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Reviving the joys of summer photo by Jim Craven By Greg Stiles Professional baseball may be a thing of the past at Miles Field. But the way John White sees it, that shouldn�t keep Medford from fielding a summer team worth watching. For the past three years, White has worked with Rogue Valley youngsters at a baseball school founded by former Southern Oregon Timberjacks owner Fred Herrmann. He�s seen dozens of players go off to college. Many of those players return to the valley in the summer but are too old for American Legion baseball. That means players have to go elsewhere for the summer. Rogue Valley Baseball Academy WHAT � Weight training, conditioning and baseball on 90-foot bases five to six days a week year-round. EMPHASIS � Hitting, pitching, defense, base running, personal organization, mental preparation. AIM � To improve baseball players� skills, but multiple-sport athletes are welcome for shorter periods. COST � $1,200 annually, although limited scholarships are available. Donations toward the scholarship fund are accepted. CLINICS � Saturday clinics, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. are held September. and October. A new defensive position is broken down each week. Guest coaches are Jim McAbee and John Bruce. Games follow at 1 p.m. INDIVIDUAL HITTING � Instruction available for $20 an hour for anyone 10 years and older. SOFTBALL � A fastpitch school is in the works for this fall and winter. When the Timberjacks left the country for British Columbia, White and others mulled over the possibility of a college-level summer team that would call Miles Field home. More to the point, why not recruit the players who had attended Rogue Valley Baseball Academy? "There was no place for them and they either had to go down to California or not play at all," White says. "The hope is to make it something worthwhile and put together a nucleus that will be committed throughout the summer." White, former North Medford coach Jim McAbee and businessmen Steve DeClerck and Greg Glass got together to consider options. Just in the past two years, nearly two dozen players from the academy have gone on to play one form or another of college ball. Beyond tapping into that pool, White surmises the club would also draw players from Oregon Tech�s resurrected program. "Hopefully, we could bring in some additional pitching through connections we have in the baseball community," he says. White says he doesn�t know what the team will be called. But he notes there is a plenty of Timberjacks paraphernalia sitting around the complex. The group hopes to eventually link with the Pacific International League. But the PIL franchise fees have jumped dramatically � to $50,000 � in the past couple of years. The price tag, White says, "could alter what we end up doing. We�ll probably go independent with (the PIL being) the vision we have in mind." The PIL has 10 teams in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia, with league teams often competing against other non-league teams from their areas, as well as teams from Alaska, Idaho, and California. "I think we need to do some marketing," White says. The team�s budget for approximately 55 games would be around $30,000 � mostly raised through sponsorships. White says well-promoted Pacific International teams draw 800 to 1,200 fans a game, while other teams draw 300-400. "We would hope to be at the 800 level," White says. "One of the things we�ve talked about quite extensively is that we�d have the concession stands manned by Babe Ruth or American Legion teams where they could realize some of the profits." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA