In 1994, Corvallis Gazette-Times reporter Christopher Blair did a piece on Kyle’s career in baseball, and his later move in to the grape-growing business.  We’ve restored this story from an original newspaper clipping from that 1994 newspaper.  It’s interesting to look back and realize that the Knotty Brothers businesses of today might not have been, had Kyle decided to continue pursuing baseball.

No Sour Grapes

Fruit of Dunning’s labor no longer from baseball

1994 – By Christopher Blair – Gazette-Times reporter

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On a spring day in 1982, Kyle Dunning stood at a payphone in a Dallas airport, staring two choices in the face.

He had just been cut from the Detroit Tigers’ spring training camp in Lakeland, Fla., and was on layover waiting for a connecting flight back to Oregon.

On the other end of the line, an official with the New York Yankees was offering him a spot on that team’s single-A club in Albany if he would give his pitching career another try.

Dunning thanked the man, hung up and got on the plane home, back to the business degree he had earned at Oregon State University.

“I thought it probably made more sense to pursue a career in business than hacking around in the minor leagues for a number of years,” said Dunning, 35.

Twelve years later, Dunning has the fourth harvest of Dunning Vineyard grapes just about in the bag.  The hot summer produced fewer grapes, but Dunning says the Oregon winemakers who buy from him liked the quality.

“It’s a crop that can stay in the ground 75 years,” he said.  “The wine industry continues to mature in Oregon, and we’ll continue to mature right along with it.”

A few hundred feet from the small vineyard off Elliott Circle north of Corvallis, Dunning sits in his office, pausing from the financial figures coming over his computer.

He says he’s been juggling a lot over the past couple of years—the field and the soon-to-be-complete house across the property.

Although he sometimes wonders if his baseball career could have turned out differently, he says he wouldn’t trade what he has no for anything.

“It almost brings tears to your eyes to see your kids play in the dirt,” he said of his sons Brayden, 4, and Parker, 1.  “It’s what we did it for and it’s great to see it pay off.”

Dunning pitched at The Dalles High School, and after graduation accepted a spot in the rotation at Linn-Benton Community College.

He went 9-1 his sophomore year, was an honorable mention all-American and helped pitch LBCC to its first appearance in the Junior College World Series.  Although the team made a quick exit, Dunning had already received the attention of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who picked him in the third round of the winter draft two years in a row.

He had an opportunity to enter the Dodgers organization, but several colleges—including OSU—were also interested in his arm.

“I pretty much decided I was going to go on to school, and they didn’t want to give me enough money to walk away from that,” he said.

“I had a lot of schools to choose from, but I chose Oregon State.  I liked the community, and it gave my parents an opportunity to see me pitch,” he said.

His success on the mound continued his first year, where he earned an 8-2 record and the Bill Cloyes Award as the team’s outstanding pitcher.

Disagreements over Dunning’s role on the team turned what was to have been a promising campaign into what he now calls “a gray year.”

“My innings were cut from 90-plus my junior year,” he said.  “And it wasn’t like my arm fell off.”

Although things didn’t work out on the field—the drop in innings and reassignment to the bullpen led to a 2-1 record—Dunning got his business degree.  Yet his baseball hopes persisted.

He pitched two no-hitters in semi-pro ball, and once again, the scouts took notice.  He was invited to the Detroit Tigers’ spring camp in Lakeland Fla., before the 1982 season.

By his own reckoning, Dunning pitched well, and any other year may have brought better news.  But before the season started, Dunning got called into the coach’s office.  In the wake of the previous season’s player strike, clubs were forced to cut costs.  The Tigers were now sharing ownership of their Macon, Ga., team with the Oakland A’s, and coaches told Dunning they had no room for him.

“There’s still a question in my mind,” he said.  “Guys I pitched with made it in the major leagues, guys I struck out.  There are two things that can get a player into the big leagues: consistency and a break.

“Consistency wasn’t my problem.”

Dunning threw himself into a business career, landing a job with a regional brokerage firm.  Six years ago, he began working for Dain-Bosworth, a national investment company, and last year, he and his wife, Holly, moved to the parcel of land they bought in 1989.

“After working in Portland and experiencing that lifestyle, my wife and I made a conscious decision to raise our children in a different environment,” he said.  “We wanted to expose our children to something we grew up with.”

Through all of this, Dunning’s baseball habit has persisted.  Since walking away from baseball, Dunning has pitched off and on for an over-30 team of former Oregon State and Corvallis-area high school stars like Jeff Doyle, Johnny Ray Jones and ex-Mets pitcher Tom Gorman.

In November 1992, the team traveled to the Senior Baseball League championships in Phoenix, Ariz.  During the week-long tournament, Dunning pitched a total of 33 innings and picked up three wins.

“I was pitching on guts,” he said.

That, and the team’s all-around solid play, helped it win the championship.

Since then Dunning has considered going back for another season, but he says there’s plenty of other things to worry about.

“It’s been difficult to find the time to pursue it the way I’d like,” he says.  “Maybe I’ll go back for the 40-and-over.”