Since 2010, the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and U.S. Bank have joined forces to make a difference in the community by hosting annual Youth Baseball Clinics at beautiful LoanMart Field in Rancho Cucamonga.

“2010 was our first year,” said Mike Lindskog, director of public relations and longtime Voice of the Quakes. “That was our first year as Brett Sports as well. And then 2011 was the first year of the Dodgers partnership, so [U.S. Bank’s] relationship with us has been going on longer than the Dodgers partnership.”

Each season prior to four scheduled Sunday home games, the Quakes and U.S. Bank partner up to host the baseball clinics. Young fans can bring their own baseball or softball equipment or use provided equipment, while learning tips and skills from actual members of the Dodgers Advanced Single-A affiliate and coaching staff. 

The fourth and final U.S. Bank Youth Clinic of the 2019 season was held this past Sunday, June 2, where approximately 200 aspiring young athletes had an opportunity to learn some baseball basics from Quakes pitchers Sven Schueller, Leo Crawford, and Josiah Gray, catcher Connor Wong, infielders Nick Yarnall and Brandon Montgomery, and outfielder Drew Avans. 

Before the clinic actually got underway, Lindskog gave the youngsters and their families a warm welcome and brief introduction of what the day would hold, which, as only Lindskog can do, got the crowd pumped up on the cool, overcast Sunday morning. He then introduced U.S. Bank District Manager Mike Kuhn, who shared what U.S. Bank and the Quakes do for the community.

“We’ll come out here and do the kick-off,” said Kuhn. “We’ll talk about the things U.S. Bank does and how we partner with the Quakes, get the crowd going. But we also have some of our employees that come in and man a table to talk about that relationship as well.”

Once the introductions were finished, it was time to Play Ball! (as they say) and participants were brought onto the very field where their favorite Quakes actually play. There were five stations to go through, with participants rotating between them to get the full experience.

Schueller, Crawford, and Gray were at Station-1, where they worked with the young future stars on hitting mechanics.

Station-2 was manned by former Dodgers infielder and current Quakes coach Elian Herrera and featured base running techniques. Herrera had each kid start at home plate and pretend to hit the ball before running to first base. Once everyone got the hang of that, they started from second and worked their way to third and then home. Lastly, each youngster started in the batter’s box at home, slugged their imaginary bomb, and ran around the base paths as if they were legging out an inside-the-park home run.

Station-3 three was run by Montgomery, who worked on the best ways to scoop up ground balls. He started things off simple by rolling soft grounders. Once the kids had practiced the technique, he would change up the way the ball bounced so they could get a feel for tricky hops and the quick transfer of the ball from glove to hand to throw it back.  

At Station-4, Wong used his exceptionally strong (and accurate) arm normally used to gun down would-be base stealers to launch balls high into the sky so the fielders could work on their footing and approach for pop-ups in the outfield. Wong would throw balls high and deep or high and shallow so those making the plays could understand how to judge which foot to step with and what direction to run. 

Lastly, Station-5 was where Avans and Yarnall worked with the kids on basic throwing and catching techniques. They showed them how to grip the ball and the proper way to throw, as well as what the target was every time they threw.

After the clinic, the players signed autographs on all sorts of objects ranging from baseballs, to mini bats, to jerseys right off the backs of the young All-Stars. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.

In addition to their extremely popular Youth Baseball Clinics, U.S. Bank is also the official home run sponsor of the Quakes.

“When we won the title (in 2018), we set a franchise record in home runs. That’s a pretty good year when you’re talking about all that exposure, because they know that every time we hit a home run, they get the toot of the horn, we make a big deal of it,” Lindskog said. “It’s neat for them. It makes them feel good that they’re doing something good in the community and people want to partner with us for that reason because they see the good things that we do.”

The home run sponsorship between the Quakes and U.S. Bank means that not only is a Quakes home run fun to see in person, but it has also benefited the local community … and has for a long time.

“They’ve done that for ten years, so the partnership extends to not just a billboard. They also donate ten dollars for every home run that goes to the United Way Inland Empire Kids Pack program and we’ve also done some volunteer work there a couple of times a year,” explained Lindskog. “Granola bars, peaches, mandarin oranges and bottles of water for the kids that don’t have nutritious meals on the weekends.

“It’s a pretty neat program because it’s helping kids that can’t afford to get stuff on the weekends because when they’re in school, they’re on programs that allow them to eat well during the school week and then when they go home, moms and dads have a hard time; they can’t afford it. This helps back that up,” Lindskog added.

U.S. Bank also participates in volunteer work with other organizations that share the same beliefs and moral values of the Quakes.

“Every time they hit a home run out there, we donate that. We’ll pair up and do different events. It’s not just the youth clinic, although those are a lot of fun,” said Kuhn. “The Quakes are part of National Core. Through U.S. Bank, I sit on a leadership council for Hope Through Housing and they’re also part of National Core. Last year, it was over 2,400 hours just in the Inland Empire that we donated our time volunteering. We teach for a day, which was great. We go to elementary schools and we’ll teach a whole class. We end up doing the entire school, which is fantastic.”    

Although the Youth Baseball Clinics have concluded for the 2019 season, the Quakes and U.S. Bank continue to team up for the home run donations. During the final homestand of the season, the Quakes will have a ceremony to present a check with the total amount raised to not only celebrate the team’s exciting home run total, but to also celebrate this wonderful on-going partnership that benefits the community and those in need.

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