Perspective: Baseball permeates Lampe's life

The 62-year-old California resident is a minority owner of the San Jose Giants -- he owns a whopping 1 percent of the club and couldn't be prouder of it -- and is easily one of the best people I've come across in the more than 20 years I've been writing professionally. His story is one that would make for a good book, but I'll try to squeeze it down into few paragraphs for you now.

Lampe isn't a power broker in Minor League Baseball. He isn't even a power broker in the California League. Maybe he should be, though, because he clearly respects the game and his league to the utmost. Though he was born in Washington, D.C., his heart and his roots are in California, where he moved as an 8-year-old in 1953 when his father was transferred there.

When Lampe turned 10, he discovered baseball, following the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League. Remember, the PCL was big-time stuff back then, and with the likes of Steve Bilko bashing his way through the circuit, there was plenty to cheer about. Major League Baseball hadn't made it beyond the Midwest yet, so Lampe began a love affair with the lower leagues that continues to this day.

"My favorite team was the Seals 'cause the Giants weren't out here yet," Lampe said. "Under the old PCL format, you played a team seven times in a week. I discovered the San Jose Red Sox, too. I used to listen to them every Monday night. Here I end up being a part owner of the same franchise 35 years later."

Lampe went on to graduate from the University of Redlands and embarked on a successful career as a salesman for the Yellow Pages, a position he held from 1968 through 2003. Though his work kept him busy, he never lost his love for baseball. So, when his best friend, Dick Beahrs, a prominent cable television executive, approached Lampe and some others about purchasing the then San Jose Bees in 1987, he couldn't say no.

The rest ... well, that's where the line between dreams and reality starts to get fuzzy. At least for Lampe. He's been a minority owner of the team since 1988 and has become one of the league's and the game's best ambassadors. Since purchasing his share of the team, he's become a fixture at San Jose games (he was the team's COO from 2004-06), rarely missing home contests. What's more important, he's become a league and team historian.

Lampe has compiled records about the San Jose franchise dating back to the club's inception in 1942. It's been a painstaking process, but he's quick to point out how much fun he's had putting his book together. And then there's the Cal League record book.

This invaluable publication, which he collaborated on with noted Minor League historian Bill Weiss, could be the crown jewel of Minor League record books. While many active leagues today keep records, a lot of them are sketchy and incomplete. Trust me on this one. Doing the "Cracked Bats" series every week for MiLB.com puts me in the position of having to hunt up both the common and the bizarre in Minor League history, and the Cal League record book is one of the few I can count on to be complete and extensive.

"Bill Weiss had kept the records for years and did the job very well," Lampe said. "But all he did for yearly standings was the first half and the second half. But you never got the complete picture. I wanted to list overall, as well as first half and second-half standings. I wanted to list former Cal League alumni who have gone on to be in the Major League and write about what they did when they were here.

"We worked on it for probably four or five months. We did that during the offseason. I sort of volunteered to do it. I also put together a 300-page San Jose Giants record book."

When he's not working on digging up Cal League history or hanging out at San Jose games, Lampe is traveling the country in an attempt to see as many Minor League parks as possible. He's visited 182 of them, counting independent leagues, and shows no sign of stopping his tour any time soon.

"With parks opening every year, it's technically a dream you can't achieve," said Lampe, who survived a triple-bypass in 1998. "Because of my seniority at work, I was getting six weeks paid vacation a year. My last big trip in 2002, I took six weeks and drove 13,000 miles. We visited 30 parks in 36 days. We'd do doubleheaders.

"One day we did Johnson City in the Appy League during the day and then went to Elizabethton at night. They were only 15 minutes apart, so we jumped in the car and went back and forth. It's just fascinating how these small communities support baseball. It's just wonderful."

Lampe and his wife, Leigh, have been married since 1971. They have two sons, Lyndon and Leyton, though neither is involved in baseball to the degree their dad is. Lampe hasn't been to quite as many San Jose games this year, though, pointing out that after 19 years of his watching every game, Leigh would like to see him a little more.

Still, Lampe's love and appreciation of the game hasn't waned. His stories are wonderful -- like the one about when he met former President Bush in Portland, Maine, or the time he sat next to Whitey Herzog at a game in Boise, Idaho -- and could fill huge chunks out here in cyberspace.

"I never thought this would become an integral part of my life," he said. "I joke with our general manager saying, 'It's been 20 years now.' That's more than 30 percent of my life I've been the owner of a Minor League team. I never thought I would get that involved. But it's been a lot of fun, and I've met a lot of great people. This is a boyhood dream come true."

Minor League Baseball certainly needs more people like Chris Lampe. And if you're already out there, drop me a line. Because, if you're anything like Lampe, I'd love to get to know you, too.