and developments was the promotion of the league to the level of High-A in 2020 when it also went from eight teams to six

While I do love having a higher level of professional baseball in the city to enjoy, I can’t help but sometimes miss the old eight-team circuit and feel nostalgia for the two teams that were dropped from the league. So today, I thought we d pay a little homage and do a little checking in on two baseball teams I used to love to boo when they came to town The Boise Hawks and the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes

TheBoiseHawks

Founded in 1987, the Boise Hawks are Idaho’s premiere baseballfranchise.Inmyopinion.Idon’tactuallyknowwhat the rest of the baseball landscape looks like in Idaho, but I standbymyassertion.Hopefully,Idon’tgettoomanyangry letters from Meridian, which is another city in Idaho. I really miss the Hawks There was something about them that made them so fun to cheer against They had an air of villainyaboutthem.Maybeitwasthegraphite-colouredroad uniforms or the hats with talon scratch marks on them? More likely it’s because they share a name with the bad-guy team from The Mighty Ducks movie franchise Whateveritwas,IalwaysloveditwhentheHawkswould flyintotown.Andthat’sjustabirdreference.TheseHawks playedminorleaguebaseball.TheseHawksrodethebus. Funfact.WayneGretzky’ssonTrevorplayedaseasonwith Boise - 2013 to be exact I was at a home game that year where The Great One himself dropped in to watch his son play ball There were more eyes on the stands than on the field that day And some very creative heckles for Trevor to endure Or so Ive been told

The Hawks currently reside in the Independent Pioneer League,andplayedinthechampionshipseriesin2021.They unfortunatelylost2gamesto1totheMissoulaPaddleheads which is just a fantastic name for a ballclub.

TheSalem-KeizerVolcanoes

First and foremost: I love a hyphenated sports team. Why play for only one geographic area when you can have multiple? It just seems like good business.

Secondly, I love it when sports teams really go for it with

AwesomeInstagramPhotooftheWeek

ThisphotooftheOceanConcretefacility(whichhas beenoperatingsince1920onGranvilleIsland)was takenandsharedbyStephenTadghwhogoesbythe handle@stephentadgh.

Forachancetohaveyourphotofeaturedhereandonour Instagramaccount,tagyourInstagramphotoswiththe hashtag#vancouverisawesome.

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Ghostofnwleaguecontinuedfrompage8

theirnicknames.What’smorepowerfulanddevastatingthan avolcano?Anearthquake?Ameteorshower?Asolarflare? Youtellme.

TheVolcanoesarealsostillplayingbaseballandareactually charter members of the Mavericks Independent Baseball League, which is a four-team, independent league entirely based in the Salem Metropolitan Statistical Area and play all their home games at the same stadium. Which is pretty awesome

Whoknows?MaybeonedaythecurrentNorthwestLeague willexpandbeyondsixclubsandwecouldseeoneorbothof these teams again But thats not likely

Fornow,theyliveinourmemories.Andintheirrespective cities.Butthenexttimeyou’reattheNat,maybetakea momenttoremembertheVolcanoesandtheHawksandall thejoytheybroughtuswhentheC’swouldthumpthem.

ByRyanBeil

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