Randy and Melissa Shankle bought the Brew-in-Stein last month and renamed the Main Street business Papa’s PubRandy Shankle’s dream of owning a friendly sports bar where everybody knows your name is coming true.Shankle never pitched for the Boston Red Sox like the fictional SamMalone from the “Cheers” TV series did, but he is well known aroundBaker City for his longtime career as a softball pitcher for theElkhorn Saloon, Baker Outlaws and Superior Towing teams, and as aformer ace high school hurler.

His love of athletics led him to visit sports bars across the country, where he picked up ideas he hoped to someday incorporate in a business of his own.On May 15, Randy took a step toward his dream when he and his wife, Melissa, purchased the Brew-In-Stein at 1810 Main St. and changed the name to Papa’s Pub.

“I played softball for a lot of years. I was the old man on the team, and they started calling me Papa,” Randy said.

“After we signed the papers to buy the Brew-In-Stein, we were sitting around talking about changing the name, and my son said we should call it Papa’s Pub, so he actually came up with the name.”

Randy’s goal is to make Papa’s Pub a friendly and fun place with lots of TVs showing sports all the time, like Bully’s in Reno, which he said is his “ultimate idea of a sports bar.”

“It’s a fun place. During football season they have contests throwing footballs through targets, and during basketball season they have free-throw shooting contests,” Randy said.

Randy is a lifelong resident of Baker City, where he has worked in farming, logging, installing fiber-optic cable and truck driving. Melissa moved here 20 years ago and is a special education teacher with the Union-Baker Education Service District.

“I love working with the kids,” Melissa said.

She said they didn’t have a lot of money for a down payment or operating costs, but the staff at Old West Federal Credit Union helped the couple put together a financial plan so they could buy the business and get started with the first of many improvements they plan to make to the interior.

“Gene Stackle with the city’s economic development department was very helpful. We learned a lot from Gene about what’s involved in buying and setting up a business,” Melissa said.

She said it was “kind of scary” buying a business during a recession, but after thinking it over, they decided to go ahead because they like the historic downtown location and they believe people from all over are just beginning to discover what a special place Baker City is.

“We love being in the downtown area. The people are friendly. We love the historical buildings,” Melissa said.

“We love this building because of its historical features. It was originally the Log Cabin bar. It is in the Mike Hoff building, and it’s the oldest continuously-licensed alcoholic beverage dispensing premise in Oregon.”

The Shankles bought the bar from Phyllis Whited-Gibbs, who owns the Frontier restaurant and bar in Haines. However, they didn’t purchase the building.

Melissa said the structure was built as a bar in the 1890s during Baker County’s gold mining heyday.

“I’m really anxious to work with other downtown businesses and HBC,” Melissa said.

“We have never owned a business before, so I am not as knowledgeable as the other business owners, but I am willing to put in the hard work to help out as much as I can to help make downtown successful,” she said.

Melissa said she believes the couple’s plans for Papa’s Pub fit in well with the Base Camp Baker concept that promotes the historic character of the downtown area, and the area’s natural beauty and abundant outdoor activities.

“We need to keep our local Baker City customers coming in and happy along with drawing in customers from out of town,” she said.

Besides spending many hours cleaning, painting and fixing up the bar’s interior, Randy said they’ve taken out the 1,002 16-ounce beer steins that once covered the walls but were rarely used by today’s clientele.

They’re also removing a huge wood-and-glass case that covered one wall near the front entrance and will be opening that area up for additional seating.

Over time they want to restore the antique wood bar and other woodwork, and make the 120-year-old standing safe and other antique fixtures more prominent to highlight the history of the bar.

“We’re keeping the shuffle board and pool tables,” Randy said. They also plan to turn the mezzanine into a comfortable area with couches and a big screen TV for families, businesses, sports clubs and other groups to gather together for football, baseball or basketball parties or other events.

“We want to have something for everybody. We’re thinking about bringing in music on some Friday and Saturday nights,” Melissa said, adding that she envisions music nights varying from solo blues musicians to dance bands.

“We want to be well rounded so more people will feel comfortable coming in,” she said.

Melissa said she plans to keep her job as a special education teacher while pursuing her master’s degree in special education, in addition to helping out with bookkeeping, public relations and advertising duties at Papa’s Pub.

Randy is the big guy behind the bar, pouring beers and sharing friendly banter with customers.

They’re planning on having special nights for each sport, including Civil War nights where fans from competing teams come in and root for their teams. In time, pay-per-view telecasts of sporting events will also be available, after they have more TVs installed, Randy said.

On Wednesday, longtime Brew-In-Stein partons Alvin Davis and David Lee sat at the bar playing cards and moving pegs on a cribbage board at Papa’s Pub.

“I’ve been coming in here for at least 25 years,” said Davis. “It’s just a real nice place. No troubles. No fighting or loud swearing. Everybody’s friendly.

“The new owner seems nice, and his wife is pretty sweet,” said Davis said.

Randy said “yesterday was Alvin’s (Davis’) birthday.”

“I turned 78,” Davis said.

Tim Tracy of Boise said he was passing through town and stopped by for a beer.

“I just stopped in here for the first time. It is definitely a place I’d want to come back to. Everybody’s real friendly,” Tracy said.

Since they have never owned a bar or any other kind of business, the Shankles said they’re learning as they go, but they have some definite plans of what they want to offer.

“We plan on running specials on sports nights. We have big weekends coming up with the biker rally and Miners Jubilee,” Melissa said.

Randy pointed out that they’re adding some new beers, including dark beer, a hefeweizen, and the India pale ale brewed and bottled at Terminal Gravity in Joseph.

“Right now we’ve got the hefeweizen on tap and the Terminal Gravity in bottles,” Randy said. “We’re taking suggestions on what kind of dark beer people want us to bring in.”