2017 Freitas Awards: Hillsboro Hops

The Hillsboro Hops have been around for just five seasons, but they’ve already accomplished so much.

In their second season, they won the first of back-to-back Northwest League championships. They’ve welcomed a No. 1 overall pick—Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson—to their roster. And this past season they hosted their first all-star game—the third iteration of the interleague battle between the Northwest and Pioneer Leagues at Ron Tonkin Field.

Now they can add a Freitas Award to their resume.

“The fans in Hillsboro are pretty special,” Hops GM K.L. Wombacher said. “The fanbase really brings a new level of energy and support for the team. To win our first championship ever at home in only our second year, I think really deepened the love of our fan base. Seeing the players parade around with the championship flag and the trophy and all the fans coming down to touch the trophy. Just to be able to share that moment with the community was really special.”

Perhaps the most impressive part of the Hops’ championship run involved the attendance during the postseason. It’s an open secret that minor league playoffs don’t typically draw well—the games aren’t scheduled well in advance, children are back in school, college football is back—but the Hops packed the park in 2014.

Because they swept the playoffs there were just two home games, but each brought significant crowds. They clinched the division series in front of 3,084 (just more than 87 percent of Ron Tonkin Field’s seated capacity) and clinched the championship in front of 3,328 (94 percent).

Wombacher believes that this was because of the way the Hops have worked to make a strong connection to a fan base with a strong sense of local pride.

“Part of it, just being in more of a big league market, wins and losses matter more than they do in most minor league markets,” he said. “Fans in the Portland Metro area, they’re used to the on-field play being meaningful. There are fans who come out because the team’s winning—not a ton—but I think when you combine that, and you combine the fact that there’s just so much community pride with Oregonians. People from Hillsboro and people from Portland and people from Beaverton, that hit us when we were exploring the territory, just how many community festivals there are and brewfests. Every weekend there’s some sort of community celebration.”

The Hops have also used that local pride to help their merchandise. For whatever reason, Portlanders are extremely fond of the pattern on the old version of the carpeting at the city’s airport. With that in mind, the Hops took that pattern and put it on the bill of a cap. Unsurprisingly, they couldn’t keep them on the shelf.

“A couple of members of our staff had the idea to do this hat and then Lauren, our merchandise director, sat down with New Era and came up with the design and, sure thing, the first run sold out almost immediately,” Wombacher said. “It’s almost become a staple. Each time we reorder it we just expect the fad to go away, but it continues to sell.”

Just like those hats, the Hillsboro Hops have proved that after five strong years they’re here to stay.

With a strong swell of local support, the Hops have proved that after five strong years they’re here to stay.