The Peninsula Oilers board took a chance. Derek Foote took a pay cut.
That’s how Foote, the third generation in a line of pro baseball players, became the first full-time general manager the Oilers have had since August 2014.
The Oilers, who have seen over 115 alumni move to the major leagues, were founded in 1974. The team won the National Baseball Congress World Series in 1977, 1993 and 1994, finishing second in the event in 1991, 1999 and 2011.
2011 also was the last time the team won the Alaska Baseball League, the last time the team attended the NBC World Series and also when financial problems for the nonprofit organization were starting to mount.
Michael Tice, who became involved with the Oilers in 2000 when his family hosted a player, became president of the board in 2011. Tice said that in 2010, financial problems caused mostly by the loss of revenue from bingo and pull-tabs began to catch up with the organization.
Those financial problems came to a head in 2014, when the organization had to let general manager James Clark go because it could not afford to pay him. While letting Clark go, Tice gave a very positive review of Clark’s performance.
Since then, the Oilers have managed to play a season every year except for 2020, when the league was shut down for the pandemic. The mantra Tice has given when asked how the team keeps putting on seasons is, “The nice thing about being a nonprofit is you don’t have to make any money at the end of the year.”
Now Tice said that he, along with core board members, have realized that gaming revenue, which still raises half to two-thirds of the budget, is not going to rebound and will most likely continue to decrease.
The board has brought in Foote to increase sponsorships and community engagement, charting a new path forward not as dependent on gaming.
“This is a big chance,” Tice said. “Honestly, it’s a roll of the dice. I mean, I hate to put all of our future planning on a hope.
“We have to do something. And I think going back to more community based is the way to go.”
Tice said being more community based means being more involved with Little Leagues, the American Legion Twins and businesses which give sponsorship dollars.
For example, Kelly Griebel, a local real estate agent, didn’t merely sponsor a free night at the ballpark Saturday. The event became Bark in the Park with a bunch of prizes from local businesses given away to fans who brought their dogs.
“I think it really hit us — me personally, my wife and some core board members — that next year’s our 50th anniversary,” Tice said. “We can’t let this die, you know what I mean?”
In late March, the Oilers cast their die with Foote, who came to the Kenai Peninsula to work for the oil industry, fell in love with his future wife and was happy to find a way back into baseball.
“I definitely took a pay cut,” Foote said. “But this is something I really, really enjoy and understand.”
Foote’s path to Coral Seymour Memorial Park started with his grandfather, Amby Foote, who played six seasons of minor league baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Brooklyn Dodgers from 1948 to 1954.
Amby, now 95 and living in North Carolina, coached baseball at a high school into his 80s. Derek also said his grandfather once pitched both games of a doubleheader.
“He loves baseball more than any human being I’ve been around,” Derek said. “He loves it way more than me and my father.”
Derek’s father is Barry Foote, who played in the major leagues from 1973 to 1982, including getting an at-bat for the New York Yankees in the 1981 World Series.
Barry also won league titles and Manager of the Year recognition several times in the minor leagues, and was a coach for two years each with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets.
Eventually, Barry gave up coaching to get involved in business, and one of his ventures was in oil and gas on the southern peninsula starting in the early 2000s.
Derek was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the sixth round in 1994 and played in the minor leagues until 1997.
He made a 40-man roster twice for spring training, but never played in a big league game.
“I know all the guys,” Derek said. “I was in the clubhouse with them. I grew up around a lot of those guys.
“In the ’90s, before I got drafted, I got to take batting practice in Fulton County (Stadium) when I was 16 and Yankee Stadium, I got to do all that.
“So it was cool to see all those guys again, that saw me as a high school guy.”
After his career ended, Derek had indoor hitting facilities in North Carolina. He says more than 70 going through the facility got college scholarships, five were drafted, and two — John Raynor and Jerry Sands — played in the major leagues.
Derek got involved in the oil and gas business about 2005, and that brought him to the peninsula in 2014.
When the company for which Derek was working — Alliance Exploration — sold out of Alaska in 2020, Derek was already engaged, marrying Courtney Foote on July 22, 2022.
He had been working on the North Slope when the Oilers offered him the general manager job.
“I gave it some thought and decided I better get back in baseball, because I knew a lot about that, and not a whole lot about oil and gas,” Foote said.
As more and more people in the baseball community learned about Foote and his ability to teach hitting, he said he’s gotten more and more students after being out of baseball entirely for a while.
“I’m glad I’m back in baseball, to be honest,” Foote said. “Our family has been supported by baseball all our life, so it’s been a blessing to get back involved.”
Foote said he sees a bright future with the Oilers.
“I think that we’re gonna be very successful,” he said. “They just haven’t had somebody that’s been here living in Alaska to do this job.
“I’ve been doing it 12 weeks, and we’ve been very successful with the support of sponsors. We’ve been working on sponsors. We’re going to spruce up the ballpark and get people excited about seeing the Oilers again.”
Foote said he is grateful to have the help of Joe Kremer, who when he retired in 2021 was the only general manager the minor league Carolina Mudcats had ever had in their history.
Kremer helped develop the Mudcats into one of the most iconic names in the minor leagues.
Foote doesn’t want people to forget that the Alaska Baseball League is one of the iconic names in summer collegiate baseball.
Barry Foote was a roommate with Dave Kingman when both played for the Chicago Cubs, and Kingman would tell tales of his days with the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks.
Barry also was a coach with the Chicago White Sox in 1990, when Bobby Thigpen set the then Major League record for saves with 57. Thigpen played for the Peninsula Oilers and hit a home run to center field — before the fences were moved in — with an aluminum bat that is still the stuff of legend.
“When I got drafted in ‘94, it was this league and the Cape Cod League,” Derek Foote said. “They were the leagues to go to — the West Coast league and the East Coast league.
“We have a commissioner for the ABL this year, and we’re working on getting some structure and getting this league back to what it used to be.”
Foote said he was not able to get everything done he wanted to for this season. He said the Oilers were able to improve the playing surface at Seymour Park and finish the grandstands.
He said the team will be getting out in the community to pass out flyers and tickets.
For next season, Foote said he’d like to have a sponsor so fans get into each game free. He’d also like to improve the press box and redo the Major League alumni board.
Oilers head coach Larry McCann, who is in his fifth year in the league, is impressed with Foote.
“There’s a lot of stuff we have to do to put this thing on,” McCann said. “He lives here and he can interact with people year-round.
“A big deal is being able to get out there and get sponsors and raise money.”
McCann said more money means a better experience for the players and fans.
“I’ve been working my butt off,” Foote said. “I try to be the first one here and the last to leave.
“If my name’s gonna be on this, I want it to be something the community can be proud of.”
