Shatel: Chasers show there’s room for two
when going head-to-head with CWS
Just before hot, high noon on Wednesday, the colors stormed the Werner Park gates. Neon green, orange, blue, red, yellow and purple.
There were 4,000 kids from north Omaha and surrounding clubs and camps, all wearing brightly colored T-shirts, all with eyes as wide as the Vortex mascot.
Now came the big kids, men in their 40s and 50s, wearing Kansas City Royals jerseys and hats and Omaha Storm Chasers shirts. There were Twins hats and a guy in a San Francisco Giants bucket hat, Yankees jerseys, Cubs jerseys.
There were the dudes heading for the Jack Daniel’s club. A mom pushing a stroller. Some chums heading for the whiffle ball field.
And the neon green shirts had found the merry-go-round.
A baseball carnival not named the College World Series was open for business Wednesday outside Papillion. More than 7,000 baseball fans came out to watch a game, drink a beer, hear the crack of a wooden bat and maybe see a home run or two.
Oh, is there another baseball game going on somewhere else?
You wouldn’t know it at cuddly Werner Park, home of the Omaha Storm Chasers, who play here from April through August. And now play here during the CWS.
It’s about time. And the perfect time.
“June is our month to shine,” said Martie Cordaro, Storm Chasers president and general manager. “June and July are our big months. School’s out.”
And yet, for years, the idea of Omaha’s Class AAA club starting an eight-game homestand smack in the middle of the CWS was as likely as the idea of a ballpark in Sarpy County.
The Chasers played opposite the CWS on Tuesday night, drawing 5,000 while the college kids drew 24,285.
Omaha will go up against the CWS tonight and Friday night. The Storm Chasers’ game is the one with “Thirsty Thursday” drink specials, and the big Boy Scout sleepover in the stadium on Friday night. After fireworks, of course.
Fireworks in June. What a concept.
This is the fourth summer in Werner Park for the Chasers, and their fourth year of home games during the CWS. It’s worked out well.
The Chasers had four home games apiece during the CWS in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and two so far this year. In those 14 games, they drew a total of 92,608. That’s an average of 6,614 during the CWS.
That’s 92,608 very big reasons they wanted their own ballpark.
Getting evicted from Rosenblatt Stadium for two weeks every year was bad for business. It got to the point that the Pacific Coast League complained — because Omaha’s annual two-week roadie was impacting other teams’ schedules — and made a recommendation that the Royals/Storm Chasers find another alternative. It stopped short of an ultimatum by the league.
“It never came to that,” Cordaro said. “We found a new home.”
And nobody, from Cordaro to the clubhouse boy, complained one bit.
“It was 16 games on the road, but I always treated it like one eight-game road trip,” said Mark Nasser, who has been the Triple-A team’s broadcaster for 14 years. “You’d take clothes for eight games, then do laundry in the middle of it.
“The worst part was having to pack up and move everything out of the offices and the clubhouse so the CWS could move in. And then two weeks later you had to unpack and move back in.”
Now they can actually take in the CWS. Cordaro went with his father on Sunday night, and Nasser went last night.
Manager Brian Poldberg, who grew up in Carter Lake, Iowa, and still lives there, can always dream.
“I drive by that stadium every day,” Poldberg said, “but I’ve never been in it. I’d like to go again sometime.”
“When I was young we went all the time,” Poldberg said. “Arizona State and USC used to come practice at the park (in Carter Lake). Rod Dedeaux would show up. We would go to their games, sit in those bleachers, right and left. I love the series.”
Poldberg’s mind wasn’t on the home run totals at TDA or whether Texas or Irvine would advance. His Chasers saw a seven-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday, but they’re back in first place. All eyes were on left-hander Bruce Chen, on rehab assignment in Omaha. He struck out 11 in five innings.
Meanwhile, Dodger fans in the audience could watch Albuquerque star Joc Pederson and dream of the day he gets called up.
This is a different world from the CWS, more business than innocence, as much job as dream. Where hitting streaks and slumps can change careers.
“Is it a different sport? Absolutely,” Nasser said. “At the same time, it’s baseball.
“I enjoy going to see the college kids and try to figure out who might be up here one day. It’s like going to a Storm Chasers game, and figuring out who is going to be up in Kansas City.
“But the thing about it is, most of the guys (at the CWS) won’t ever get to this level. That’s the big difference.”
But as he looked at the neon green kids heading for the bounce house, he remembered it’s not that different, either.
“There’s a carnival here, too,” Nasser said.
That’s more rides, and more baseball, for Omaha.
