Daily News Record
Editorial
Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Nobody should fault Bob Wease, a longtime local baseball staple, for wanting to get out of the Valley Baseball League business. For more than 30 years, he’s owned the Harrisonburg Turks, managed the club and made a ton of Major League Baseball connections along the way.

Step into the office of his Main Street used-car lot, and it’s filled with memorabilia of past players who went on to “The Show”. Sit for a bit, and Wease fills that office with stories of everything he’s seen as a baseball lifer in the Shenandoah Valley.

Alas, at the age of 78, Wease and his wife, Teresa, are looking at doing something more than running a baseball team during the summer months. Brave to them. They earned that.

Baseball is ingrained in the following hills of the Shenandoah Valley. Along with the Valley League — one of the premier wooden bat collegiate summer leagues in the country 00 we also have the summertime pleasure of the Rockingham County Baseball League. The latter billing itself as one of the oldest, continuous baseball leagues in the country.

Wease has his fingerprint on that league as well, winning eight RCBL titles during his playing days.

But excuse our worry in this day and age, with Major League Baseball pairing down the minor leagues and the what’s next COVID economy, that there might not be a buyer. We hope someone local can step up and see the family-friendly value the Turks bring to the summer in Harrisonburg. We’re grateful, however, that Wease says he’s willing to stick around and help any new buyers transition into the role.

There’s a worry for another day, of course.

Right now, we’ll just thank Wease for providing a great place to watch some baseball during the summer.

It was cheap, it was fun and it gave us all an eye into the future of the big leagues.