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Press Box
Cindy Luis
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Memory trip around the HWB bases
It was reminiscent of that old Classics IV song "Traces." Along the lines of "pages from an old love letter ... souvenirs of days together."
It was a quest for history, and not just any history. It was the search for the score book that documented the inaugural Hawaii Winter Baseball game of 1993.
Along the way, items of great interest -- and not so great interest -- were uncovered.
» Box scores from the Hawaii Islanders' last home stand of 1987. (Where did you go, Mike Yastrzemski, after making the final out in the Triple-A franchise's 25-year history?)
» Press badges from events that continue to exist and some that vanished as if they never existed. (Anyone else remember the Tour O Hawaii cycling race on the Big Island?)
Finally, there it was. Buried in a box in the garage, buried in the middle of an "Official Baseball Score Book" that includes the NCAA regional game on May 25, 1992, at Sancet Field in Tucson, Ariz. The game lifted soon-to-be-champion Pepperdine into the College World Series via a 9-0 shutout of Hawaii.
Oct. 13, 1993. Vulcans Stadium. Hilo Stars 9, Honolulu Sharks 4.
First pitch? Exactly at 6:30 p.m., by Hilo's Joe Roa, he of the nasty breaking ball.
First at-bat? By Honolulu center fielder Marquis Riley, a victim of the aforementioned breaking ball, caught looking at a third strike on a 2-2 pitch.
First run? The crowd (official ticket count of 1,455, but hundreds more either in the stands on comp tickets or up on the hillside) saw the Stars' 19-year-old center fielder scamper home, a skinny 5-foot-9 rookie from Japan who used two names that night: Ichiro Suzuki.
There was an excitement that evening, where the normally sleepy town of Hilo became the center of the baseball universe. The weather held up, or rather held off, with a scattering of showers, more a blessing than anything else.
It was an amazing night for hometown boy Duane Kurisu, HWB owner and dreamer, to bring such a novel concept of a world league of farm teams to the plate.
"I remember telling Duane that night that to start from minus zero to getting pro ball to Hawaii was a hell of an accomplish," said Clyde Nekoba, current HWB vice president and director of operations, who was the Hilo Stars' general manager. "This is so much more than the first time around. We are an established league in the eyes of Major League Baseball, Japan and Korea.
"I look at the rosters and, wow, the caliber is a lot higher, the potential is greater than before."
There was such an excitement that night in Hilo 13 years ago, a glimpse of the future of the sport as well as of a budding superstar who now needs just one name.