PORT ANGELES — Plans to land a West Coast League baseball team in Port Angeles next year will step up to the plate beginning this week.
The city’s portion of a proposed Civic Field use agreement with Matt Acker of Lacey, already owner of the West Coast League’s Kitsap BlueJackets, should be ready for review by the City Attorney’s Office by Friday, city Parks and Recreation Director Corey Delikat said last week.
He said Acker will then go over it before it goes back to the City Attorney’s Office.
The agreement could be ready for City Council review by June.
Marc Abshire, Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce executive director, said he views the arrival of a West Coast League team as the latest sign that the city is seeing a resurgence in business.
Delikat also viewed the team’s expected arrival in a positive light.
“It could have a huge impact on the city if the city embraces the team,” he said.
Delikat and Acker will make a presentation to the city Parks, Recreation and Beautification Commission at its May 19 meeting at 6 p.m. at the Vern Burton Community Center, 308 E. Fourth St.
“There isn’t any deal-breaker,” Delikat said of the pact.
Acker used the same terminology in a separate interview last week.
“I don’t think any side sees anything that’s a deal-breaker,” Acker said.
That goes, too, for Wilder Baseball, the venerable senior Babe Ruth baseball team for 16-to-18-year-olds that has played at Civic Field since 1979 and would share diamond-time with the older West Coast League team.
“I think we can work something out,” Wilder Manager Mike Politika said Friday, adding that the team is proud of its history.
“It’s just the details of how we can all share the field, and those are details that will get worked out,” he said.
Delikat said the baseball diamond does not have the same drainage problems as Civic Field’s football field, which has water-saturation issues in the fall and winter.
Acker, an Aberdeen native who has approval from the league to move a team to Port Angeles, said the team’s roster would consist of 35 to 40 college players ages 19-23.
They would stay for 70 days with local families beginning about June 1, 2017, and play 64 games against mostly West Coast League regional teams, half of them home games at Civic Field.
Delikat said vendors will sell food and beer at games, and advertising will be allowed at the stadium.
The wood-bat League has 14 teams, mostly in Washington but some in Oregon, such as Klamath Falls and Medford.
West Coast League teams already exist in Bellingham and Victoria that would provide regional rivalries to help fill about 1,500 seats at Civic Field.
There also are teams in Yakima, Moses Lake and Wenatchee.
Delikat said 250 league players have made it to the big leagues.
“It’s a high caliber of baseball,” he said.
The players keep their skills honed during summer breaks and give 15 baseball clinics that would be open to youths in Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Acker said he plans to open a team store in downtown Port Angeles.
“We think it’s a good place and a good market,” he said.
Delikat likened a team being based in Port Angeles to “bringing in a small business.”
Abshire put West Coast League’s recent interest in the same vein as Jimmy John’s restaurant-sandwich shop opening a franchise in Port Angeles this month and Chevrolet’s recent selection of Ruddell Auto Mall to sell that brand.
“With that league coming, it really underscores Port Angeles as a destination, not so much as an economic impact from the players’ standpoint but more for regional visitors coming to Port Angeles,” Abshire said.
Acker said other towns, such as Walla Walla, home of the Sweets, have seen economic success with West Coast League teams.
The Sweets draw “several hundred, maybe a thousand” spectators to games at that city’s Borleske Stadium, which has played host to the team since its summer 2010 inaugural season, Steve Owens, director of member services for the Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce, said Friday.
Restaurants have reaped benefits, as have hotels, Owens said.
Vendors also sponsor events at games, and some organizations, such as St. Mary Medical Center, have sponsored games, such as the hospital’s Night at the Sweets.
“There’s always fans of both teams at games,” Owens added.
“Walla Walla has the advantage of being somewhat of a tourist attraction.
“Anytime people have an opportunity to see a couple ballgames on a nice, 80-degree summer evening and do some wine-tasting, that’s kind of an attractive draw.”
Acker acknowledged that Port Angeles does not have a wine industry on the same scale as Walla Walla’s.
“But you’ve got Hurricane Ridge,” he said of the jewel of the Olympics.
The snow-capped peaks loom in the distance from bleacher seats at Civic Field.
“Features of the Earth are in your face, the water, the mountains,” Acker said.
“It’s not like the rest of Puget Sound.
“There, it’s just on top of you.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
