In this sentimental and high-stakes edition of Empty the Bench: Small Market Edition, host Callan McClurg takes us back twenty years to the legendary summer of 2006. Long before he was a voice for San Diego sports, Callan was a twelve-year-old utility man for the San Diego Buccaneers, a travel ball powerhouse that traded the perpetual sunshine of Southern California for the humid, hallowed grounds of Cooperstown All-Star Village in New York. This episode, titled Fantastic Voyage, serves as a time capsule for a band of twelve-year-old juggernauts who became legends in the rain, proving that some stories are too big for the small markets they start in.

Callan reflects on the "Buccaneer Juggernaut," a roster stacked with future pros and high-level athletes like Corey Oswalt, Kevin Ginkel, Ian Clarkin, and the indomitable Alexis Curtiss. We follow the crew through the gauntlet of a single-elimination bracket, from a gut-instinct intentional walk against the "Demon Dogs" to a semi-final masterclass in defensive shifts. The journey culminates in a soaking wet, extra-inning championship rematch against the South Jersey Sand Sharks that features a nearly two-hour rain delay and a players-only meeting in a cramped bunkhouse that changed everything.

The finale of this fantastic voyage is the stuff of cinema, featuring a thousand-person crowd chanting in the New York night and a first-pitch curveball that met the barrel of Corey Oswalt’s bat for a walk-off three-run home run. Twenty years later, Callan looks at the legacy of that 8-5 victory, from the six-foot trophy that earned its own seat on a private plane to the professional successes of his teammates in the MLB and beyond. It is a story about the name on the front of the jersey, the power of a shared dream, and the realization that while you can hang up the cleats, you never truly walk away from the game.

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