News / Sports / Clark County Sports

Vancouver Cardinals fly familiar path

Baseball team returns to roots as Legion team

By Micah Rice, Columbian Sports Editor

Published: June 30, 2017, 9:46pm

2 Photos

Vancouver Cardinals players gather before taking to the field against the Federal Way Buzz in the Curt Daniels Invitational Baseball Tournament. Photo Gallery

Thirty years later, Ty Singleton still remembers a moment at the postgame dinner.

Singleton and his Vancouver Cardinals teammates had just finished second at the 1987 American Legion World Series in Wisconsin.

Coach and team co-founder Curt Daniels approached Singleton and gave him a long hug.

“You could tell that the season had touched him deeply, as well as every guy on the team,” Singleton said. “You don’t remember hugs all the time, but that’s one I remember.”

This summer, it’s easy to wax nostalgic around the Vancouver Cardinals.

Singleton, the team’s first-year coach, is passing along lessons he learned from Daniels and Greg Hopkins, who co-founded the team 34 years ago.

On July 11, the team will celebrate the 30th anniversary of that World Series trip.

And, the Cardinals are back with American Legion. The team spent the past 10 years as an independent team that traveled to showcase tournaments meant to give players exposure to colleges and pro scouts.

“We were founded in American Legion,” Singleton said. “We feel like it’s a great place for us because you get to play for something in postseason. … A win and a loss, you learn from both because you’re playing as a team trying to accomplish a common goal of making it to state, then hopefully winning state.”

The 17 players on the Cardinals hail from nine Clark County high schools. Michael Lundgren, who attends Skyview, said the team-oriented goals of American Legion have helped this year’s team bond.

“It has been easy to get to know people because we all have the same goal in mind of winning as many games as we can day in and day out,” Lundgren said. “You spend so much time at the ballpark that you really gel as a team.”

Program history is part of what connects the team. Singleton and assistant coach Jason Jacques played under Daniels, who died in 2003, and Hopkins, who is now a scout for the Chicago Cubs.

Jacques’ son, Tanner, plays for the Cardinals. He said his father talks often of the club’s history.

“He’s really focused on the whole tradition of it,” Tanner Jacques said. “They really got everyone around here involved. They loved coming out and playing. It wasn’t for any scouting or any of that. That’s what we’re doing here. We’re trying to rebuild it.”

Whatever the future holds for the Cardinals, it will be based on the foundation laid by Daniels and Hopkins.

“They understood how to play the game,” said Singleton, who coached King’s Way Christian to the Class 1A state title this spring. “They tried to instill that in us. They also understood the team bonding aspect, coming together as a healthy community and healthy family.”

Those lessons have resonated with Max Rose, who just finished his junior season for Skyview.

“Coach Singleton has told us stories about the Cardinals of the past,” Rose said. “We’re really just trying to live up to those expectations.”

The Cardinals improved to 11-5 Friday with an 11-0 win over the Federal Way Buzz in the Curt Daniels Invitational Tournament at Propstra Stadium. After their co-founder’s namesake tournament, the Cardinals will play 11 more games before the postseason.

For the Cardinals, it’s about continuing a legacy, no matter how the season ends up.

“Both Curt and Greg sacrificed a lot. Their families sacrificed a lot in order to coach us,” Singleton said. “You really become a family. When you’re a Vancouver Cardinal, you’re part of a family.”

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