SEASIDE – Mike Moder is an occasional resident of Seaside, spending the summer months away from the heat that haunts his other home in California.

When he didn’t have anything scheduled for this past Saturday, 72-year-old Moder decided to stop by the Seaside Wildcats game at Broadway Park to watch the team’s victory over the Aloha Warriors.

“I thought I’d get out and see what these guys are up to,” said Moder, a retired film producer. “This is kind of a kept secret.”

Saturday’s Wildcats game, one of the last home games of the 2008 season, drew about 30 fans, a small gathering in comparison to some other collegiate league games around the state. Like any starting business, the Wildcats are dealing with slow but steady growth, as they develop a fan base and community support.

As the team finishes its third season in Seaside, owner and manager Mike Clark is spreading the word about the Wildcats with the hope that next year more people like Moder will happen by Broadway Park to catch one game, if not more.

Successful seasonThe Wildcats’ status on the North Coast has risen since the team came to Seaside in 2005, and Clark hopes the team’s success in 2008 will help it continue to grow. This year, the Wildcats led the Northwest Collegiate League with 20 wins and won the league’s championship tournament in Seaside Sunday.

“He’s getting out there, he’s getting his name out,” said Laurie Oxley, the executive director of the Seaside Downtown Development Association.

Oxley said many tourists drop by the association’s kiosk in downtown Seaside to ask what kind of activities there are in Seaside. She makes sure to always mention the Wildcats when they’re playing a home game at Broadway Park.

“It’s fun to go watch,” said Oxley. “What’s a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?”

Even with more widespread knowledge about the Wildcats’ presence in Seaside, the number of fans in the stands remains low, consisting mostly of family members and close friends of the players. The crowd doesn’t get much larger than few dozen people who watched the Wildcats beat the Warriors Saturday.

Owner Mike Clark and wife, Nyssa, have been promoting the team since it moved to Seaside from Portland in 2005. They are developing a strong backing of advertisers and sponsors.

“For this to be a successful organization, it’s really eminent that we get support from community businesses,” said Clark.

Beginnings of a ball clubClark started the Northwest Collegiate League as an adult, semi-pro league in 1987. The Wildcats were one of multiple Portland teams that Clark owned and helped operate.

He shifted the focus of the league to college-age athletes in 2002, and moved the Wildcats to Seaside. Since 2005, he’s been trying to recruit talented baseball players from colleges across the nation, as well as locally, to come to Seaside to play baseball.

The league lasts from mid-June through the first weekend of August, and gives players who are in college, or are planning to go to college, a way to develop their game in the off-season. The Wildcats played more than 30 games this season.

“This is a really good group of kids,” said Clark.

Nearly half of the 21 players on this year’s team graduated from local high schools – something that Clark said has helped spark greater interest in the Wildcats among the people on the coast. In previous years, the team rarely had more than one local player at one time.

“It’s just a trickle-down effect for the whole community,” said Clark.

Getting organizedClark works throughout the year organizing the summer league, which saw a total of eight teams compete this year. He owns a few teams in the league, such as the Wildcats and the Portland Titans, while other teams that compete in the Northwest Collegiate League are independent.

After each season, Mike and Nyssa Clark prepare a pamphlet that recaps the season, which they then send to more than 1,600 colleges nationwide as a recruiting tool. After they sort through all of the responses, they begin registering players for the Wildcats and the other teams that compete in the summer league.

Players pay a $750 to $800 fee to be on the team, but are eligible to receive a part of about $5,000 in scholarship money. The whole Wildcats team costs $20,000 to $25,000 to operate each year, which includes the cost of uniforms, paying the coach, travel and umpires.

That doesn’t include any profits Clark makes off the business, however. “You’ve got to pay the bills before you get paid yourself.”

Clark usually has the schedule for the following season set by September. The rest of the year is spent talking with advertisers and sponsors, and working through the details like making sure the teams fill up with players and coaches.

Experiences gainedThe experience of playing on a summer league team gives these college players baseball experience they need and life experiences they won’t forget, said coach Kevin Tucker.

“Coaching the kids is obviously the most fun for me,” said Tucker. “Mike has done a great job getting everybody together.”

When Tucker isn’t coaching the Wildcats, he works as an assistant coach for the Division I University of Kansas baseball team. Clark said landing Tucker as a head coach has played a large role in the Wildcats’ success this year, as well as leading to a higher profile for the team.

The planned renovations to Broadway Park should draw more people, Clark speculated. The plans for the park show a larger field with turf instead of grass, as well as a larger grandstand.

“More people will become aware of the quality of the product,” said Clark.

The new park will also help keep the games enclosed so that only people who bought tickets can watch the games, Clark said. He sold about 20 season tickets for the 2008 home games.

The Wildcats organization donates money, including the profits from the concession stands at each game, to Seaside Kids Inc., which allows kids in the area to play sports for free.

Summer vacationMoving across the country to play for a six-week summer league presents obvious financial dilemmas for players. To counteract those issues, Clark helps the players find summer jobs and host families to live with.

The host families provide room and board for the players, and in return, are given season passes to the Wildcats home games. Mark and Susan Truax of Gearhart and Sharon and Dick Harer of Seaside took in players this year.

The families helped the players land short-term jobs while they stayed in the area, at places like Seaside candy shops and the Nike Factory Outlet. Clark said the families often help the players learn things about the community, such as restaurants that are hidden gems.

Steve Binder, 20, plays baseball for Edgewood College in Wisconsin. He and Edgewood teammate Alex Berta decided to play for the Wildcats this summer instead of going home to Illinois. They both lived with the Truax family.

“They just kind of treat us like family right away,” said Binder. “They’ve been great.”

Both families came to Seaside to watch the teammates compete in the Northwest Collegiate League Tournament. Joe Binder brought his family out Wednesday, while Ray Berta and family have been traveling around the coast, other parts of Oregon and Washington since July 17.

“The greatest thing is that we wouldn’t have come out here if not for the tournament,” said Joe Binder, Steve’s father. Steve Binder knocked in the winning RBI against the Portland Titans in Sunday’s championship game.

The presence of players’ families has had an impact on the local economy. The team draws families of players from the Wildcats, as well as other teams throughout the summer, who spend money on hotel rooms, at restaurants, and shopping.

Woody Koenig, general manager of the Seaside Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites, said he has multiple family members of players rent rooms. He said Clark keeps the hotel lobby filled with Wildcats programs and schedules.

“They go like hotcakes,” said Koenig.

Win-winHaving the Wildcats in Seaside is great for local businesses, said Al Smiles, executive director of the Seaside Chamber of Commerce. Even though having higher attendance would be a better boost for the economy, Smiles said having family members from the Wildcats and away teams visit Seaside is a big benefit to the restaurants they frequent and hotels they stay in.

“It’s win-win for the players, and it’s win-win for the businesses as well,” said Smiles. “We’re pleased and proud that the Seaside Wildcats chose Seaside as their home.”

Clark said he loves putting on the games each summer, watching the college kids grow and learn more about life and a game they love.

“I’ve been doing this for 22 years,” said Clark. “I know these kids better than they know themselves sometimes.”