DRC: Mean Green Baseball Project continues to push dream of reviving program

[Brett Vito]

 

[Dannymacfan]

I sure wish the school and the AD would get more behind these guys.  Having baseball would be awesome in the spring for us.  It is such a great way for people to reconnect with the college in the better weather months after basketball is over.  Surely there is a general university fund that we could tap into to get this initiative off the ground.

[meanJewGreen]

23 hours ago, Dannymacfan said:

I sure wish the school and the AD would get more behind these guys.  Having baseball would be awesome in the spring for us.  It is such a great way for people to reconnect with the college in the better weather months after basketball is over.  Surely there is a general university fund that we could tap into to get this initiative off the ground.

It’s not that the school isn’t behind them. Athletic center expansion is first priority, and for good reason- we’ve outgrown our current one.

they’re not just adding sports to add them. They’re ensuring the infrastructure is there to support other sports 

[RBP79]

I could of sworn several years ago (5-10) some individual donated some big bucks to be used only for the resurrection of men's baseball....Was I dreaming??

[GrayEagle]

2 hours ago, RBP79 said:

I could of sworn several years ago (5-10) some individual donated some big bucks to be used only for the resurrection of men's baseball....Was I dreaming??

I'm thinking that I had the same dream.

[Mean Green 93-98]

3 hours ago, RBP79 said:

I could of sworn several years ago (5-10) some individual donated some big bucks to be used only for the resurrection of men's baseball....Was I dreaming??

Al Goldfield offered to underwrite the entire baseball program.  That's been at least 10 years ago, probably 15 or more.  But he's gone now.

[Wag Tag]

On 2/17/2023 at 1:42 PM, Dannymacfan said:

I sure wish the school and the AD would get more behind these guys.  Having baseball would be awesome in the spring for us.  It is such a great way for people to reconnect with the college in the better weather months after basketball is over.  Surely there is a general university fund that we could tap into to get this initiative off the ground.

$$$$$$?????

[NT80]

6 minutes ago, Wag Tag said:

$$$$$$?????

Other schools find a way...

[El Paso Eagle]

May not be popular but Mods need to be consistent. If you're gonna move other post off the football board don't pick and choose - Be consistent. 

[MeanGreen22]

4 hours ago, NT80 said:

Other schools find a way...

I don’t want to “find a way”. I want baseball as much as anyone but only if the school has the time, resources, and support to do so. If not, best not half ass it just to have it. 

[UNTLifer]

Many of the schools shown above, UTSA and FAU, just started playing football so historically they went with a cheaper sport, baseball and didn't have football.

Rice was in the SWC for years and had the funding to make it happen while also having sub-par facilities elsewhere.

LA Tech.  Good question.  They do more with less than any university out there.

[NT80]

3 hours ago, El Paso Eagle said:

May not be popular but Mods need to be consistent. If you're gonna move other post off the football board don't pick and choose - Be consistent. 

[El Paso Eagle]

39 minutes ago, NT80 said:

My wife often asks me the same question 

[keith]

What's the general process here to include another varsity sport?  Do you start as a club team first and then move up or is it one minute you don't have a program and the next you do?  If it's the former, we have a hockey club team that seems to be decent.  Would it be easier to elevate a club team to full varsity status than it is starting a new sport from scratch?  Ignore the tile IX aspects for a moment. Would obviously need to be addressed, but the question is more about the process or steps to add a new varsity sport.

[GrayEagle]

24 minutes ago, keith said:

What's the general process here to include another varsity sport?  Do you start as a club team first and then move up or is it one minute you don't have a program and the next you do?  If it's the former, we have a hockey club team that seems to be decent.  Would it be easier to elevate a club team to full varsity status than it is starting a new sport from scratch?  Ignore the tile IX aspects for a moment. Would obviously need to be addressed, but the question is more about the process or steps to add a new varsity sport.

No, they usually start at the varsity level.  Many of the club sports participants are not up to the level of the varsity.  That's especially true of pitching.  There could be a few from the club team that could tryout and are good enough to make the varsity.  Baseball is weird in that many will get a partial scholarship.  From what I remember of the past only good pitchers and hitters get full scholarships.

[GrayEagle]

I don't see how this startup group can get enough money together to build a stadium and outfit a team plus get scholarship money together.  The BOR would have to approve the plans for the stadium or approve the amount to fund the stadium to approve the university's plans.  It won't happen until the Athletics Building expansion is complete and there is still a lot to go on that.

[Dannymacfan]

43 minutes ago, GrayEagle said:

I don't see how this startup group can get enough money together to build a stadium and outfit a team plus get scholarship money together.  The BOR would have to approve the plans for the stadium or approve the amount to fund the stadium to approve the university's plans.  It won't happen until the Athletics Building expansion is complete and there is still a lot to go on that.

Respectfully, it only takes one big check and you could get this program started quickly!  We could use the high school fields until a new stadium is constructed as well.

[ADLER]

On 2/18/2023 at 5:09 PM, Mean Green 93-98 said:

Al Goldfield offered to underwrite the entire baseball program.  That's been at least 10 years ago, probably 15 or more.  But he's gone now.

Much like Mattress Mac, Al reached out to the university and was incredibly generous. Both donated quite a bit of money, each over a million, and were committed to future projects: All wanted to sponsor teh return of baseball. Then they encountered a nasty problem. Thankfully that ugly problem moved to SDSU in late 2010 but the damage to relationships with many of our larger donors had already been done.

[MCMLXXX]

1 hour ago, ADLER said:

Much like Mattress Mac, Al reached out to the university and was incredibly generous. Both donated quite a bit of money, each over a million, and were committed to future projects: All wanted to sponsor teh return of baseball. Then they encountered a nasty problem. Thankfully that ugly problem moved to SDSU in late 2010 but the damage to relationships with many of our larger donors had already been done.

Al gave $1 million for the preliminary excavation work for Apogee. He did want to help fund a baseball program. After he and Shirley divorced he remarried and moved to Florida. The last time I spoke with him was when he came to a game in 2017. Unfortunately, he fell ill within a year or so and died. A friend of mine told he his children's pastime of choice is Rednecks with a Paycheck.