The Humboldt Crabs are the North Coast's summer college baseball team. It's the oldest such baseball program around. In the Eureka-Arcata area, the Crabs are treated like a professional minor league baseball team.
Solano County baseball fans would be surprised to know that the Crabs get loads of media attention, have games broadcast on the radio and that they routinely play the Fairfield Indians and Solano Mudcats. The two Solano County teams play men's adult league baseball at Allen Witt Park in Fairfield, a park without any bleachers.
Crabs fans take the club completely seriously. Much is made of the league the Crabs play in. When even the Fairfield Indians or Solano Mudcats go north, hundreds of fans turn out to cheer on the home team and heckle the visitors who got a day or two off work to go play baseball in Arcata.
There was a time when the Humboldt Crabs attracted the finest college players from the best college programs in the United States. The Crabs would routinely have stars from UCLA, USC, Fresno State, Stanford, Cal, etc. Now, the Crabs are made up of mostly underclassmen from less prominent baseball schools with the core of the team being the locally-produced stars who couldn't crack the lineup for decades when the Crabs were truly an attraction to national-level stars.
The Crabs' league affiliation changes a lot, probably because they play 95 percent of their games at home. A couple quick road trips in recent seasons gives the appearance that whatever league they're in now is for real and legitimate.
As has been the case since the Crabs simply became a local show for fans isolated hours and miles from an alternative form of summer sports entertainment, this year's league tournament is set for Arcata. No other team in the league could draw a big enough crowd for the league tournament to make any team any money. In Arcata, the tournament will draw 1,000 fans a day, maybe more.
Typically, the tournament field is unraveling. Teams that qualified for the event have dropped out. The media up there is treating it like a bit of a scandal, but it's more a matter of the expense of players from hours and hours away not wanting to foot the bill to travel to Arcata for a second time in just a couple of months.
There was a time when the Humboldt Crabs would've been as entertaining, facing the finest summer college baseball teams in the west region, as any level of baseball. Now, after spending a lifetime following for and cheering for the Crabs, folks who've gotten away from Humboldt County see the club is a local attraction for local fans and little more.
One wonders how much interest there would be in the Crabs summer college club if folks on the North Coast knew that they were playing collections of junior college players, men's adult teams, etc. A Solano County team representing Solano Community College went north and plastered the Crabs in July. Only folks who follow SCC baseball would know where that team came from. There was no explanation made available to Crabs' fans.
I miss what the Crabs were in my youth and hope that, someday, they can be taken seriously again.
4 comments:
Why knock both of them? Humboldt Crabs won the championship in 2012 and pretty sure they won it this year. Solano County is straight collegiate baseball now. Not "Mens League." Look it up. I no hit the crabs from the 3rd inning to the 9th inning when they got a walk off bloop hit. Do your research. I know the Crabs might not be what they used to be, but I had one of the times of my life playing there this summer.
Ben...I wrote the blog post 2, 3 years ago and watched and covered the Crabs since 1966. I'm glad you had a good time up there, most visiting teams do. ... My memories of the Crabs when they attracted Pac-8 (then Pac-10, then Cal State Fullerton) stars are mine. They played teams with similar players. ... times have changed. And, if Solano County summer baseball changed in the last 2, 3 years ... great. It's unfair to read a years-old blog and expect it to reflect years worth of changes. TED
Still the crabs had sergio sanchez last year, he could have played at any of the legit schools you mentioned. But because of grades, hes at faulkner an NAIA powerhouse. Your a clown for this post, know the game.
Solano Mudcats getting a day of work. Are you born in a barn? These kids play for the mudcats throughout summer to get ready for there college seasons. This isnt the mens beer league you think it is. Once again know the game before you write factless articles.
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