Tacoma Rainiers
We visit the oldest ballpark in Triple-A baseball, Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, to see the Tacoma Rainiers. We get a good game, great food, excellent entertainment, and an all-time display of baseball skies.
Dad and I arrived at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma for the only Triple-A Minor League game of our trip: a Pacific Coast League clash between the Tacoma Rainiers and the Sacramento River Cats. The venerable Tacoma ballpark opened in 1960 is the oldest park in all of Triple-A baseball — by 28 years. But the lighting towers are much older, reclaimed from Seals Stadium in San Francisco, where the Giants first played when they moved to the west coast. Cheney Stadium seats 6,500 and has been renovated several times, adding 96,000 square feet of steel and a roof made from Douglas fir beams. The wooden roof, the surrounding trees, and a view of Mt. Rainier from the third-base line (on clearer days than ours) give the ballpark an appropriately Northwest woodsy feel.
Tacoma keeps a seat reserved for the statue of businessman Ben Cheney, a timber baron who gave financial support to hundreds of local amateur sports teams (often called the “Cheney Studs”), and whose name is now on the ballpark. Cheney had acquired an 11 percent share in the San Francisco Giants by 1959, as the team began looking to replace Phoenix as their Triple-A affiliate. Cheney suggested Tacoma, then led the effort to get a ballpark built in 42 days, just in time for the start of the 1960 season. He put $100,000 of his own money into the effort to ensure it happened.
A robust playground with a Wiffle Ball field was already in full swing on the right-field side. A line of youngsters, several in matching uniforms, stood waiting for their turn, patiently enduring several whiffs between each whack.
I walked behind the stands to the Tacoma Hall of Fame, celebrating some of the greatest contributors to Tacoma baseball, including Juan Marichal, who pitched in Cheney Stadium’s inaugural season in 1960, going 11-5 with a 3.11 ERA for the Tacoma Giants; Matty Alou, who also played for that 1960 team, hitting .306 with 73 RBI; Gaylord Perry, a two-time Cy Young Award winner who pitched in 58 games over four years for Tacoma; and Tom Kelly, who began his managing career in Tacoma in 1977 before winning two World Series titles with the Minnesota Twins.
Tacoma has hosted professional baseball for over 130 years. While its current club is affiliated with Seattle, its early professional teams (the Robbers, Colts, Owls, Tigers and Cubs) often battled Seattle opponents (with names like the Blues, Rainmakers, Clamdiggers, Chinooks, and Siwashes).
A Tacoma team played in the Pacific Coast League in 1903, and the Tacoma Tigers won the league title the next two years before moving to Sacramento. Seattle then fielded PCL teams named the Rainiers from 1919-21 and 1938-64. Triple-A baseball returned to Tacoma in 1960 with the Giants affiliation, which switched to the Cubs in 1966, the Twins in 1972, the Yankees in 1978, the Indians (as the Tacoma Tugs) in 1979, and the A’s (as the Tacoma Tigers) from 1981-94. The Rainiers have been the Triple-A affiliate of the Mariners since 1995, winning six league titles, the last in 2021. The team has the distinction of being the closest Triple-A affiliate to its MLB team, just 36 miles from T-Mobile Park in Seattle.
I continued down the outer concourse past a merchandise kiosk, then went into the team store. I hoped to convince myself to buy a Rainiers hat, though a pre-trip analysis did not produce merch options that moved me.
And oh yes, they had hats. Many hats. Many colors, many styles. Many R’s. Too many R’s? I couldn’t pull the trigger.
I went to our seats to get Dad’s dinner order while Rhubarb the Reindeer prepared for the ceremonial first pitch with kids on the field.
Tacoma has a strong concessions game, ranging from Ivar’s fish and chips, fish tacos, and chowder; to the Fowl Territory spicy chicken sandwich and garlic fries; to R Haus’ double-smoked brat, jalapeño cheddar brat, and self-proclaimed “Best Hot Dog in Baseball,” with grilled onions and fancy mustard.
Dad likes his dogs and so opted for the “Best Dog in Baseball.” He enjoyed it. It was a good dog. But Dad did not concur with the claim being made with respect to its bestness in the dog category.
I went with the Brisket Burnt Ends Dog with BBQ sauce and chili. It may look and sound like an absolute mess, but it was truly great.
The Rainiers lineup included a player of particular interest to me: Jarred Kelenic, a top prospect who I had seen make an incredible, bottom-of-the-ninth, all-out diving catch to temporarily save the game for the High-A Modesto Nuts in 2019 against the Visalia Rawhide. Kelenic made a meteoric rise through the Mariners system, appearing for Seattle as early as 2021. But he had struggled mightily ever since, posting a batting average well below .200 at the Major League level. Back in Tacoma for additional seasoning, he was hitting closer to .300.
Konner Wade
Konner Wade, took the mound for the Rainiers. Wade was pitching in his eighth — and as it turned out, final — season in Minor League baseball. Drafted in the seventh round in 2013 by the Colorado Rockies, Wade had put up a 2.96 ERA in 20 games with the Triple-A Norfolk Tides in 2021, earning him a brief callup to the Baltimore Orioles before being traded to the Mariners. At age 30, Wade’s clock was ticking.
He gave up a run on two hits in the top of the first. But Wade found his groover thereafter, giving up just one more hit over the next four innings for a very strong start.
The River Cats responded with Anthony DeSclafani, a Major League veteran who had been in the San Francisco Giants rotation before experiencing pain in his right ankle. This would be DeSclafani’s only start for Sacramento; he would undergo season-ending ankle surgery a month later.
The Rainiers put the first four runners on base, scoring two runs. They followed it up with two more in the second to take an early 4-1 lead.
DeSclafani was done by the third inning. In the fifth, the Rainiers got back-to-back homers from third baseman Erick Mejia and left fielder Marcus Wilson. By the end of the fifth, the Tacoma had cruised to a 6-1 lead.
Our evening was driven by the kinetic energy of on-field host Casey Catherwood, who committed to every between-inning bit with geek-chic zeal. Games included Blame the Baby, in which a baby is set on the outfield grass and directed toward three different prize choices. Our baby — no doubt overwhelmed by, well, everything — just sat down on the grass and made no effort toward the prizes. Blame the baby.
There was an elaborate skit with a harried waiter and Catherwood asking a fan if he would like fresh ground pepper with his chicken tenders; an Epic Sax Gorilla dance party in the stands; and “Is It Wine?” in which contestants have to make a multiple-choice guess as to which liquid they have just consumed from a comically large wine glass. Maybe it’s wine, maybe it’s prune juice, maybe it’s gravy. The game is accompanied by a musical refrain that worms its way into my brain to this day.
Tacoma on-field host Casey Catherwood
In the sixth inning, the Rainiers replaced Wade with Ken Giles, who had pitched for three Major League teams before being acquired by the Mariners in 2021. After striking out his first batter, he gave up a double, a single, and three walks, ending his brief appearance and allowing the River Cats to close the gap to 6-4. Giles would be released by Seattle two months later, having given up eight earned runs in seven innings in Tacoma.
As the game approached its final innings and daylight receded, the skies above Cheney Stadium exploded with wild color. Ripples of salmon and eggplant gave way to a stunning radiation of orange and magenta spilling over the treetops. It was one of the most intense sunsets I had ever seen, a gift from the baseball gods to complete a perfect scene.
Light-hitting River Cats catcher Michael Papierski tightened the game in the eighth with a solo home run, his second hit of the game. But Rainiers closer Matt Brash shut the door on Sacramento, giving the home team the win, 6-5.
It had been a fantastic night: a competitive game, good ballpark food, excellent entertainment, an all-time display of baseball skies, and a win for the home team. We were primed for our call-up to the big leagues the next night with the Seattle Mariners.