For a few months each summer, college-aged baseball players come to Oneonta not only to run for home, but to call it home.
The Oneonta Outlaws emerged in the mid-2000s, though iterations of semi-professional and professional baseball teams have called historic Damaschke Field home for more than a century.
According to historicdamaschkefield.com, the field “opened its gates in 1906 and is still going strong as one of the oldest active ballparks in America.”
The Outlaws were formed several years after former mayor Sam Nader’s 2008 sale of the Oneonta Tigers and a move of the team by the new owners to Connecticut.
“Oneonta baseball fans Keith Rogers and Dan Scaring needed something to fill the void,” the site states. “They moved the Saratoga Phillies to Oneonta and dubbed them the Outlaws. The Outlaws consist of ballplayers across the country from all NCAA divisions. The competition level is high and many players use their time in Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League to showcase their abilities in front of scouts with wood bats, as they use metal bats during the spring. At the end of the 2012 season, longtime locals Gary Laing, Steve Pindar, Joe Hughes and Michael Getman formed a crew to run operations, coaching and legal issues.” Today, Laing owns the team.
For incoming and returning players, time on the Outlaws offers a chance to gain skills, experience and camaraderie.
Head coach, former Outlaw and Oneonta native Keaton Mark, 25, said this summer’s roster is diverse.
“We get a various age group,” he said. “It’s between high school seniors that are going to play college ball and, anywhere from that to a red shirt senior. So, most of them are younger, then you get a couple older, but really, it’s a chance for those younger guys who are new to college baseball to develop mentally and overall mature and meet new people and build relationships outside of school ball.
“(Player demographics) are all over the place, and it depends, year to year,” Mark continued. “We’ve got kids from Holy Cross, kids from Wofford, New Orleans, Rhode Island, western Carolina, Ohio, Florida and even Michigan. Some of them have seen time at their school program and some haven’t. It’s really a good opportunity to hone skills so they can be a lot better when they go back, but, for some of the older guys, they can be scouted, and it is a high-level league. So, it’s the ability to develop both on and off the field for the summer.”
Brian Dengler, 19, of South Kortright, just finished playing ball through his sophomore year at Sage College and will be returning to the Outlaws for his second season. Dengler, a pitcher, said he’s long wanted a spot on the Outlaws.
“I kind of just reached out to the coach and asked if they had any availability because, ever since I was younger — maybe first grade — I would go to the Oneonta Outlaw camps and play with them and get a baseball signed by them,” he said. “So, it’s a full-circle moment for me, with growing up watching them and then getting to play last year. I wanted to play summer ball, but didn’t want to live somewhere far away, and Oneonta is not too far a commute. I’m super excited to come back this year.”
Dengler, too, said the program affords an opportunity for high-level conditioning and more.
“The league, which is the Perfect Game League, is one of the top college leagues across the country,” he said. “I’m just playing to get my innings in and get work in for next spring and try to prepare my body and my arm to go out there and throw next spring for my college team. It’s all about getting innings and reps in summer, and staying in tip-top shape. The most rewarding part is going out there and being as productive as possible, even for position players.”
Joining the Outlaws for his first season, 18-year-old Colton Harrison from Lafayette, Louisiana echoed: “(I’m hoping) to get a lot of experience, reps and connections. Really, that’s the biggest focus for me; especially as a freshman, the biggest thing I need is quality reps and just experience in general. I’ve heard Keaton is a really good coach and a good guy, so I’m excited to meet with him.”
Harrison, who wrapped his first year as a first-baseman and outfielder at the University of New Orleans, said he learned of the Outlaws program through his college coach.
“He came up to me and asked about summer ball and said he’s got some people he knows in Oneonta … and said, ‘I can get you up there to play some summer ball if you want,’” he said. “I said, ‘OK, that sounds awesome’ and my parents said it would be a blast, so I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”
Participation in the program, Mark said, impacts players and the city. Mark, who coaches at John Carroll University in Cleveland, is in his second year as head coach of the Outlaws.
“Back when I played, the head coach of the Outlaws was Joe Hughes, who was also my former high school coach at Oneonta and still is active as the high school varsity coach,” he said. “I got in with him, and the Outlaws used to do host families around town so, me and my family, back in the day, all the way from sixth grade through junior year of high school, we hosted players.
“There’s some college housing apartments around and various apartments that the owner has access to, so they stay in apartments now,” Mark continued. “They have good opportunities now, because a lot of them umpire over at the All-Star Village; about half or three-quarters of the team. And umpiring, they get in communication with people down there and we get certain people and fans from the All-Star Village that will come. Once in a while, we’ll get a whole team or a half a team. And (players) are definitely going out and spending money and eating at local restaurants and visiting local things. When I played, and I’m from around here, I showed guys around a good amount and, even now, as a coach, I have guys telling me that they went someplace and someone saw the Outlaws shirt and they got a discount, so it’s a good experience to get out and around town, and people do enjoy them.”
Harrison said he will be among the Outlaws umpiring on the side.
“I’m going to be staying in an apartment on Main Street, is what I heard,” he said. “I’m pretty used to it, and what helps with living in the dorms in the fall (and now this), is, I’ve moved around a lot with my family, because of my dad’s job, so moving to new places and getting to know new people is not too challenging.
“I’m not familiar with the area, but I’m excited to get to know the area,” Harrison continued. “I know Cooperstown is pretty close and I think a good experience I’m going to get is, our coach hooked us up … to umpire, so we can make some money.”
Dengler, too, plans to work throughout his Outlaws season.
“We play about six days a week, mostly night games, and it’s a lot of time commitment,” he said. “We’ll have two practices before the season starts, real quick, then we take a bus everywhere we go for away games and sometimes we don’t get back until 2 or 3 a.m., so away games are tough.
“I’m working during the summer and last summer I worked at a coffee shop and it was definitely a lot,” Dengler continued. “I worked from 6 to 12, then drove to Oneonta, came home and slept, and repeated the same thing the next day, but I really enjoyed it.”
Team membership, Mark said, is via a “pay to play” structure. Player fees, he said, include the team charter bus and “any post-game or pre-game meals and being on the team.” Apartments, he said, are an additional fee and also paid for, at a discounted rate, by players.
Sources said demands, on time and the body, are the most challenging aspects of team membership.
“It’s definitely a time, dedication thing,” Dengler said. “A lot of people’s summers are, ‘Oh, I’m going on vacation or going to my friends’ house every night’ but, for us, it’s like, ‘I’m going to the ballpark to play seven or nine innings.’ It’s just a lot of dedication and time. So, I would say the most challenging part is probably time management, and the amount of recovery trying to bounce back from a night game and doing it all again.”
“It’s the day in, day out grind,” Mark said. “Props to kids like Brian; he’s a great kid and he commutes and I didn’t and it was still a grind, playing 46 games in two months and putting your body through that; coming off your college season and then playing another whole season. It’s overall tiredness, and some of the travel is probably the hardest thing to deal with, but those commuters have it a little worse. Most of (the away games) are between 45 minutes and less than two hours, but we play a couple in Watertown, which is like three hours.
“This year, we have a nine-game stretch — every team has stretches like this — then a seven-game stretch,” he continued. “We’ll have a couple practices, but it’s crazy. The first game is always fun, because you try to figure out who’s going to be here, because certain colleges are still competing and some guys have to come a week late, but we’ll have a couple practices and get everyone situated in apartments and then it’s time to play.”
The Outlaws’ first season game, Mark noted, was May 31, with the last regular season game scheduled for July 28.
Love of the game, sources said, makes all that more than manageable.
“I’ve been playing since I was 3, so I’ve got a deep passion for it,” Harrison said. “I’m going to try to go through college the best I can and create the best opportunities I can for myself and, maybe someday I get a call and my dreams come true, but I’ve got to stay levelheaded and do the best I can do and see what happens. Really, it’s being with the guys and I just love it. There’s nothing specific about it, I just really enjoy the sport, and there’s always good guys on every team.”
“Baseball is my thing,” Dengler said.
“As a coach, I think the most rewarding part is, it’s fun just to be around baseball,” Mark said. “And, when you’re a (regular season) coach, you get to coach the same team for 10 months. It’s refreshing to get a whole new roster and see new faces and be around a completely different team for the summer and see the kids enjoying baseball. Gary does a great job, and I’d like to think we have one of the better setups.
“As a player, it was a blast, for sure,” he continued. “Those are some of the best memories I have. On top of developing your game, you’re outside, you’re playing one game a day and you’re playing baseball.”
For more information on the Outlaws or a full game schedule, visit oneontaoutlaws.com.