■ Vallejo Admirals struggle to replace stolen uniforms, technical equipment

Public donations have been coming in to help the Vallejo Admirals baseball team buy new uniforms and replace equipment stolen during two separate break-ins last year, General Manager Kathy Beistel said.

Late in 2014, someone broke into the team’s office and took a computer and candy. But that loss was incidental to what happened Jan. 8.

On that day the club suffered a critical loss when someone broke into the clubhouse at Wilson Park and took the team’s jerseys, valued at $15,000, as well as essential technical network equipment, Beistel said.

The Admirals are part of the small, independent Pacific Association of Professional Baseball Clubs that was started in 2013 and currently has four teams.

Besides the Admirals, other members are the San Rafael Pacifics, the current champions that edged out Vallejo for the top spot last year, the Sonoma Stompers and Pittsburg Mettle.

The Admirals had bought the gold, yellow and white jerseys in 2014, and had expected them to last three years, Beistel said. Each of the jerseys cost $200. The replacements will be coming at a better price from a Benicia company, Beistel said.

Also gone was the network equipment used for broadcasts, concessions and other game-day operations.

The thieves took some pants and overflow merchandise, too, particularly sweat- and T-shirts.

While the team plays hardball, with some players on the verge of breaking into the majors and others coming down from Major League Baseball careers, the Admirals are members of a club that runs on a shoestring when compared to big-league budgets.

There is no team bus. Players often stay in spare rooms of residents’ homes. Nobody is a millionaire.

In other words, losing the jerseys has been devastating, Beistel said.

The team started a GoFundMe account shortly after the theft was discovered, and so far it has raised $2,800.

More money, $4,500, came from a Mare Island Brewing Company fundraiser. That establishment contributed funds raised through merchandise sales, individual donations and a percentage of both sales and employees’ tips.

Napoli’s “Dine and Donate” donated 15 percent of its sales to add $365 to the total, and the Empress Theatre raffled a picture of former San Francisco Giants coach Tim Flannery that brought in another $150.

Players have been making public appearances at some of the fundraisers, Beistel said, and people have walked up to her and handed her a check or cash as their contributions to help cover the team’s loss.

“In total, we are at $8,000,” she said. “We are getting a really good price from StarSports in Benicia, but we are still about $3,000 short for the uniform replacement.”

That, of course, is not all.

“There’s another $2,000 needed for the networking equipment,” she said.

“There has been a lot of support for the team, far more than I would have ever thought. My initial Facebook post about the break-in was hit almost 28,000 times.”

Beistel said the team is looking into new security measures so no such thefts will happen again.

In addition, they have been monitoring such sales outlets as eBay and Craigslist to see if any of the stolen merchandise crops up. “But the reality is, they would most likely be sold as a unit to another league,” probably outside the country, Beistel said.

No new uniform fundraisers have been set, but contributions are still being accepted on the team’s GoFundMe page, http://www.gofundme.com/jx340o.

“We need to order the uniforms by mid-March to have in time for the start of the season,” Beistel said.

Since the new team hasn’t been picked and tryouts haven’t started, the team will buy a variety of sizes for 22 players — at least 30 sets of three different jerseys in the three team colors.

Tryouts will be in early April, and spring training will be May 20-30. The season schedule as well as employment and intern openings are on the Admirals website, www.vallejoadmirals.com.

The home opening game will be Friday, June 5, and the team’s Fan Fest will be June 6.

“It’s going to be awesome!” Beistel said.