Knights Host Joe Beaver Show.

January 26, 2008

1240 AM Roadshow Visits 4th and Madison

The popular Joe Beaver Show made a visit to the Corvallis Knights worldwide headquarters this past Wednesday. Sports talk show hosts Mike Parker and John Warren spent the day interviewing a heavy hitting lineup of special guests that included New York Yankees scout Mike Thurman, OSU baseball assistant coach Marty Lees, OSU head baseball coach Pat Casey, Florida Marlins catcher Andy Jenkins, Atlanta Braves reliever Kevin Gunderson, Boston Red Sox scout Matt Dorey, new Corvallis Knights skipper Brooke Knight and Corvallis team president Dan Segel.

At the show, OSU's two National Championship trophies were on display and Thurman, Jenkins and Gunderson signed autographs.

The show ran from noon to 2 pm and featured a steady stream of visitors including Mayor Charlie Tomlinson; OSU baseball assistant coach Pat Bailey; OSU players Jason Ogata, Braden Wells and John Wallace; Richey's Market GM Jeff Roy; G-T sportswriter Brooks Hatch; Madison Plaza owners Hugh and Liz White; and University of Hero owner Bob Van Vleet.

Folks stopped by to say hi, grab an autograph and/or get a picture taken with the championship trophies.

It was an afternoon fit for baseball. Bathed in glorious sunshine on a cool January day, Mack the Knight waved at passerbys at the corner of 4th and Madison as Parker and Warren celebrated the coming of new Beavers and Knights seasons with some very special interviews.

Thurman, a Philomath High and OSU product, got it all started. Mike talked about his professional pitching career that began with the Montreal Expos and ended with the Yankees. Parker asked Thurman how it felt getting picked in the first round by the Expos. Thurman replied, "It was certainly exciting, it's a bigger deal now than it was then. The draft is now being televised on ESPN and I hope that continues. Back then it was simply a phone call from a scout. I got a call from the scout who had scouted me for the Montreal Expos. He called and said we took you and that you were the 31st pick overall and we'll give you a call in a few days, then it was celebrate with the family."

Marty Lees gave listeners a quick preview of the 2008 Beavers team and had great things to say about ex-Knight and Beaver Andy Jenkins. "I hold Andy Jenkins personally responsible for where we are at right now. He had it. He did things on the field you don't plan on kids doing. He took the team and it jumped right on his back. I felt as a coach how lucky I was to have him around. I learned alot from Andy just a way about being around kids and getting them to play hard," said Lees.

Coach Casey followed Lees, Pat talked about this year's OSU team and also gave an update on the expansion at Goss.

When asked by Parker how important summer baseball is in terms of his players development Casey responded, "It's huge, to think about the people who have made the commitment to making that special, you think about people like Penny Knight...she's dedicated and devoted to providing a place for young men to play summer baseball and doing it right."

Casey continued, "Summer baseball is one of the most important things out there for kids, especially kids from the North. I would like to see this particular league go after being number one. The weather in the Northwest is good as any place in the world in the summer. There is no reason they can't go head to head with anybody."

Mike and John also interviewed former Beavers captain Andy Jenkins and closer Kevin Gunderson and last year's Corvallis skipper Matt Dorey. Dorey talked about his new scouting responsibilities with the Boston Red Sox.

Brooke Knight and Dan Segel finished up the interviews with a quick recap of last summer and look ahead to year two in Corvallis.

The show concluded with Segel and Parker announcing that Mike would be returning this summer as the Voice of the Knights.