Banks' Joe Baumgartner calls it a (baseball) career

It’s been a great run.

For more than three decades, Banks head baseball coach Joe Baumgartner has been honing baseball players’ skills on the field and from the dugout for local youth, the Braves, and Forest Grove High School Vikings. But like all good things, his time will come to an end — and that time is now.

The two-time state champion coach is calling it quits, walking away from coaching to spend more time with the family that’s allowed him for the last 30 years to do what he loves.

“Baseball takes a lot of time,” Baumgartner said. “When you’re not coaching you’re fundraising, and when you’re not fundraising you’re taking care of a field. But the main thing for me is that my wife, Linda, and my family have given up so much for me for coaching, and now it’s time for me to just be around for them.”

Baumgartner just finished his 30th coaching season, ending the second of two stints with the Braves, and one that saw Banks go 24-5 overall and earn a trip to the state semifinals.

The Tillamook native started his head coaching career in 1986 and spent a total of 18 seasons at Banks, with a 12-year stint at Forest Grove wedged in-between. He won two state championships (2019, 2023) with the Braves, 10 league championships in all, and coached countless players who left a mark on the now retired skipper.

“I’m going to miss the kids for sure,” Baumgartner said. “I’ve been able to coach so many great kids and build what are still lasting relationships with many of them. That part has really been special to me.”

Ask the coach what he’ll miss the most and he’ll tell you it’s those kids, along with those relationships. But what he’ll also tell you is that he’ll miss the competition, the cerebral aspect of baseball, and the lifetime full of memories of wins and losses, in addition to things outside the lines.

When Baumgartner originally came to Banks the school played its games across the street from the school at Sunset Park. That was fine in the late spring and summer, but in March and April the Oregon rains wreaked havoc on the field and ultimately the team’s schedule. So, the new coach endeavored to build what’s now the existing field on the far east end of the property with aid from his late father, his players, Coca Cola who donated funds by way of a grant, and community members with the time, skills and resources to help.

While difficult and time-consuming, Baumgartner said it remains special to have been a part of something that encompassed so many great contributors — including his late father.

“My father would drive out from Tillamook and work on the field, even poured concrete for the dugouts,” the coach said. “I would be teaching in the classroom, and we’d get my players out there to go help. It was really cool, and we’ve seen some really, really exciting games out there since it’s been built.”

Baumgartner’s older brother Bill was a big influence on him growing up and he believes played a significant role in him becoming a coach.

Bill Baumgartner won 408 combined games as a high school coach at Henley and Sprague high schools, including three state championships, the last of which came in 1995. He passed away in 2015 from cancer at the age of 65, but Joe believes that — despite being eight years his junior — his older brother’s commitment to coaching, along with his players, played a big role in him wanting to do the same.

“I was always into sports and my dad was a coach, but Bill was a big influence on me,” Baumgartner said. “When I was going to high school and going through college, he was already coaching, and I saw all of that. Losing him was a tough one for our family.”

Thirty years is a long time to coach, and in those 30 years Baumgartner accrued 497 wins. He also worked with notable coaches and administrators like his assistant Jim Gerlinger, Bob Schlegel who hired him at both Banks and Forest Grove high schools, BHS athletic director Ben Buchanan, along with his principal Jacob Pence, and countless players, many of whom the coach said he maintains relationships with to this day.

He also said he owes a debt of gratitude to so many of the parents, especially in Banks, who he said he “couldn’t say enough about” regarding their support over the years.

And will he miss it all despite the work, the toll it’s taken on him physically, and the time commitment necessary to do the job right? Yes, but he’s also excited for what’s to come beyond the game and with the people that matter most to the now former coach — his family.

“I’m going to miss it, but it’s time,” Baumgartner said. “I want to do whatever’s best for Linda and the rest of my family. I’ve been blessed and have had a lot of people that have supported me. It’s just been an awesome situation.”