by Steve Kruse
It was my first and last visit to the ‘Blatt.
I’d never been to a College World Series game before, so it was my good luck and fortune to be here when they played the last games at historic Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
I have wanted to see a CWS game for the past several years, ever since Blue Wave alumni Gavin Hedstrom played with Fresno State in the championship game (which they won) in 2008. And, I also wanted to enter one of our teams in the annual Triple Crown Slump Buster tournament that is held each year in Omaha at the same time.
Triple Crown’s Slump Buster is the nation’s largest youth tournament and I can easily see why more than 500 teams attend the four different sessions each year that cater to all age groups, from 9U to 18U. Triple Crown schedules games in the day and give all teams the afternoon and evenings off to enjoy the College World Series, which basically takes over the whole town for two weeks straight.
It is a total baseball experience, from the hotels you stay in to the restaurants you eat in, everyone is into the game of baseball. We even had local residents that lived next to some of the fields we played on come out and watch our games and ask where we were from. Everyone was friendly and talked baseball the entire time, from the waitress to the hotel manager.
Though it was our first time attending this event, Blue Wave fielded two teams in the last two sessions of the tournament – Blue Wave 12U from Jonesboro, Arkansas, and Blue Wave 15U from Irvine, California. To learn the outcome of their trips to Omaha, please read the separate stories on the teams in our news section.
Otherwise, suffice to say every player and parent had a great time at one of the best events we have attended. And, to make things more interesting, UCLA ended up playing in the championship games and former Blue Waver Marc Navarro is an outfielder on the UCLA team. It was a perfect environment for these young players that we hope will now aspire to play in the big game here themselves someday and become part of the history that has made the College World Series a mainstay in Omaha.
And, historic is the best way to describe the stadium where we watched three of last games ever to be played at what the local call “the Blatt.”
Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was originally named Omaha Municipal Stadium and was built in 1947 to host the single-A Omaha Cardinals for the 1948 season, though it would later become more famous as the annual host of the NCAA Division 1 College World Series each summer.
The St. Louis Cardinals farm team was the first professional baseball team to locate in Omaha, though over the years Rosenblatt hosted several other minor league clubs. In 1969, the Kansas City Royals moved their AAA franchise here, the “Omaha Royals” and it is still the largest minor league baseball stadium in the United States, holding 8,859 for Royals games and 25,500+ for College World Series games.
In 1964, the stadium was renamed to honor former Omaha Mayor Johnny Rosenblatt, who was instrumental in bringing professional baseball, as well as the College World Series to the city.
Rosenblatt has been home to the College World Series since 1950. The annual event typically draws more than 325,000 fans to the games each year and all-time attendance surpassed the 7-million mark in 2009 for the 63-year-old facility.
The city of Omaha recently signed a new contract with the NCAA to continue hosting the annual event through the 2035 season, though they will do so in the new TD Ameritrade Park than opens in downtown Omaha next Spring. The new stadium features more parking, hotels, and quicker access from the airport.
Meantime, the grand old Rosenblatt stadium will be bulldozed to make way for a major expansion of the adjacent Omaha Zoo, which is actually the top draw in the state for attendance, with 1.7-million visitors each year.