Eugene Emeralds
We go to our last Minor League game at PK Park in Eugene, home of the University of Oregon Ducks and the defending (and future) Northwest League champs, the Eugene Emeralds.
To get to PK Park in Eugene, you need to walk down a corridor with Autzen Stadium (home of the University of Oregon Ducks football team) on your left side, and Papé Field (home of the Ducks soccer team) on the right. You will then reach the right-field gate of a ballpark named for former University of Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny, who helped get the facility funded. The Ducks “O” logo is emblazoned on the artificial turf outfield. You are in Oregon Ducks territory.
This has been a longstanding issue for the ballpark’s Minor League tenant, the Eugene Emeralds. The High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants needs a place to call its own. And this is no superficial need: Beyond the desire to have a ballpark that truly feels like home, flush with Emeralds branding, the team needs to have some control over its facilities to meet Major League Baseball’s new standards for its Minor League operations.
The Emeralds are currently working with the city on a deal for a new ballpark at the Lane Events Center, about two miles southwest of PK Park. If everything goes well, construction could start in 2023 and be completed for the beginning of the 2025 season — just in time to meet Major League Baseball’s deadlines.
In the meantime, the club does a good job bringing as much Emeralds flavor to the ballpark as it can, beginning with the team store located right inside the gate. A huge “EMERALDS” sign above the pop-up store blocks out the gigantic Oregon Ducks sign behind it — from a certain angle.
I had my heart set on acquiring a stomping sasquatch hat, worn by the team during home games. It may have been my most anticipated purchase of the trip. But when we arrived, they had exactly one hat left in this style, and it was about five sizes too small. (Worry not, dear reader: Santa has since brought a happy ending to this saga.)
PK Park opened in 2009 with temporary seating and added a permanent grandstand the following year. It officially seats 4,000, but it once hosted 5,097 fans for a 20-inning July 4 game between the Emeralds and the Boise Hawks. In 2022, the Ems averaged about 2,100 fans per game.
So many Minor League ballclubs have histories that are difficult to follow: eight different names over the years, teams moving to different locales, a decade or more with no baseball at all. Stability has not been the hallmark of Minor League baseball.
The Ems are an anomaly. Founded in 1955 as the Eugene Emeralds, they remain the Eugene Emeralds, playing continuously in the Northwest League and Pacific Coast League. They have been affiliated with nine different Major League clubs in that time, with the Giants taking over from the Chicago Cubs in 2021.
The Emeralds were coming off the team’s seventh Northwest League title in 2021 and had won the first half in 2022. On the night we saw them play, the club had 11 of the top 22 Giants prospects on its roster. Things were looking up in Eugene.
The Emeralds were already leading the pack after the first five games of the second half. They would be going up against the Everett AquaSox, the third time we would see that team and their talented shortstop, Seattle Mariners top prospect Noelvi Marte.
Sluggo
The AquaSox struck straight away. A two-out walk led to a two-run homer for right fielder Alberto Rodriguez, the #7 prospect in the Mariners organization at the time.
In the third inning, Marte singled to right field, stole second base, and came home on a hit by catcher Andy Thomas. In the bottom half, the Emeralds managed to squeeze a bases-loaded walk from AquaSox pitcher Prelander Berroa. Everett led it 3-1.
I really meant to eat a cheesesteak at PK Park, which reportedly does them well. I just wasn’t hungry when I got there. Perhaps it was the foot-long Kielbasa tube I consumed the day before — who can say? Whatever the reason, it exposed a lack of proper road trip preparation that brings me shame to this day, because I think I would have loved that cheesesteak.
The bats for both teams went quiet for the next few innings. Berroa and his immediate relief, left-hander Peyton Alford, would hold Eugene to just one hit combined through six innings.
The Emeralds staff ran games throughout the night, with a blindfolded man crawling toward a prize with the crowd’s help; a tricycle race on the warning track; a ball toss through a board promoting Prince Puckler’s Gourmet Ice Cream; something that was technically advertised as karaoke; kids running across the outfield; and a giant-hamburger assembly race in which the contestants were dressed as buns.
I walked down the left-field line to see the patio seating in the group picnic area. Emeralds General Manager Allan Benevides came through soon after to greet his guests.
In the far corner, the AquaSox bullpen — perhaps not fully engaged in the happenings on the field — played a ball-tossing game in which the target was another player’s… um, “cup” area.
The ballgame remained 3-1 after six innings. There was a growing feeling of anticipation in the stands, as fans waited for the talented Eugene lineup to break through.
For the seventh-inning stretch, the crowd was “treated” to the most unusual rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” I’ve ever witnessed. GM Benevides led the singing from a window in an upper-level suite while getting a live prostate exam — all to promote prostate screenings at a local medical center. His performance could be described as unsteady, but the high notes were flawless.
AquaSox catcher Cole Barr homered to right in the top of the seventh to make it 4-1. Emeralds center fielder Luis Matos (the #3 prospect in the Giants organization) answered with a solo shot to left-center in the bottom of the seventh; and Eugene designated hitter Jairo Pomares (the #6 prospect) hit one to right-center in the bottom of the eighth. The Ems went into the ninth down 4-3, having collected just three hits on the night, all solo home runs.
That’s when a Sasquatch wearing an Emeralds jersey appeared in right field. The hairy beast danced about, disrobed provocatively, whipped his jersey around to rally the crowd, and jogged back into the woods. Despite this endorsement from the reclusive giant, Everett closer Isaiah Campbell set down the Emeralds in order in the final inning, and the home team went quietly into this good night.
But there would be more good times to come. Eugene won the second half and went on to claim back-to-back Northwest League titles, sweeping the Vancouver Canadians in the championship series in September.