I wish they'd bring Hawaii Winter Baseball back for good. Its refreshing for the people of Hawaii to watch real professional baseball for once. I remember going to a couple of Honolulu Sharks games back in the day at the stadium. At the time I had no idea who I was watching until I recently found a box of old HWB memorabilia and autographs. Turns out that I got autographs from Todd Helton (Colorado Rockies), Tadahito Iguchi (San Diego Padres), and I think Hideki Okajima (Boston Red Sox). I didn't get a chance to see any of the recent games with big draft names like Buster Posey and Joba Chamberlain. However, I hope some form of the league returns back to the islands. read more

Good news baseball fans. After a 2007 hiatus, Les Murakami Stadium is back open in 2008. What does that mean? You can go see potential future major leaguers either on the UH campus or in Waipahu (all depending upon your location and mood). As a S.F. Giants fan, I'm interested to see how super prospect Buster Posey does for the Waikiki Beachboys. Murakami Stadium has general admission tix and, due to today's small crowd, only the lower deck was open. People sauntered in and could sit almost anywhere they liked (behind home plate, down the lines, in the shade, in the sun, etc.). They offer some of the traditional concession fare (hot dogs, sodas, bottled water, beer, etc.) but also had some surprises (ex: saimin, Gordon Biersch related items). It's a family friendly experience, especially with the reasonable 2008 ticket prices (adults $6, kids 4-12 $3, kids under 4 FREE). The ballpark atmosphere for the day game was mellow and reminded me some of spring training games in Arizona. read more

Hawaii Winter Baseball is one of the best sports values in Hawaii. During the season there are games practically every day. HWB is a developmental league so the players who are invited to participate are all prospective major league players. Knowing that a few of the players will one day be in the big show is part of the fun. It's fun to try and guess who looks like they will make it. There have been plenty of players who have played HWB who are now in the pros. Ichiro Suzuki is probably the most notable. They play the games at both Murakami Stadium as well as Hans L'Orange Field. This year they only played at Hans L'Orange because Murakami was getting new turf. Admission is only 5 dollars and I like to bring my own chair and sit along the 1st base grass. There are a few concessions. They sell beer and soda. There isn't a lot of concessions however because there really aren't that many people who attend which is a shame. It goes without saying that you have to like baseball. It is great for kids. They love to chase foul balls. read more