Al Lang Field, Tampa Bay
Rays
St.
Pete's Al Lang Field has been in the news a lot
lately, but for the wrong reasons: the Tampa Bay
Rays will train there one last time in 2008 before
shifting spring operations to Charlotte County in
2009, and the old ballpark is slated to be torn
down to make way for a new waterfront home of the
Rays. Now, Al Lang Field isn't the same venue it
was in the 1940s and 1950s when it was a landmark
in spring training, but it's still a great place
to catch a spring-training game. We hope the Rays
catch the spirit of the original Al Lang in their
designs for a new ballpark, For the rest of us, a
trip to Al Lang Field will be a mandatory event in
Spring Training 2008.
Trustmark Park, Mississippi
Braves
There's
nothing wrong with Trustmark Park, the home of the
Mississippi Braves (Class AA; Southern League).
The wraparound concourse, luxury
boxes, big scoreboard and varied concessions are
all standard issue for a new minor-league ballpark
these days. So why aren't we more excited about
the two-year-old ballpark? Because there's nothing
unique about it: except for a few Southern menu
items at the concessions, there's nothing to link
the ballpark to its surroundings. At a Mississippi
Braves game, you could be watching a game anywhere
-- and going local is one of the great joys of the
minor leagues. Dustin Mattison reports.
Alliance Bank Stadium,
Syracuse Chiefs
The
biggest news at Alliance Bank Stadium, the home of
the Syracuse Chiefs (Class AAA; International
League): the current artificial turf will be
replaced by real grass. That's good news for
Syracuse baseball fans in terms of aesthetics, as
well as players who need to field on an old,
sometimes unpredictable surface. Otherwise,
Alliance Bank Stadium is a perfectly serviceable
ballpark: the Chiefs front office does things the
old-fashioned way (i.e., not much in terms of
between-innings shenanigans), but the ballpark is
a comfortable place to watch a game, and the food
is pretty good. Steve Kapsinow reports.
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Broadcasts
Virtually every MiLB team now streams broadcasts over the
Internet, which makes it easy to follow your favorite team when
you're on the road. In addition, you can catch MLB game broadcasts at
MLB.com or via XM Radio.
More
on Internet radio and TV broadcasts here!
Ballpark Visit: League
Stadium /
DuBois County Bombers
Posted July 19, 2007 (feedback)
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(discuss) Baseball
has been played at League Stadium since
1894, but producers of
A League of Their Own rebuilt the ballpark
to make it seem like it existed during World War
II, complete with an all-wood structure, small
press box, beams galore, and vintage signs in the
outfield walls. After an independent Frontier
League team left town, a summer-collegiate team
moved in. As Marc Viquez reports, a
summer-collegiate team
in the form of the DuBois County Bombers (summer
collegiate; CICL) is the perfect tenant for a
great old/new ballpark, as a
recent visit confirms
that the ballpark feels as if it had originally
been built 65 years ago.
Board wants
guarantees on deal
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The
deal isn't quite as complete as some front offices
want to admit. Glendale (Az.) officials are still
working to formally swing home a deal for an $80.7
million spring-training complex for the Los
Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox. This
week, Arizona Sports & Tourism Authority board
members -- whose signature on the deal is
critical, because the public agency is slated to
fund up to two-thirds of the project -- said they
want a clear guarantee that non-profit groups will
be able to rent the facility for a reasonable
rate. Glendale has struck a unique deal (by Cactus
League standards, anyway) with the Dodgers and the
White Sox, who will run the ballpark after the
city builds it. This avoids any possible operating
losses for the city, but it also gives them much
less control over how the complex is used.
New Citi isn't
fan friendly
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Henry
Goldman has held season tickets to New York Mets
games at Shea
Stadium for 25 years, but he's afraid the move
into Citi Field
will cause the team to eliminate his partial
season-ticket plan From the drastically reduced
seating capacity -- 42,000 as opposed to the
current 55,000 -- to the apparent elimination of
affordable ticket plans like the one Henry Goldman
uses, to the hard-sell announcements that issue
from the video screens between innings,
"informing" fans that only Shea full-season ticket
holders will receive priority when it comes time
to shell out for seats in the Mets' new crib, it
is clear that
Citi Field will be fan-friendly only to New
York's wealthiest fans.
Site is back in
a hard place
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Construction
on the new University of South Carolina ballpark
has been delayed once again after construction
workers found a nice, large vein of granite during
excavation of the site. The need to remove the
granite will slow things down, but the bigger
concern is if construction can happen at the $28
million budget. The bids for construction were due
to go out next month. That might change depending
on what is reported by the primary architects,
Curt Davis and Associates, a Columbia company. The
ballpark is being built on a very aggressive
schedule, slated to open next spring.
Marlins lag
behind other major league teams with home
attendance
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Interest
in the Florida Marlins is up, but the team is
still having problems attracting fans to
Dolphin
Stadium. The Marlins' local TV ratings were up
33 percent this year as of mid-June, according to
Nielsen Media Research ratings. Attendance stinks,
even though the team has won two World Series
titles in its 15 seasons and is now young and
competitive. Marlins fans give a variety of
reasons for preferring their Barcaloungers over
the ballpark: South Florida's hot, humid and
rain-filled summers; the blah, baseball-unfriendly
stadium; the cost of tickets, parking and
concessions.
Condiments
twist and shout at Power Park
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The
hot-dog and condiment costumes that are donned
during seventh-inning dugout dances at Appalachian
Power Park, home of the West Virginia Power (Low
Class A; Sally League) are not the most graceful,
but they're a crowd-pleasing hit. Each game, a
trio dressed in hot dog, mustard and ketchup
costumes climbs to the top of a dugout for a
not-too-synchronized dance. As if that's not
appealing enough, they then throw out free hot
dogs to fans.
Baseball's
future in Bisbee hangs in limbo
Posted July 19, 2007 (feedback)
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here
were quite a few opinions about Thursday's
cancellation of both the week-long Copper
Tournament next week and the championship series
of the summer-collegiate Centennial Baseball
League on Aug. 4-5. Some came from Bisbee Copper
Kings team president Tom Mosier. He said that no
one besides Bisbee paid its fee to participate in
the tournament. Team co-owners Tom and Ginger
Mosier said there will be a new league next
season, with the Arizona Diamondjaxx, a
Tucson-area team and several other teams yet to be
officially involved with the league. Warren
Ballpark will be 100 years old in 2009; it would
be great to see baseball there.
Braves
reject affiliated ball in Gwinnett; county to move ahead with ballpark
Posted July 18, 2007 (feedback)
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The
Atlanta Braves have rejected the idea of locating an affiliated club in suburban
Gwinnett County, but that apparently isn't stopping local officials from
pursuing a new ballpark. A consulting firm has concluded that Gwinnett provides
"one of the strongest markets in the country to support a minor-league baseball
team." The report shows that building and operating the ballpark could create
hundreds of jobs, generate up to $7 million in consumer spending every year and
generate as much as $12 million in tax revenue over a 30-year period. The report
also puts the price tag for building a ballpark between $25 million and $30
million and should have 5,500 permanent seats, grass seating for up 1,500
people, at least 16 private suites, 300 club seats and 2,300 parking spaces in
walking distance of the ballpark. If you're connected to the independent South
Coast League, you're drooling over a new ballpark in a rapidly growing, affluent
suburb of Atlanta. RELATED STORIES:Baseball
surveys sent out;
Firm to weigh prospects of minor-league baseball
to Gwinnett County;
Gwinnett
baseball back in the game;
Whiff! Baseball study out on strikes;
Gwinnett explores minor-league baseball
Kelley pitches
Bowling Green ballpark plan to skeptics
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A
deeply skeptical crowd peppered businessman Rick
Kelley with questions about a redevelopment plan
for downtown Bowling Green that includes a new
ballpark for a Low Class A team. A local
restaurant owner and chairman of Play Ball! '05,
Kelley is pushing for approval of a plan to fuel a
wide variety of projects with $100 million in
bonds and private investment, to be repaid from
future tax revenues within a specified district.
Investor Art Solomon, owner of the New Hampshire
Fisher Cats (Class AA; Eastern League), has
committed to buying a Class A team (we hear it's a
Sally League team) to play in Bowling Green for at
least 20 years, with local investors given first
option to buy it after that. The residents didn't
seem placated by the pitch; they wondered what
would happen if the TIF didn't yield adequate
revenues to fund all the projects. RELATED STORIES:
Leaders approve plans for downtown Bowling Green
ballpark
Buzz building
for Allentown's new ballpark
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The
management of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs (Class
AAA; International League) held another media day
to show off construction of
their new
ballpark, on schedule to open next season.
It's still a construction site, so there's not
necessarily a lot to see (we're hoping to be out
there in August). The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote
up an account of their visit, which is big news
for Phillies fans: having their Triple-A affiliate
so close will be a big selling point for both
teams. Business seems to be going well: GM Kurt
Landes reported that about 2,000 season tickets
already had been sold and that only a few of the
20 luxury suites remained available.
More from the Allentown Morning Call.
Today's video:
Swing of the Quad Cities "24" intro
Posted July 18, 2007 (feedback)
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Here's
another pregame video from a minor-league team.
This is the
pregame video from the Swing of the Quad Cities
(Low Class A; Midwest League), playing off the
popular "24" television series. Keep the videos
coming in:
We've been really
pleased with the response to our call for videos:
we've already heard from several teams and
vendors, so we'll continue bringing them to you.
If you want to share your videos with the baseball
community, drop us a line at
editors@augustpublications.com.
Visalia moves
money around for ballpark
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Visalia
city leaders began filling the pot Monday for the
Recreation Park ballpark reconstruction,
transferring $8.4 million from other budget
sources into a building fund. That should give the
city a good start on paying for the project.
What's not known is how much the job --
complicated by the need to demolish, and then
rebuild, the stadium's grandstand berm -- will
ultimately cost. Preliminary estimates suggest the
work will cost about $12 million. On a 4-1 vote
Monday night, Visalia City Council members
formally ratified a ballpark funding scheme as
they finalized the city's budget for 2007-08. Most
of the cash, $6 million plus interest, is coming
from a reserve fund originally established by the
city to make extra payments to the state Public
Employees' Retirement System.
Town wants to
bring baseball back to Calfee Park in Pulaski
Posted July 18, 2007 (feedback)
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Baseball
should not be proud of how it treated Pulaski,
pulling a rookie-level Appalachian League team
after the end of last season when the Toronto Blue
Jays decided to pull its support. City officials
want to bring an Appy League team back to Calfee
Park, one of the nicer facilities in the circuit.
The sad thing: Pulaski city officials came through
with financial support every time they were asked,
and then they lose the ballpark through no fault
of their own. Leaving the Appy League at an odd
number of teams isn't a viable long-term strategy,
either. Despite the issues,
Appalachian League President Lee Landers is having
a great summer.
DED recommends
$26.8M for Ballpark Village
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The
Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED)
recommended Tuesday that the first phase of the
Ballpark Village project next to
Busch Stadium,
home of the St. Louis Cardinals, receive $26.8
million for the first of two funding components,
according to Chase Martin of Cordish Co. The
Cardinals and Cordish Co. are partners on the
Ballpark Village development. Martin is
development director for the project. The
$387 million first phase of Ballpark Village will
include 324,000 square feet of retail and
restaurant space, 100,000 square feet of office
space and 1,200 parking spaces. Officials from the
city of St. Louis and the St. Louis Cardinals are
seeking up to $115 million in subsidy for Ballpark
Village from the city and state, including tax
increment financing (TIF). The state and city
subsidy requests total 22 percent of the project's
estimated cost.
Bridgeport
takes wraps off big project near ballpark
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A
development team proposes to build a new hotel,
hundreds of housing units and dozens of stores on
vacant land around the
Ballpark at Harbor
Yard, the home of the Bridgeport Bluefish
(independent; Atlantic League). Led by the
Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, a multi-billion dollar
investment house, the $221 million venture would
be built on 11 acres across from and surrounding
the Harbor Yard sports/entertainment complex just
south of downtown. The development team, selected
by the city after a formal bidding competition
among national developers, proposes to build a
five-screen cinema, 260,000 square feet of retail
space, 376 townhouse and apartments, an 11-story,
155-room hotel and more than 2,000 new parking
spaces. The developers plan to seek permission
from the state Legislature for $24 million in tax
incremental financing. This is good news for the
Bluefish and Bridgeport baseball fans; one of our
complaints during our most recent visit to
Ballpark at Harbor
Yard was the lack of anything near the
ballpark.
Baseball league
throws a sweet pitch to the city
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The
local newspaper expresses initial support of a
plan put forward by the independent Golden
Baseball League to move Nut Tree Stadium in
Vacaville, piece by piece, to Tiger Field in
Redding. The GBL does want to move quickly --
officials want the deal done in 45 days so a venue
can be available next season -- and elected
officials tend to be a little nervous when things
are done in a hurry. RELATED STORIES:
GBL ballpark offer lets Redding join municipal big
leagues
Juice won't
finish games in town
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The
independent South Coast League made it official:
the Bradenton Juice will spend the rest of the
season as a road team and not play any more games
at Manatee Community College. But a combination of
fan apathy -- the team drew a season-high of just
less than 150 for its home opener May 25 against
the Macon Music -- and scheduling conflicts with
MCC for the use of Wynn Field forced the team to
initially move 30 home games on the road. What
will be interesting is where the league moves the
team: we'd love to see a team at Al Lang Field in
St. Pete.
Blue Jays push
for All-Star Game
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The
Toronto Blue Jays intend to make a strong push to
land either the 2010 or 2012 All-Star Game at
Rogers Centre when
Major League Baseball starts pouring over
candidates in the coming weeks. The 1991 All-Star
Game was held there, which will diminish the
chances of Toronto landing the event when so many
other cities have built new ballparks; also, Bud
Selig promised a game to Jackson County voters if
they approved a
renovation of
Kauffman Stadium.
Paterson plans
revival of Hinchliffe Stadium
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Two
years after voters approved a referendum to allow
the city to borrow $10 million for renovations to
Hinchliffe Stadium, Mayor Jose “Joey” Torres
presented his plans to bring new life to the
75-year-old facility. The Paterson (N.J.) School
District owns the stadium, but the city would use
the space for recreational purposes. Torres said
he estimates the price to renovate the stadium
would be $9.6 million based on figures the school
board provided in 2002. Two options are on the
table, The first would consist of new fields at
the stadium for school use and for residents when
not in use by the school district. The second
option is in addition to renovating the stadium to
build an off-site sports academy with classrooms,
which would require state Department of Education
approval, Torres said. Both options would be
within the $10-million estimated, he said, since
the state would pay for the academy. Hinchliffe
Stadium was the former home of Negro League teams,
including the New York Black Yankees.
Hinchliffe Stadium is part of our Endangered
Ballparks listings.
Ballpark caught
in pinch
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Former
Solano Thunderbirds manager Phil Swimley said
Tuesday that the new owners of Travis Credit Union
Park have set a deadline of about two weeks to
find a buyer for the park or it will be dismantled
and demolished. The ballpark ceased operations in
May and the Thunderbirds season was canceled, when
the park's new owner, CT Realty Corp., declared it
a financial flop. Swimley says he was given 60
days by John Valentine, vice president of
acquisitions for CT Realty Corp., to find a buyer
and keep the ballpark intact. That period has
passed. Now Swimley says he's been told that a bid
for demolition is expected in about two weeks. He
has only that time left to find a buyer at the $8
million asking price, Swimley said. Besides the
Thunderbirds, the ballpark also served as the home
of the Solano Steelheads (independent; Western
League).
City can help
Rickwood Field
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The
Rickwood
Classic is one of the great events in the
baseball world, but there's one nasty problem with
attending a game at
Rickwood Field:
it's not in the best part of town. Columnist John
Archibald says the city needs to help out to keep
Rickwood Field going, and that starts with the
city making sure the area around the ballpark is
safe.
No luxuries in
minor leagues for ex-Cub great Sandberg
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You've
got to give Ryne Sandberg credit: to gain some
managerial experience, he went down to the minors
and took the reins of the Peoria Chiefs (Low Class
A; Midwest League). He probably could have landed
a gig as an assistant in a cushier situation. In
his Hall of Fame career Sandberg was a low-key
presence on the field; in Peoria he's more
assertive, getting tossed four times.
Baseball thief
swipes big load of beer
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Someone
broke into the New Orleans Zephyrs (Class AAA;
Pacific Coast League) ballpark in Metairie last
week and stole a Coors Light beer truck containing
51 kegs of brew, according to a Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's Office incident report. A groundskeeper
for the team discovered break-in Thursday morning
when he arrived at the ballpark . The thieves made
off with the truck, $3,061 worth of beer and more
than $10,000 in groundskeeping equipment, the
Sheriff's Office report said. Sheriff's deputies
recovered most of the stolen property that
afternoon and the next evening within two miles of
the ballpark. The beer truck was intact, parked
near an abandoned house with the keys in the
ignition. However, only 38 kegs were on board.
At Wrigley,
fans debate what to do with a ball
Posted July 18, 2007 (feedback)
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We
were wondering this ourselves the other day. If
Barry Bonds breaks the home-run record in
Wrigley Field,
how will the Bleacher Bums react? Will they throw
the ball back to the field of play -- which is how
they handle homers hit by opposing players -- or
will they keep the ball, which could be worth a
lot of money? Opinion is divided along the
ballpark’s back wall. On one side of that wall are
the bleacher bums who say they would throw a Bonds
home run ball right back in his face. And on the
other side are the ballhawks who say they would
treasure it for life.
To some,
pinstripes are pinstripes
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The
Allentown Morning Call continues its tour of
regional ballparks with a look at Richmond County
Bank Ballpark at St. George, home of the Staten
Island Yankees (short season; NY-Penn League).
There's a new life to
that franchise: the team didn't do as well as many
anticipated, but now that the New York Yankees own
the franchise and contracted with Mandalay to
operate the team, things are on the upswing.
Ballpark Visit: Yale Field /
New Haven County Cutters
Posted July 17, 2007 (feedback)
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in 1927, Yale Field has hosted a universe of Hall
of Famers past and present -- Ruth, Gehrig,
Williams, Berra, Jeter -- as well as some
memorable games, such as the NCAA Regional game
where Yale's Ron Darling and St. John's Frank
Viola hooked up in a legendary pitchers' duel,
with Darling no-hitting St. John's for 11 innings
before surrendering a run and losing in the 12th.
Today Yale Field is home to the New Haven County
Cutters (independent; Can-Am Association), and
that sense of history just permeates the place --
or maybe it's the smell of barbeque. In any case,
it's a venerable facility well worth a visit. Mike
Pastore and Steve Kapsinow report.
Today's video:
Behind the scenes at the Brooklyn Cyclones season
opener
Posted July 17, 2007 (feedback)
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(discuss) KeySpan
Park, the home of the Brooklyn Cyclones (short
season; NY-Penn League), has turned out to be one
of the most popular ballparks in the minors. This
video was shot last month, and it details opening
day for the Cyclones. Keep the videos coming in:
We've been really
pleased with the response to our call for videos:
we've already heard from several teams and
vendors, so we'll continue bringing them to you.
If you want to share your videos with the baseball
community, drop us a line at
editors@augustpublications.com.
Save our
stadium: A grand old ballpark
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Last
week we asked you whether you wanted to see more
on small ballparks occupying a special place in
their communities, and the response was a definite
yes. Here's a look at Municipal Park-Carl
Lewton Stadium, the former home of Carthage teams
in the Arkansas-Missouri League and the
Kansas-Oklahoma-Missouri (KOM) League in the 1930s
and 1940s. The ballpark was built in the late
1930s and hasn't changed much except for some
limited modernization and repairs. The likes of
Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial played there as
visiting players, and some in the local community
want to see the old ballpark renovated further.
Ripken urged to
renegotiate ballpark pacts
NEW!
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Several
state lawmakers urged Ripken Baseball yesterday to
renegotiate deals with the city of Aberdeen and
help the small community as it struggles with
debts it took on to build a minor league baseball
complex for the Aberdeen IronBirds (short season;
NY-Penn League). Three state officials whose
districts include Aberdeen said yesterday that the
Ripken organization should revisit the deals. A
spokesman for Ripken reiterated yesterday the
willingness of the Hall of Fame-bound ballplayer
to consider possible remedies. Ripken owns the
IronBirds, which are based at the $18 million,
6,000-seat, ballpark.
Redevelopment
on commission's agenda Tuesday
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Plans
for major redevelopment downtown and near Western
Kentucky University, including an $18-million
minor-league ballpark for what we hear is a Low
Class A Sally League team, could move one step
closer at 7 p.m. Tuesday as Bowling Green city
commissioners consider an ordinance establishing a
special tax district for the $231-million project.
The state is being asked to allow a tax increment
financing district, or TIF, to pay off the bonds.
A TIF guarantees local governments the current
amount of tax revenue they're getting from the
designated area, but allows allocation of any
future increase in that revenue due to
redevelopment to be funneled back to pay off those
redevelopment projects. A developer would actually
build the ballpark; Art Solomon, owner of the New
Hampshire Fisher Cats (Class AA; Eastern League),
has pledged a team.
DeFeo group
announces new project
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A
Michigan company plans to move ahead later this
year with a hotel resort on more than 340 acres
near the Horizon Outlet Center off Range Road in
Kimball Township, outside Port Huron, Mich. Port
Huron Development LLC received final zoning and
planning commission approval from the township
Monday night for the project, called Blue Water
Resort. The complex also will include a
minor-league hockey arena; a six-story, 505-room
hotel; a conference center; a water park; a minor
league ballpark (no work on who might be involved,
but we're guessing either the independent Northern
League or the Frontier League); 11 tournament
softball fields; tennis courts and soccer fields,
said architect Antonino Scavo of Shelby Township.
Oaks to change
name?
Posted July 17, 2007 (feedback)
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The
Visalia Oaks (High Class A; California League) are
planning a new look for the ballclub to coincide
with the renovations of Recreation Park, and the
Oaks want input from the public. Every legitimate
entrant will receive a free ticket to an Oaks
August home game, and the participant that submits
the winning team name wins a free 2008 game in the
Oaks Fan Dugout Suite! If you are interested in
participating in Visalia's "Name Your Team"
contest, email your idea to
info@oaksbaseball.com. To be honest, we like
the Oaks nickname (it used to be common in
minor-league baseball -- the Oakland Oaks, the
Iowa Oaks -- but it's all but disappeared save for
Visalia), but the mascot and the logo could use
some freshening.
Hungry like a
Wolff
Posted July 17, 2007 (feedback)
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Can-Am
Association Commissioner Miles Wolff reiterates
his league's interest in setting up shop at Lynx
Stadium next season. No surprise: he's
consistently said that since it became apparent
the Ottawa Lynx (Class AAA; International League)
were moving to Allentown next season. He also
confirmed the league's plan on moving forward with
a Montreal facility in 2009, subject to the
availability of a facility in that city's suburbs.
(Before you pepper us with mail: No,
Jarry Park
isn't suitable for professional baseball anymore.)
Speaking of Jarry Park:
the Lynx will be honoring former members of the
Montreal Expos this weekend.
Eating is the
new sport at Turner Field
Posted July 17, 2007 (feedback)
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Should
of known an all-you-can-gorge promotion would play
well at Turner
Field, the home of the Atlanta Braves. The
scoreboard, in ballpark figures, from opening
weekend in the all-you-can-eat seats: Some 2,200
customers consumed 7,400 sodas, 5,500 hot dogs,
4,600 servings of popcorn, 2,400 bags of peanuts
and 1,500 piles of nachos. The eat-a-thon, like
much else at
Turner Field, is a pitch by the Braves to lure
casual fans for whom the game itself is not a full
meal.
Minor leagues,
major promotions
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This
is the time of year when daily newspapers visit
their local minor-league ballpark and
realize there's more than just baseball on the
menu. Surprise! Here a reporter from the Allentown
Morning Call visits a Reading Phillies (Class AA;
Eastern League) game at FirstEnergy Stadium and
finds out the team runs between-innings
promotions. Nothing new here, really.
Splendor on the
grass
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Fans
pay $7 to sit in the green left-center field
chairback seats at
Louisville Slugger Field, the downtown
ballpark that's home to the Louisville Bats (Class
AAA; International League). For $1 less, they can
sprawl, sit, lounge, daydream or otherwise loiter
on the grass below. The sloping lawn attracts
adventurers, romantics, roamers and kids in search
of a souvenir. (It's also close to the video
board, so the kids are occasionally distracted by
animated milk-jug races or public-service
announcements by Ashley Judd.)
Teams help fans
hurt by flying baseballs
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A
major-league baseball pitcher hurls his fastball
more than 90 mph, and when a batter deflects it
foul into the seats, it may fly just as fast,
giving spectators a split second to protect
themselves. Most times fans are not seriously
hurt. But over a long season, in every big-league
ballpark the tally includes head injuries, facial
fractures, black eyes and broken fingers. As a
result, a growing number of teams are establishing
drills to help fans who have been hurt.
The detailed
life of DiMaggio, minus juicy details
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The
private Joe DiMaggio -- who spurned millions of
dollars to write a tell-all autobiography but not
the riches derived from signing bats or balls --
kept a diary between 1982 and 1993 to recording
his activities in a flowing script. It is not a
juicy personal journal. Meals with pals, not his
romances, were cited as he moved from his late 60s
to his late 70s. A sampling of the entries showed
pages filled with mundane details and occasionally
interesting detours. Morris Engelberg, DiMaggio's
attorney, recently sold the collection of nearly
2,500 pages preserved in 29 binders to Steiner
Sports, who will auction the trove in its entirety
or page by page and expecting at least $1.5
million. No, Marilyn Monrie isn't mentioned, and
neither is much of his outstanding career. These
are the diaries of an older gentleman who kept
track of what Mr. Coffee was offering for a
commercial and how much he spent on a visit to
Washington, D.C.
Ballpark Notes
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The
Rockford RiverHawks (independent; Frontier
League) have hit the 50,000 attendance mark
earlier than in any previous season. The
RiverHawks welcomed their 50,000th fan into
Road Ranger Stadium on Friday, their 20th
opening of the 2007 season. Last year, the
RiverHawks did not hit 50,000 until their 23rd
opening, July 6, 2006. The RiverHawks have
sold out three of their last four home games,
including a stadium-record 4,481 on July 3. After
a sellout crowd of 3,927 on Sunday, the team has
now drawn 57,314 in 22 dates, an average of
2,605...Iowa’s high-school state baseball
tournament, which has experienced record
crowds the past two years at Principal Park
in Des Moines, will stay in the capital
city through 2013. Rick Wulkow, executive
director of the Iowa High School Athletic
Association, and Sam Bernabe, president and
general manager of the Iowa Cubs, made the joint
announcement today. Attendance the first two
summers at
Principal Park has averaged nearly 31,000
paid fans. The two largest crowds, 33,699 in 2005
and 28,035 last summer, represent an increase of
nearly 35% over previous years. The 2005
Championship Saturday attracted 9,181 dwarfing the
previous best of 5,109 in 2002. It is believed
that the Iowa State Tournament ranks as the
largest of its kind in the country....The
Casper Rockies (rookie; Pioneer League) have
teamed up with Wyoming.com to provide free Wi-Fi
Internet to their fans at Mike Lansing Field
for the entire 2007 season. Wyoming.com’s
broadband wireless network provides high-speed
Internet access to the ballpark, press box and
Casper Rockies administrative offices. Wyoming.com
deployed the stadium’s wireless network for the
Casper Rockies Professional Baseball Club to
support key amenities and business services within
the facility. The stadium’s wireless network was
up and running in less than a week from the
initial visit to the site and is now delivering
wireless high-speed Internet access throughout.
Starring role
for Petco Park?
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The
issue of what ballparks will host future All-Star
Games is provoking a lot of competitiveness
between teams, as Bud Selig weighs how to manage a
roadblock of new ballparks and cities never
hosting the Midsummer Classic. That the All-Star
Game -- even when placing home-field advantage for
the World Series on the line -- continues to
wallow in the ratings doesn't rattle anyone
connected with the bidding process. We have
Yankee Stadium
slated for 2008 and
Busch Stadium
for 2009, but past that the pecking order is
muddy, to say the least. Most insiders concede
Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Arizona
have the strongest cases to host the game.
Cincinnati is one of the great cities of baseball,
has a relatively new park in
Great American Ball Park,
and hasn't hosted the game since 1988. Arizona has
a relatively new park in
Chase Field, has never hosted the game and is
a great sports town. Kansas City hasn't hosted
since 1973, and
the
renovations to
Kauffman Stadium should be completed by then
-- and let's not forget Bud promised voters a game
when they approved the ballpark financing plan.
Tampa Bay has never hosted and, while
Tropicana Field
isn't anyone's idea of a great facility, the new
owners of the D-Rays are doing some good things
that deserve a reward, and an All-Star Game is a
great shot in the arm. Past that, you have the
Mets high up in the queue to host at
Citi Field
and the Nationals a cinch to land a spot with
their new ballpark. The Twins are discussing a bid
to host in 2015 or so as well. The linked article
lays out why the San Diego Padres should get a
chance to host at
Petco
Park. Selig has said he'll make a decision on
future venues soon, and you can expect there's
some heavy politicking behind the scenes.
Oregon brings
back baseball
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The
University of Oregon is bringing back baseball as
a varsity sport, eliminating wrestling along the
way. It's a return to tradition: baseball was the
very first sport officially sanctioned by a young
university in 1877. There's a lot of work to do
before the Ducks take the diamond on 2009,
including hiring a coach and finding a place to
play. Interestingly, the ability to generate
revenue was one of the reasons cited by UO
Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny as a reason to
bring back the sport. Oregon was the only Pac-10
program not to field a baseball team; by
comparison, only three Pac-10 schools fielded
wrestling teams. The issue of where to play will
be an interesting one: Kilkenny apparently has
already met with officials of the Eugene Emeralds
(short season; Northwest League), who have their
own facility issues regarding the future of Civic Stadium. Look for discussions regarding a
joint-use facility to continue.
More from the Oregon Daily Emerald.
The biggest
losers
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For
one night, at least, the 2007 Phillies became
linked to the stumbling clubs of the 1920s, '30s
and '40s, along with the '61 team that lost 23
straight, and the '64 Fizz Kids. In fact, they
became linked to all of the Phillies teams in the
franchise's 125-year history. The Phils last night
reached a dubious distinction as they became the
first team in any sport to lose 10,000 games,
dropping a 10-2 decision to the St. Louis
Cardinals before a sellout crowd of 44,872 at
steamy Citizens
Bank Park.
Stodgy baseball
owners don't want Cuban, Colangelo
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The
premise here is that conservative baseball owners
don't want the flamboyant Mark Cuban or the
free-spending Jerry Colangelo to buy the Chicago
Cubs and
Wrigley Field. Under his ownership, the Dallas
Mavericks have been one of the most interesting
(and drama-filled) franchises the NBA, but for all
his bluster and promotional activities Cuban
hasn't managed to turn the Mavs into champions or
a marketing juggernaut. During his time as owner
of the Arizona Diamondbacks Colangelo was known as
a free spender whose investments in free agents
led to a World Series win in 2001, but the
resulting financial obligations weighed the
franchise down for years. Owners like Jerry
Reinsdorf -- a close bobo of Commissioner Bud
Selig -- have already expressed dissatisfaction
with Cuban. But there's a wild card in the sale of
the Cubs and
Wrigley Field: Because Tribune Co. is publicly
traded, the team's current owners have a fiduciary
responsibility to sell to the highest bidder, and
the ability of Selig and crew to absolutely anoint
a buyer may be muted -- unless they want to deal
with a lawsuit or two.
Mark Celizic says Cuban would be good for the Cubs
and MLB. RELATED STORIES:
Cuban applies to buy Cubs;
Roster of Cubs bidders expands
GBL ballpark
offer lets Redding join municipal big leagues
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The
independent Golden Baseball League wants to move
Nut Tree Stadium in Vacaville, piece by piece, to
Tiger Field in Redding, and it's willing to pay
the freight. All it wants is a commitment from the
city that Redding can accommodate the new
infrastructure. It's an intriguing thought: the
ballpark is now vacant, and Tiger Field is close
enough to downtown Redding to be a true
attraction. This sort of thing does happen
occasionally:
Burlington
Athletic Stadium originally stood in Danville
and then was put into storage before being moved
to Burlington.
Lynx last link
to Triple-A
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When
the Ottawa Lynx (Class AAA; International League)
leave for Allentown, Pa., next season, the
International League will be international no
longer and there will be no Triple-A baseball in
Canada. The history here is solid, but take Adam
Wazny's speculations with a huge grain of salt: we
think there's little chance the New Hampshire
Fisher Cats (Class AA; Eastern League) will be
moving to Ottawa any time soon. (What might make
more sense is a move of the Connecticut Defenders
[Class AA; Eastern League] to Ottawa and a switch
of Toronto's Double-A affiliation in the future.)
Wazny
also throws out a shout to his hometown Winnipeg
Goldeyes (independent; Northern League) and
discusses why affiliated ball is declining in the
Great White North.
This story was submitted by a reader. To share
news with the baseball community, drop a line to
editors@augustpublications.com.
Fans learn to
play concession waiting game
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With
popularity comes side effects like long lines, as
Milwaukee Brewers fans are finding out on their
trips to Miller
Park -- there are now
longer lines to get into the parking lots, into
the ballpark and at the concession stands. The
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel timed average waits at
the concessions stands and found that the average
wait was just more than five minutes, though it
varied depending on the concession stand and the
time of game. Overall wait times varied from as
little as 1 minute 50 seconds to as long as 12
minutes.
Yankees to fly
injured Kirkland fan home
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A
Kirkland fan who suffered a near-fatal injury when
a man fell on him in the upper deck at
Yankee Stadium,
breaking the schoolteacher's neck, will fly home
in style today. Paul Robinson and his family will
return home in a private plane chartered by the
Yankees. Robinson was discharged Sunday from
Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx. A Yankees
fan who witnessed the accident said the man who
fell on Robinson had been acting vulgar during the
July 8 game against the Los Angeles Angels.
Robinson, 53, was in the top tier at
Yankee Stadium
with his wife and their 13-year-old son, John,
when the mystery fan tumbled out of a seat several
rows above them.
Memories linger
at Jack Russell Stadium
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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More
than a half-century after it opened as the
Philadelphia Phillies' new spring-training home,
Jack
Russell Stadium is slowly fading from the
Clearwater landscape. This week, crews posted
demolition signs, began salvaging aluminum, copper
and stainless steel items, and moved cranes in to
take out infield poles. The dismantling is
expected to take several weeks. Built in 1955,
Jack
Russell Stadium played host to Major League
Baseball greats, the Clearwater Phillies (High
Class A; Florida State League) and the Clearwater
Bombers, a softball team that won 10 National
Amateur Softball Association titles from 1950 to
1973. In 2004, the Philadelphia Phillies moved to
the new
Bright House Networks Field a few miles away.
Brazos Valley
Bombers are an instant hit
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Their
fans are used to singing the Aggie War Hymn during
baseball games, but the Brazos Valley Bombers have
formed their own tune in their inaugural season in
the Texas Collegiate League. Their first home game
broke the league's attendance record, and the
Bombers recently rattled off a seven-game winning
streak to move atop the Tris Speaker Division.
Last week, Brazos Valley pitcher Clint Helms threw
the TCL's first complete-game no-hitter in a 1-0,
seven-inning win over Coppell. Last summer, there
had never been a team in the TCL, which debuted in
2004, from outside of North Texas. Now that the
Bombers have made a strong impression, it might
signal the start of more expansion for the summer
league for pro prospects..
Baseball's
price too high for black players
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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The
number of blacks in baseball continues to go down
both in the pros and in college, and there's one
big reason why: it's an expensive sport to play
for youths. While $30,000 is the median income for
black households, according to the 2005 U.S.
Census report, Kenny and Rena McAllister, the
parents of former New Hanover High School
infielder K.J. McAllister, are a black family
willing to make financial sacrifices for their son
to play in college and possibly professionally.
Kenny McAllister, a former baseball player at
Lenoir Community College, and wife Rena, an ex-N.C.
Central softball shortstop, spend an average of
$1,500 a month on travel ball. It includes $500 in
tournament entry fees, $300 for four nights of
lodging a month and $150 for gasoline. They often
pack picnic baskets to lower food cost.
For Dodger and
Giants fans, extra innings for fans keeping the
faith
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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On
June 24 at
KeySpan Park, the Brooklyn Cyclones (short
season; NY-Penn League) hosted a "1957 Night," one
of several dates this year commemorating the 50th
anniversary of the Dodgers announcing they would
be leaving
Ebbets Field and Brooklyn for the West Coast.
This evening featured a re-creation of the last
pitch thrown at
Ebbets Field,
with Danny McDevitt and Joe Pignatano, the
Dodgers' pitcher and catcher back then. The hurt
felt by Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants fans
after their teams defected to the West Coast is
still felt today.
Diamondbacks
like Visalia
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Ending
up with the Visalia Oaks (High Class A; California
League) as an affiliate used to be like the last
one standing in a game of musical chairs. That
record appears to be changing. The club's player
development contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks
doesn't expire until after next season, but for
the first time in almost a decade, there doesn't
seem to be any fear that it won't be extended --
mainly because the D-Backs are very happy with the
arrangement.
Parties settle
tainted French fries case
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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There's
a settlement ending the court case in Hagerstown
involving tainted French fries at a minor league
baseball game. Minutes after a seven-person jury
was chosen Monday to determine compensation for
the two men who brought the case, attorneys
announced a confidential settlement. The former
owner of the Hagerstown Suns (Low Class A; Sally
League) had previously acknowledged negligence in
serving the men tainted food in 2003. Plaintiffs
Stephen Parrotte and Brian Marquiss claimed they
suffered serious, permanent injuries to their
mouths, throats and digestive tracts when a worker
inadvertently seasoned their fries with oven
cleaner from an unmarked plastic jug. The Suns
were owned at the time by an offshoot of Big Game
Capital of Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
Cats owner
decides to put 36-acre project on fast track
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Fort
Worth Cats (independent; American Association)
owner Carl Bell is moving forward with plans to
buy about 36 acres for town houses, restaurants
and shops between LaGrave Field and downtown, a
development that will serve as an anchor for the
planned Trinity Uptown area. Bell already owns 20
acres around LaGrave Field, at North Seventh and
Calhoun streets, where the minor-league baseball
team plays. He also has options to buy more land
from the city on the east side of North Main
Street, between the ballpark and the planned
Tarrant County College downtown campus.
Ballpark
parking lots have plenty of room for baseball fans
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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One
month after the first pitch at Sovereign Bank
Stadium, York Revolution (independent; Atlantic
League) fans who take their cars out to the ball
game say they're having an easy time finding a
parking spot. They don't even mind paying $3. With
only 200 on-site parking spaces at the ballpark,
parking lots near the park have seen a flurry of
activity since the first game on June 15. Although
neighbors voiced concerns about the lack of
on-site parking before the stadium opened,
Revolution spokesman Andy Frankel said the parking
has worked "more than smoothly."
Local restaurants have noted the success of the
Revolution and are crafting specials for baseball
fans.
Preliminary
environmental study on Yonkers redevelopment set
for release to public
Posted July 16, 2007 (feedback)
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A
preliminary environmental review of a $1.5 billion
plan to build a ballpark for an independent
Atlantic League team, a retail complex and housing
downtown will soon become available to the public,
city officials said. The first draft of the
environmental impact statement, estimated at 3,000
pages, addresses a wide range of issues, including
traffic congestion, air pollution and economic
effects of the proposal by developer Struever
Fidelco Cappelli. The plan covers the city's
Chicken Island parking lot, land along New Main
Street and other nearby properties. It also
includes opening a portion of the Saw Mill River
that flows under Larkin Plaza.
Pittsfield
makes baseball history -- again
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The
Art Of The Game, a two-year public art project
celebrating America’s Pastime, culminated this
weekend with a community-wide attempt at forming a
giant image of a baseball -- the world’s largest,
and made up of people -- on the field of historic
Wahconah Park. Attendees to the July 14 Pittsfield
Dukes (summer collegiate; NYCBL) game became part
of the new world record, the largest (and
admittedly, potentially the first) “human
baseball” was assembled on the infield before the
Pittsfield Dukes game against the Holyoke Giants.
The evening included dozens of raffle prizes and a
grand finale of fireworks over the historic
ballpark, courtesy of Time Warner Cable. Fans
wearing white shirts, and volunteer committee
members in red, assembled and organized into a
circle surrounding the pitcher’s mound, organized
by Art Of The Game, the city’s two-year
celebration of baseball.
photo courtesy
Art of the Game
Ballpark Notes
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One
of the more efficient PR guys in baseball, Andy
Frankel, is moving on -- sort of. He's worked
in recent years to help the Lancaster
Barnstormers and the York Revolution
(both independent; Atlantic League)launch
operations, and now he'll be working to help the
Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (independent;
Atlantic League) launch as well....
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