The Gate City Grays have infused a new energy level into Pocatello this summer. They’ve created a buzz. It’s something you can see waft through the air on a steamy summer night.
Or maybe that’s just smoke from the grill.
Either way, the Grays have brought baseball back to the Gate City. It’s always been here, most notably in high school and legion baseball. But let’s be honest — from a fan perspective, not many show up to those games. Because of that, I assumed Grays games at Halliwell Park would be just as empty.
I was wrong. Pocatello has embraced the Grays beyond what I thought was possible. I believe co-owners Terry and Erica Fredrickson would say the same thing. They both knew they loved baseball and they wanted Pocatello to have its own team. To have 1,000 fans regularly pile into Halliwell has been the story of the summer.
The best part about Grays fans is their passion. They pay attention. They show up early and stay through both games when there are doubleheaders. They’re tuned in. It really has shown me that Pocatello loves baseball. I had no reason to believe that before the Grays arrived.
The Grays’ story in year one is one of triumph, for both the players on Gate City’s roster, the owners, the management and biggest of all, baseball fans in southeastern Idaho.
But all of it, and I mean all of it, is in mortal danger of withering away.
The Grays and the Northern Utah Baseball League are in a tenuous relationship. I sense a twinge of hostility from the Utah teams toward Pocatello. NUBL commissioner Justin Jensen said the league has accepted teams from Pocatello in the past and they’ve always folded. Those earlier teams — squads not associated with the Grays — couldn’t handle the travel down south and struggled to field full rosters.
Of course those sort of issues with the Grays have not surfaced. Instead, Gate City, which has already wrapped up the postseason’s No. 1 seed, started the final week of the regular season five games ahead of second-place Smithfield and a whopping 18.5 games in front of the last-place Hyrum Hornets.
My personal sense is that some of the friction between the Grays and the rest of the league is born from miscommunication. Jensen, in a phone conversation with the Journal, said umpires in Grays games at home have not always enforced the NUBL’s codes of conduct. Jensen did not specify exactly what he was referring to, but it sounded like the Grays, at least from the viewpoint of the league, have not facilitated a family atmosphere at Halliwell Park.
Grays fans have yelled verbal insults to opposing players, ranging from utterly harmless remarks to something stronger — not words you would scream toward a friendly neighbor, but maybe those you would hear in the average MLB game.
From what I can tell, though, that’s only part of the story. The rest, in my opinion, stems from the simple fact that the Grays are playing at a different level than the rest of the league, both on the field and more importantly off of it.
Gate City is like that basketball player who shows up in open gym and takes it too seriously. He throws all his weight into a box out and yells at his teammates to pick up the intensity on defense when he’s the only one pressing full court. Everybody else went to the open gym to put up a few jumpers, maybe work up a sweat and have a fun, relaxing time. But the Grays went to that gym looking to play some basketball.
The Fredricksons showed up in the NUBL with a plan, a goal to put together the best team they could so the Grays would compete at a high level right away. In tryouts, guys like Diego and Fernando Robles and Jon Matos showed up. Throw them on the field with locals like Ryan Udy and Tony McCarty and, boom, you’ve got the best team in the NUBL.
In the Grays’ season opener at Halliwell Park, fans showed up in droves. Halliwell’s parking lot suddenly looked too small and it was standing room only inside the ballpark. The atmosphere? Electric. Jovial. Juiced.
So not only did Gate City field the league’s best roster but they’re drawing crowds five to 10 times larger than any other team in the league. Can you imagine if the St. Louis Cardinals were the only team in MLB that drew well and every other ballclub was like the Miami Marlins? From a fan standpoint, that’s the difference between the Grays and the rest of the league.
Is that a relationship that can work long term? The NUBL, Jensen said, is not out to make money. But the Grays are a financial success in ticket sales, merchandise and concessions.
The Grays wanted to host the postseason tournament, a change of plans from when the league, including the Grays, agreed to host it in northern Utah. But that was before Gate City knew it would field the best team. Who doesn’t think the postseason’s No. 1 seed shouldn’t host at least one game in the playoffs?
The league had a choice to make. It could have hosted the postseason tournament in Pocatello and made money doing it. Instead, it will all go down in Utah, a decision that will cost the NUBL thousands of dollars.
Again, Jensen says the league’s mission isn’t about money, but it seems like hosting the tournament at Halliwell Park would have been a great opportunity for the league to grow in a new market and secure a strong foothold in Pocatello long term.
The NUBL seems set in its ways. They’ve been playing their postseason tournaments in Utah for years and the opportunity to enhance the league’s popularity (while earning a profit) wasn’t an attractive option.
Jensen, who as the commissioner of the NUBL works for the owners and is not making these decisions, said he asked the league’s managers if they wanted to consider moving the postseason to Pocatello. The answer was a resounding no.
So the Grays’ final home games of the season are today, a doubleheader against Hyrum. The question becomes whether they are the last games for Gate City as part of the NUBL in Halliwell Park.
Jensen said the Grays and the league will get through this year and then reevaluate their future together moving forward. I can tell you that the Fredricksons don’t want to go anywhere else. They’re grateful for the league and excited to travel south for the postseason next week.
But I’m not convinced the positive feelings flow both ways.
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