Know Your Foe: The Idaho Falls Chukars

Welcome to Know Your Foe, your friendly fast facts to get to know the Ballers’ opponents at Raimondi Park this season.

Next up: CHAMPIONSHIP EDITION with the Idaho Falls Chukars!

Their Season So Far:

The Chukars (“chuckers”) ended the regular season 54-41, finishing third overall. In the first round of the playoffs, they beat the favored Missoula Paddleheads two games to one, the final game being a blowout, 22-6. Infielder Benjamin Rosengard (#22) lead the entire league in average, hitting .463. First baseman Trevor Rodgers (#26) was top-ten in average, RBI, and home runs. On the mound, righties Gary Grosjean (#19) and Nathan Hemmerling (#33) were top-ten in wins; Grosjean also was top-ten in strikeouts.

The Chukars won both of the first two games in our series. In the first, the B’s led until the sixth inning, and the second was a 15-10 slugfest—the kind of game Idaho Falls relishes—leaving the Chukars one win away from the title. The Ballers will need to win three straight at Raimondi to bring home an Oakland championship.

Hometown: Idaho Falls, Idaho

-              Idaho Falls is the largest city in Idaho outside the Boise metro area with around 65,000 residents. Its “falls” are the rapids and constructed hydroelectric dams in the Snake River, which “snakes” through town. It was renamed from Eagle Rock in 1891 to the more water-forward name to attract farmers.

-              In 1951, the nearby Idaho National Laboratory produced the world’s first usable electricity derived from nuclear energy.

-              If you ever read a “chapter book” in elementary school or middle school, you know Idaho Falls resident Wilson Rawls, author of young adult classics Where the Red Fern Grows and Summer of the Monkeys.

-              An Albertson’s ghost? Are the chain store’s locations in Idaho Falls haunted? “The ghost is described wearing a checkered golf hat and a brown trench coat, who will stare at cashiers but disappears when approached.” (That also sounds like…a person?) If that’s a little too supernatural supermarket for you, what about the Nimerigar, the “mysterious mountain dwarves” of Idaho and Wyoming from Shoshone legend?

-              There’s a beautiful friendship garden in the middle of the Snake River that commemorates the relationship between Idaho Falls and its sister city Tokai-Mura in Japan, which seamlessly blends the falls and dams on the river with Shinto architecture.

Mascot:  Charlie the Chukar!   

-              The Chukar partridge is a common state game bird known for its heartiness and pluckiness. It also plays on the chucking of a baseball, which is common to the game of…baseball.

-              On Opening Day 2011, Charlie arrived via helicopter. The team arrived via limousine. (Maybe Scrappy arrives via our BART car next season?)

-              Editor’s note: I did not see Charlie during the series in Idaho. Perhaps he had already flown south for the winter?

Team History:

-              Idaho Falls has been the Russets, Braves, Padres, Angels, Yankees, and oh yeah, the A’s (affiliated 1982-1984; Jose Canseco played here in 1982). They became the Chukars in 2004 from a suggestion from the team’s broadcaster.  

-              The Chukars have won the Pioneer League championship eight times, most recently in 2019.

-              They stake the claim to being the longest-running baseball team in Idaho; the city has had a pro team for at least 80 years. They are one of the oldest teams in the Pioneer League, having joined in 1940, and they also claim longest uninterrupted residency in their current city.

-              The team has played at Melaleuca Field since 2007, with over a million fans having seen a game there in that span. (It’s named after a local wellness company.)

Best Promos:

-              They have Potato Night (obviously), but also have had Russets Throwback Night, honoring their earliest namesake with jerseys that featured a steaming baked potato.  

-              There’s a single seat left vacant in the center of the stadium beneath the press boxes to honor prisoners of war; it’s a striking and moving image (and I almost accidentally sat in it, so…)

-              For select games, the Chukars become Los Chukars, with vibrant blue uniforms.  

-              Sometimes, rogue B’s fans will gather a stray ball and give it to young Chukars fans in the spirit of Foul Ball Diplomacy ™

What to Watch For:

-              Up in Idaho Falls, I observed firsthand the Chukars players’ infectious energy. They are an emotional and demonstrative bunch that feed off each other. Here’s hoping that we see absolutely none of that at Raimondi.

-              The Melaleuca Field crowd was friendly, loud, and engaged, but it did not have the numbers we see at Raimondi. B’s fans will be the biggest difference in a series that needs a jolt. No matter what happens, these are the last games at Raimondi this season, so watch for all the stuff you’ll miss between now and May.

 Special thanks to Chukars photographer Steve Thayer