BOISE, IDAHO — In what could be considered a once-in-a-lifetime event, you could head down to Memorial Stadium right now to find absolutely no one.
"Our first objective is the health and safety of our fans and our staff, so starting right after the NBA closed which i think was March 15th, 13th if i'm not mistaken, we started working from home, we started social distancing, and what we've been doing is getting into the content game and trying to do as much as we can on our social channels with our partners," said Boise Hawks General Manager Mike Van Hise.
Like all sports, the Coronavirus pandemic has sent home Boise Hawks players and personnel to work or train from home. For the staff, they've made the necessary adjustments.
"I mean we've been able to do a really good job of creating workstations, I mean I had to go out and get a desk for my own personal spot but with laptops and mobile devices now, we're able to kind of run our entire operation from your phone or from an IPad or a laptop," said Van Hise.
As for the boys on the diamond we hope to be cheering for this season, well, we're not even sure who they are yet as spring training was cancelled not long after they all arrived at camp in Arizona.
"Pretty much everyone is going back home. I know Major League Baseball has been working through a bunch of different plans on how to get kickstarted with an accelerated spring training and getting a season started so I think you're going to start seeing some movement there relatively soon," said Van Hise.
But despite all the unknowns surrounding the team's already short season, the hawks aren't scheduled to take the field at Memorial Stadium until June 22nd, which lines up perfectly with the governor's tentative plan.
"Governor Little put together the four phases and our season actually pops right in there in phase four so opening day is right around phase four, that's when they are allowing to open the sporting venues so we're still going on track," said Van Hise.
Fellow baseball fans, the season is in our hands. If we all do our part to flatten the curve and beat this pandemic, we could be singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in less than two months.
"When they decide that it's time to move forward with not only major league baseball but minor league baseball, we'll be right there for them," said Van Hise.
