Eureka Memories: Media plays along to diminish how Crabs' glory has faded over time

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For a kid who grew up idolizing every member of the Humboldt Crabs summer baseball team from 1964 to 1973, I caught more hell for how the club was covered as a newspaper sports editor than anyone in that job before or after me.

One minute going to Crabs games at old, old, old Albee Stadium in Eureka and then the Arcata Ball Park is the highlight of my life, the next I'm getting telephone calls at the Times-Standard and hearing, "You're killing us! We can't get fans out here if you don't do bigger stories and run more pictures of the Crabs!"

My history with the Crabs, following the truly great teams, paved the way for the trouble I caused myself as a sports editor of the Times-Standard in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the mid-1960s, I saw the Crabs play the Alaska summer college teams that featured Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Seaver and other future big league greats. The Goldpanners and Glacier Pilots would visit Humboldt County. The Crabs would spend time playing up in Alaska. The Crabs were routinely a featured opponent in the famous "Midnight Sun" game that the Goldpanners play to celebrate the Summer Solstice each year.

Grand Junction, Colo. had one of the best summer college teams in America that would come west to play the Crabs. Then, the Crabs would play Grand Junction and the Boulder, Colo. Collegians on their way back to the National Baseball Congress tournament in Wichita, Kan. The Crabs were loaded with the best college players on the West Coast and they played those teams that had simply fantastic collegiate talent.

The Crabs would bring starters from UCLA, USC, Fresno State, Stanford, Cal and other baseball powers to play and work (part-time jobs) in Humboldt County from June to late July. It was a glorious time for a North Coast baseball fan.

The Bellingham, Wash. Bells and the old Fontanetti's teams from San Jose weren't even close to the best teams I watched the Crabs play -- but they were better than 95 percent of the teams the Crabs were playing when I worked at the Times-Standard. And, they appear to be better than most of the teams the Crabs play currently.

I couldn't, as the newspaper guy who presented for readers the people and events most important on the area sports landscape, games against the Redding Oaks or the Fairfield Indians as big games. When my co-workers and I did the work to find out who played for the visiting teams, we'd report that a group of junior college players or older guys who play in night-time rec leagues were headed to meet the Crabs. That was a far cry from the days when the best players in the country were playing in old Albee Stadium or at the Arcata Ball Park.

I knew the Crabs weren't playing the really great summer college teams. When the Crabs were no longer willing or able to travel to Alaska, Colorado and the national tournament in Kansas -- teams stopped traveling to play them in Humboldt County, too.

I grew up watching the Crabs with guys from Pac-10 starting rotations -- the ace pitchers from USC, Cal, Stanford, etc. There was a Crabs team that lost three infielders, a catcher and two starting pitchers who were drafted...played one weekend in Arcata...then signed professional contracts. It was 1976, maybe 1977. What great talent they had.

There were local guys who could play with anybody and did -- for many, many years. So, while the college stars came and went, My buddies and I became big fan of Humboldt County guys like Bob Bonomini, John Costa and others who were there for years.

Times changed, obviously. My friends and I couldn't stay home and watch the San Francisco Giants on television every night all summer. We didn't have video games or the ability to rent movies to watch at home. We went to Crabs' games because they provided the best entertainment around. Now, the entertainment value has evaporated and alternatives are available.

The talent the Crabs had by the time I was in charge of providing media coverage simply didn't compare to the talent they had when they deserved to be the lead story, with a big "picture," whenever they played. The Crabs started playing adult rec league teams who clearly couldn't compete with the Crabs younger college players.

The Crabs appear to be playing collections of junior college players from different places now. That's a step up from playing former minor leaguers and teams filled with guys who were high school stars a decade back. Still, if junior college baseball players attracted our attention then College of the Redwoods, Solano Community College and Napa Valley College wouldn't have spent decades playing in private, right?

So, I caught hell for not covering the Crabs I was watching like the great Crabs teams who played great opponents that I saw growing up. The Crabs folks sort of expected the newspaper to help market what had become an inferior product.

Seemed like the right thing to do then, but I'd have made a lot more friends if I'd treated the Crabs of 1999 like the Crabs of 1969. Instead, I did what I thought was my job and wrote about the opposition and that the Crabs were no longer attracting NCAA Division I stars.

The media does market the Crabs now and -- why not? They're not stealing prime newspaper space from other major local sports events. I noticed a Humboldt Steelheads' game covered by a staff writer. I wonder what type of crowd the all-local Steelies draw. The club is operated by the Crabs, so I'm amused by the manufactured rivalry between the two teams.

What I came to learn was that the Crabs fans changed as the team changed. My son and his pal were born and raised in Eureka and were fortunate enough to spend two years pitching in the Crabs bullpen. I only saw my son and his friend pitch a couple times, but I realized that the Crabs fans had no idea that they were Humboldt County guys.

Crabs fans, clearly, didn't know that a guy like lefty Hans Smith was a collegiate long reliever, not Fresno State's ace. They didn't care. They cheered for the Crabs uniforms and they were cheered by the atmosphere at the Arcata Ball Park. My son and his friend wouldn't have earned spots on the Crabs rosters of the 1960s and 1970s. The pitching was far too good to have room for two good local arms.

I finally figured all this out over time. We stuck to covering the old Humboldt Eagles Connie Mack League team and the local American Legion teams on par with the Crabs. I remember one week for catching hell that my son was mentioned in a Crabs game story, then catching hell for only having a 5-inch Crabs story ... when my son had one of his best games in the two years he played for the team. It was clear that I wasn't going to win in regard to the Crabs.

I suppose I was too close to the Crabs as a fan to appreciate and adjust quickly to what the team has become over the last few decades. Seems like folks are pleased with the newspaper coverage of the team now.

Times have changed, that's all.