Quamba, Minnesota is a small town about halfway from the Twin Cities to Duluth. The town has registered right around 100 residents throughout its entire census history and it has the feel of a little whistle stop off the beaten path of the main north-south thoroughfare in northeastern Minnesota. This week I visited Quamba with the Shoreview Stumpgrinders who played a double header against the hosts and Chisago Lakes. It's a unique system that The Quamba Cubs have devised and several Metro Minny teams will be taking advantage of it this summer. On Sundays two teams head north where there is a single day, 3 game rotation allowing every team to play two without having the burden of extra travel. Quite a nice system and a huge thank you to Quamba for hosting us for three of these triangle contests this year.
Shoreview was one of my favorite teams to cover last season for one reason. It really feels like a fraternity. Not in the hazing, partying, toxically masculine way, but in a way that invites everyone in to have a good time while deeply caring about each individual and their lives away from the park. I really wanted to dig into this so I asked the guys about the atmosphere surrounding this team to get a better sense of how they built this camaraderie.
The founding member of The Shoreview Stumpgrinders who acts as their manager and representative at league meetings is Chad Wakabayashi. Chad is a sincere, kind guy and when I asked him about the identity of the team and its connections to University of Northwestern he made it clear that he really just wanted a place to stay connected with the guys he played with in college and to build relationships with those who came after him. Northwestern is a private, non-denominational Christian college on the north side of Roseville that hosts Stumpgrinder games through the summer. Around half of the current Shoreview team are Northwestern alums or current players and this has led to a real sense of unity. But, Chad (and others) made a point of telling me, “being Christian or a Northwestern student is not a requirement” to be a Stump.
This is made abundantly clear with their off-season signings this year. One of their newest members, Jake Tarara, bucks the trend. That doesn’t mean he is an outsider. Instead he was welcomed with open arms and is even bringing a few of his connections to Shoreview as well. There is a new pipeline building from Woodbury High School with these recent signings. What ultimately unites this group of men is their love of baseball, but there are deeper connections as well.
When I asked around the group about their Christian identity it felt like there was some trepidation. They wanted to make it clear that everyone is welcome to ride with the Stumps. I know that this stems from a feeling these days that faith is individual and that Christianity can be cultish or exclusionary. This is absolutely true. There are a myriad of examples of this and I have written, expressed and strongly hold this belief. However, some of the most important relationships I have built are because of the faith communities I’ve been involved in. It’s the quintessential challenge of faith communities these days, “how do we heal trauma, welcome the marginalized, and provide a loving community when so many have been hurt by folks like us”. I think these guys have it figured out.
When I arrived in Quamba I was already running late. I had spent the last week fighting a sinus infection and had to sneak in a nap around lunch time to fight off a headache. I was worried that it would be weird when I walked into the dugout without an introduction from Chad. Some of the guys know me from last year but there are always new faces and you never know how they’ll feel. Jake Orthaus was sitting in the dugout with a couple other guys but the rest of the team was on the field. The second I walked in, a huge smile spread across Jake’s face. It was like a long-lost brother had returned. He couldn’t believe I drove the hour up to Quamba to cover the game.
We immediately began briefing each other on the team makeup for the coming year and what to expect from The Stumps in 2024. As we were catching up the inning ended an the rest of the team made their way into the dugout. Every single guy said hello to me as they came in. Phil Wall, both Franzen brothers, Chad, they all gave me a fist bump, a huge smile, and welcomed me back into the fold. Chad was concerned that I missed his early game home run so I told him he’ll just have to hit another one. There was one face, in particular, that made me feel like I had never left these guys and that is Andrew Simonson. Simo (see-mo) is one of those guys that just wants to have fun. All the time. He’s quick with a joke and is always looking for the guy who isn’t feeling the best and makes an effort to pick him up. When he comes in from a defensive inning he will wait for a fist bump if you don’t see him and make sure that every single person in the dugout is seen and valued. He is, without a doubt, the epitome of a Stump. It’s this attitude that brought back so many of the guys from the 2023 season despite a rough first year in the league.
In 2023 The Stumpgrinders were newborns. Many of the guys had played for Plymouth Hitdawgs in previous seasons, but they were starting a brand new team in a strong league. The league leaders, Champlin Park Logators, had finished 2nd in the state in 2022 and had a lot of other teams gunning for them. It would be easy for an upstart like The Stumps to get buried under the weight of expectation from the league. It wasn’t a great year. They fell to the bottom of the league and drew Logators in the section tournament. The scorelines from the tournament games don’t tell the whole story, but they took Champlin Park to extras in an elimination game and they lived up to their favorite saying, “Nobody no-hits the Stumps!”
It would be easy for a team to have a season like they had and fold under the pressure. Teams do it every year. But, there is a different feel to this group that I noticed even last year. It never felt like the team was out of games. Sure, the scoreboard was ugly sometimes but the guys kept playing. They picked each other up. They fought. It truly was a brotherhood and, as expected, the brothers stuck together. That is why the core of the team is back. Turning them into winners, though, is a challenge that Chad and his brothers are taking very seriously.
When I asked Chad if Tim Shows (who was absent Sunday) would be slotting into the regular third baseman role like last season he thought for a moment before saying, “we’ll go with whoever is hot.” That seems like an obvious statement but it wasn’t so simple before. Shoreview didn’t always have the luxury of moving guys around to keep the hot bats in the lineup. Sometimes you just had to play even if you were struggling. Chad continued, “that’s what the good teams can do. We’ll be playing enough non-conference games that everyone will get time on the field, but in league play we’ll go with who is hot. That’s what I’m trying to build here.”
It really gives us an insight into how to build a team in amateur baseball. Sure, you can put together a group of guys and get on the field but to find success you have to have some depth. You have to reload each year to replace retirements or guys that move on. In a town like Quamba the majority of the team are local guys. In fact only one member of the Quamba Cubs comes from outside the town. But in the Metro Minny teams are always looking for new pipelines for talent. That can come from college connections, a new high school, or former townball team connections. This year The Stumps found a connection at Woodbury High School and one guy has brought three more with him. This is how you build a team. And Shoreview has figured out the secret to building strong relationships, built on faith and inclusivity. That is truly special and we’ll see if it can translate into a strong showing on the field as well.
If this first weekend is any indication there are good things to come. The bats were active and Jake Orthaus threw a perfect game in 5 innings that ended early with a 13 run lead. If this keeps up, look out for the Stumps as they take root in the Metro Minny this year.
Stats and Schedules available at Metrominny.com
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