The town of Ferndale gathered at Fireman’s Park on Saturday to celebrate Joe Oeschger Day for a youth camp, an Old Timers game and to honor this year’s Joe Oeschger honoree, longtime baseball coach Reggie Christiansen.
Nobody could have asked for a better day, with the sun shining, a live organist and $1 beers to celebrate Ferndale baseball’s past, present and future. Ferndale has hosted Joe Oeschger Day since 2023, honoring Buster Pidgeon and Hailey Dolcini the past two years. Oeschger himself was a former MLB pitcher, who owns a unique MLB record that still stands today.
In 1920, Oeschger, the Ferndale High alum, was pitching for the Boston Braves and he threw 26 innings in a single game against the Brooklyn Dodgers. Oeschger’s counterpart, Dodgers’ pitcher Leon Cadore matched Oeschger, as he also threw 26 innings in the game. Neither Oeschger nor Cadore would leave with the victory however, as the game was called after the 26th inning because of darkness, with the game being ruled a 1-1 tie.
Christiansen is currently a Division I baseball head coach, having manned the Sacramento State baseball team since 2011 and still reflects on Oeschger’s amazing feat.
“The guy threw 26 innings in a game and if you watch baseball right now, the starting pitcher hardly gets out of the sixth inning,” Christiansen said. “This gives me a great opportunity to go home and share that with our pitchers.”
Christiansen’s baseball journey didn’t begin in Sacramento though, it began in Humboldt County, playing his high school baseball with the Ferndale Wildcats before playing collegiately at the College of the Redwoods and then Menlo College. His time in Humboldt wans’t done there however, as Christiansen returned to Humboldt to coach at Ferndale High School in 2001 before also spending time as a coach with the Humboldt Crabs.
While Christiansen spent just one season coaching for the Wildcats, longtime Ferndale coach Jeremy Griffith said that Christiansen made a lasting impact on the program.
“Since that year, the culture of baseball at Ferndale High School has changed. Before he came, it was once every 10-15 years we’d maybe sneak into the playoffs,” Griffith said. “Now it’s an expectation.”
Before Saturday’s ceremony, Christiansen, along with his son and Hornets’ player, Ryan Christiansen, held a youth skills clinic, allowing the next generation of Humboldt County baseball players to get some tips from a Division I head coach. Saturday’s festivities wrapped up with the Old Timer’s Game, allowing some baseball stars from years past to take the field once again.
Sacramento State head baseball coach Reggie Christiansen pitches during Saturday’s baseball clinic on Joe Oeschger Day in Ferndale. Christiansen became Sacramento State’s head coach in 2011 and has accumulated a record of 458-388 with the Hornets. (Photo: Dylan McNeill/Times-Standard)
Christiansen was born in Scotia before moving to Ferndale, where he fell in love with baseball after being introduced to the sport by his father, as he spent evenings listening to longtime Los Angeles Dodgers’ announcer Vin Scully on an AM radio station out of Las Vegas. That love for baseball never wavered, as Christiansen has now won three Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year awards and the WAC tournament three times.
“I never really had a job in my life,” Christiansen said, having always worked as a baseball coach. “Honestly, my dream job was College of the Redwoods. That was my dream job. You know what they say, sometimes when you dream, God has a bigger plan for you sometimes and certainly has had one for me.”
Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.
Originally Published: August 9, 2025 at 2:21 PM PDT