INTRO: The right hander delivers. Pitch is swung on. Grounded to short. This should be it. Stamets to first. It is in time! The High-A Halos are celebrating. We must be in heaven. The Inland Empire, 66ers, are California league champions.
DANIEL OCAMPO: With 91.9 KVCR News, I'm Daniel Ocampo. As a sports fan growing up in the IE, there wasn't a pro sports team, I felt prouder repping than the 66ers. This minor league baseball club plays at San Manuel stadium, right in the heart of San Bernardino. I sat down with Chris Austin, once a fan himself, now part of the front office as an account executive and head of promotions and community relations, to talk about how the team reflects the spirit of the region and builds connections with fans. One way they do that is with theme nights that spotlight the rich diversity of the community. I asked Chris about some of the events in particular that he feels truly bring the city together.
CHRIS AUSTIN: One of our biggest promotions and theme nights is Pachuco Weekend. We also tied in with Hispanic Heritage weekend as well. So all weekend long, we will have different different Hispanic Heritage themes. Throughout the weekend, we give away a pachuco bobblehead with a sugar skull and a lowrider, which is a huge hit every year. That I would say is one of our, definitely one of our biggest theme nights that a lot of people turn out for. It's a good way that, you know, shows respect and appreciation to the Hispanic heritage, but also it's a huge turnout for the city. The low rider and the car club community is very big here in the Inland Empire, so it's something that I feel truly reflects the community. And I think that's kind of where it's taken off at. We have a Negro League celebration night. That's something that, you know, I last year worked on myself, where I worked with different city members in San Bernardino to make sure that we appropriately recognized the history of the Negro Leagues here.
DANIEL OCAMPO: Then we talked about how the team's culture reflects the heart and hustle of the people in the IE.
CHRIS AUSTIN: I feel like the 66ers, even though we are the 66ers now, we embody that spirit of the Inland Empire. Where it's we come out here, we work every day. We're not, you know, a big office or a big team, where we have number of people just handling different things. On a rainy day, you can see our general manager out there helping pull tarp across the field so that we can make sure a game is played and preserve the field. The players themselves, they work endless hours to, you know, come out here every day, and whether there's a couple fans or 3000 fans. They're, they're trying their hardest to go out there and win games. Same way the front office is working. We're doing everything we can to make sure that the experience for everyone in the Inland Empire is a great experience.
DANIEL OCAMPO: Next I was curious, what's it like seeing the 66ers from inside now that he's gone from fan to front office.
CHRIS AUSTIN: Being a fan, you tend to look at a professional sports team and think like, oh, you know, they got all these people doing all these jobs and, you know, it's, it's just a big old company, when really that's not the reality of things. I like to tell a lot of people were, we're almost like a small business, you know, there's, I want to say, seven of us in the front office that are here year round, and we're the people that, you know, we're not just calling you, selling the tickets, and that's it, you know, we're, we're bringing the tickets to you. If you you know, hey, do you need us to drop them off? And I've, personally have drawn, drove by people's houses to drop off their tickets to them. And being on this side of it now really puts things into perspective. Where you have what seems like a lot of people putting on this great, big production. There's really not, there's there's very few people behind the scenes that's making this all come together 66 games a year and, if not more, during the playoffs. So it's really given me a different level of appreciation for not just the work, but the game of baseball as well.
DANIEL OCAMPO: Finally, we talked about why bringing people together, especially through baseball, matters.
CHRIS AUSTIN: Because it's a it's a moment where you can almost forget everything that's going on outside of this ballpark. You know, you can, you can, you don't have to worry about the, maybe some of the crazier prices of going to a major league game. And you know, it's, it's two to five minute walk from the train station the bus can drop you off right here. Everyone can come together and have a great time. Whether you're the biggest baseball fan and you're trying to watch the prospects and see who's going to be the next up and coming player, or if you're just coming out for a great family fun night, we can provide, you know, a wide range of things that can bring everyone together and in that moment, be a melting pot for the community.
DANIEL OCAMPO: From 91.9 KVCR news, I'm Daniel Ocampo.
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Daniel Ocampo is a San Bernardino native and 66ers fan. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside, class of 2025, with a B.S. in mechanical engineering.