UW offers a variety of sports to students, athletes and fans, but one sport that needs to come back is baseball.
The program was cut in 1996 after funding problems and Title IX requirements. Because the University didn’t have equal or more women’s sports teams, it was necessary to cut the baseball program altogether to even things out. The program they cut, although not the winningest collegiate baseball team, should have been preserved and teams added to the women’s side to allow baseball to stick around.
The UW baseball team had been around since the early 20th century, and during that time they did all right, producing around seven major league baseball players and reaching the College World Series in 1956 under head coach Bud Daniel. Daniel coached the team for 20 years, and during that time won five conference titles and a spot in the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
According to the Baseball Reference site, some notable names that played baseball include Greg Brock, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1979 and played for 10 years and over 1,013 games. Brock batted .248 during his career and knocked in 462 RBIs. Another player was Art Howe, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, but played the majority of his 11 years in the majors for the Houston Astros. An additional successful Poke was Jeff Huson, who played in the MLB for 12 years, although he only played 827 games during that time. These are just a few of the names of UW baseball players that went onto the majors, and with proper funding and management, it would be exciting to see more UW alum being called up to the big leagues.
One major problem with college baseball that Laramie residents can probably relate to is weather. With baseball being such a temperamental sport that needs nearly perfect weather conditions to operate, Laramie isn’t a very good fit for the sport. In my time in Laramie, I’ve noticed that there are maybe three months of good, snowless weather at best. With baseball season starting in the heart of the spring, it would be very tough for the team to get out on the field for both practices and games. I imagine this was another reason why the baseball program was seen as expendable, but the team made it work for many years prior to that.
I think what should be done (bear with me, this is all going to be expensive) is add a women’s sport. It could be a softball team, but any sport will do. Then, I think the college should bring back the baseball team. Now for the expensive part—the university could build a turf indoor practice facility/baseball stadium. If the university crunched the numbers and collected data on how much money is made by college baseball teams around the country, I bet it would be possible to convince the state and donors to aide with funding. The stadium could then be used for women’s softball and men’s baseball, as well as state tournaments for high school, little league and softball. I’m not a doctor but I think that the college could eventually make their money back and provide a nice facility for the city and the state.
There was a small glimmer of hope for UW baseball in 2012, when a $250,000 study of the revival of softball and baseball was removed from legislature. I think this shows that there is some interest for baseball to come back, and if the state and the college could figure out the financial side, it could be a definite possibility.
I’m hoping that UW will eventually bring back the nation’s pastime to Laramie. What better way to relieve some exam stress than to sit back, watch baseball, drink some beer, and cheer on the Pokes.
