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The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 196

Location:
San Francisco, California
Issue Date:
Page:
196
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

SUNDAY A Section of Ihe Sunday Examiner Chronicle SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 1997 6 San Stanrisro gyonirlr Tit nmi Minor League Teams Catch Diamond Fever ing hot dogs wafted over the stadium, mingling with the scents of fresh paint and fragrant redwood chips scattered around just-planted marigolds. Tim Marting, vice president of the Modesto A's, looked happy but tired and a little nervous. This day had been a long time coming 140 days of construction preceded by five years of fretting about whether the new park would become a reality. Now comes the real test, seeing if the park draws more fans. "What we have to overcome here is 42 years of perception," Marting had said during a tour of the stadium a couple of days earlier.

For years, the Modesto A's, a Class A team franchise of the Oakland A's, had dismal attendance despite strong lineups of future stars including Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Ernie Young and Walt Weiss. The old park was cramped, with just 2,500 seats, mostly uncomfortable metal bleachers without backrests. The rest rooms were small, the locker rooms dank and the field dipped in the middle. The center field fence was only 365 feet deep, making home-run statistics suspect. "We needed improved facilities, and we needed improved fan support," Oakland A's president Sandy Alderson said after pronouncing himself happy with the renovated stadium.

"It's important for our players to play in front of good-sized crowds." On May 7, opening night for the new stadium, a wmi. i In keeping with the celebratory mood, the master of ceremonies wore a white tuxedo for the first game in the Modesto A's new stadium. .1 STADIUMS From Page 1 ties like luxury boxes and picnic plazas, modern stereo systems and paved parking lots all created with a theme, anything from the aerospace industry to the state's propensity for earthquakes. "This is the United States. People like something new," said California League President Joe Gagliardi, who has lobbied cities up and down the state for new stadiums.

"If you can go to a nice, clean ballpark with a nice atmosphere and spend your money where you're happy to do so, why would you go to an old dilapidated place?" The same new-stadium frenzy that has hit big league cities like San Francisco, Baltimore, Cleveland and Denver has been reshaping the 10-team California League, one of the premier Class A leagues in the country. Class A leagues are below Triple A and Double A minor leagues; all are stepping stones to the big leagues. Driven by demands from major league owners that minor league affiliates improve their city-owned facilities, the California League has seen a building boom unlike any in its history which officially began in 1941, but has roots in the old Highway 99 League born in 1891. Although most of the league used to be based in Northern California to keep things balanced, San Jose was not long ago a southern division team the league has now shifted dramatically southward. And since 1991, growing cities like Rancho Cucamonga and Lake Elsinore in California's so-called Inland Empire the high desert region south and east of Los Angeles have thrown millions of dollars into luxurious stadiums to lure teams away from towns that refused to upgrade their parks.

Attendance has soared at new stadiums, but a cautionary tale has emerged: Lake Elsinore's sparkling stadium, The Diamond, nearly put the city in financial ruin after its price tag soared from $14 million to nearly $24 million. Last year, the City Council mortgaged the very lake it is named after for $14.8 million to make the first loan payments on the deal. Towns in the Central Valley, where the history of California baseball is as rich as the soil, have lagged behind. Bakersfield, Visalia and Stockton have upgraded their old ballparks to meet minimum standards but have not built new ones. The San Jose Giants haven't asked for a new park yet, but their Municipal Stadium home has old plumbing and wiring and nowhere near the amenities of stadiums in the south.

In Modesto, the prospect of losing a 51-year-old California League franchise last year convinced a slim majority of the City Council to spend nearly $4 million to rebuild the 42-year-old John Thurman Field, home of the Modesto A's. It wasn't a lot compared to the stadium budgets down south, and that made it easier for Modesto Mayor Dick Lang to say yes. "Pro baseball has been a rich, enduring tradition in our community," Lang said. "To lose it would be a terrible thing." 1fo a warm May afternoon in standing-room-only crowd of 4,294 turned out for the festivities. Speeches were given and tributes were read.

When a helicopter landed in center field new mascot, Peanut, jumped out, the crowd erupted, swept up in the emotion of a man jumping around in a bulky gray elephant suit and dozens of proud team and city leaders bursting with i lit -w i 11 II I Peanut, the Modesto A's mascot, gave his adoring fans an enthusiastic greeting during the opening ceremonies at the new stadium (above). Players love the hiding space in the expanded locker rooms (left). It's better than Dodger Stadium. Thafs 30 years old." Parks in San Jose, Bakersfield, Visalia and Stockton all predate Dodger Stadium. Unlike the glittering new stadiums, their fields look more like college diamonds and in fact, San Jose's Municipal Stadium hosts not only the San Jose Giants but also San Jose State University's team.

Harry Stavrenos, who owns the San Jose Giants, hasn't demanded a new stadium. In fact, he plays up the nos- Field. That's what we have to compare ourselves to." Roger Angell, the writer and baseball essayist for the New Yorker magazine, values the old ballparks because fans are right on top of the action. "The thing about the minor leagues is that it used to be the opposite of what we saw in big league ballparks," Angell said. "It all seemed of human proportions.

Now, they're really keeping players away from us. They're taking it away, and it tugs at the heartstrings." Bakersfield's Sam Lynn civic pride. The fans quickly discovered that the new bleachers made a wonderfully loud noise when stomped in unison, and they kept up a steady beat while opening lineups were announced. When parachutists sky-dived in to deliver the first ball, more than 4,000 necks craned to pick out rainbow-colored canopies from the twilight sky. "This is what the city of Modesto had to do to maintain a ballclub here," a pleased Gagliardi said, watching the game from the right-field picnic area.

"It is now a spacious park. It has a great feeling." Since the new stadium opened, Modesto's attendance has averaged 2,340 fans a game, up from about 1,300 last year. "The stadium will sell itself," Marting said. "We will break attendance records in 1997, but we will shatter them in 1998." The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, a San Diego Padres affiliate, have already toppled league attendance records. In fact, by the Class A All-Star break this past week, it had drawn 205,01 3 fans, which put it at No.

2 in the country for Class A teams, behind only Lansing in the Midwest League. The city's $16 million ballpark, Ballpark, named for a founding father of "Minor league talgia there. "We like it because it is a the California League, is the baseball has grown Stavrenos said. "It's got a lot of charac Kern County Board of Supervisors. "If another town were to come and court us, I would say that we have given the city of Bakersfield and the county of Kern every opportunity to keep pro baseball here.

We would just bow out," Patton said. "I'm as historically sentimental about the league and about baseball as anybody, but at the same time, I think these communities have to step up to the plate. "Minor league baseball has grown so much in popularity that the have-nots are coveting the haves. The haves had better do something. It doesn't always have to be in the form of a brand-new stadium, but at least working to improve what they have." San Bernardino, smarting from losing its team to Rancho Cucamonga, decided to get minor league baseball back by luring a team from Salinas, which was later renamed the Stampede.

The city spent more than $13 million in redevelopment bonds to replace its aging Fiscalini Field for a new park called the Ranch, in a redevelopment area near downtown and just off Interstate 15. The stadium opened at the end of last season, and so far this year, attendance is averaging 3,770 a game, double last season's numbers. "Most of us felt this was money well-spent, in that it was redevelopment dollars cleaning up blight and giving us jobs," said Mayor Tom Minor. The stadium, a lovely Mission-style building with arched entryways so much in popularity that an have-nots are coveting the haves, park, The haves had better enoueh quirks to send ter. We try to put a lot of tradition into it." do something." shivers down traditionalist's Jack Pa'iton Bakersfield Blaze manager spine.

The sun sets behind center field an almost unheard-of orienta- Municipal Stadium was upgraded over the last few years to meet Modesto, workers scurried around putting finishing touches on the new John Thurman Field off Highway 99. With only a few hours to go until the first pitch, there were still distance markers to be installed on the outfield fences, handrails to be attached along ramps and seat backs to be screwed onto bleachers. The smell of steam- ON THE WAY UP the Epicenter, has been rocking since it opened in 1993 after wooing a team from San Bernardino. Outside, it looks like a typical Southern California office building with palm trees lining its plaza. A towering bronze statue of the late Jack Benny, who used the name Cucamonga in his routines for comic effect, greets fans inside the gate.

Inside, the Epicenter is loaded with special effects and attractions. Some fans sit in the barbecue pavilion, while others play carnival games like Wheel of Fortune. Two mascots, dinosaurs named Tremor and Aftershock, roam the stands, and before the game, the theme song plays: "At the Epicenter, baby, whole lot of quaking going on." Brian Mulick and his wife bring their children, Kayla, 6, and Cole, 3, to games every other week. They used to go to Dodgers games, but now they sit in the pavilion and eat dinner while watching the game, knowing they can get home without fighting freeway traffic back from L.A. "The minor leagues are more exciting.

You could easily have a 10-run game," Mulick said. "And for $20, you get to sit at a table and get four seats." The young players taking batting practice on the major-league-quality field say nothing compares with the thrill of competing in a park packed with cheering fans. "This is really incredible," said Mick Fieldbinder, a right-handed pitcher for the visiting Stockton Ports. "This place is state-of-the-art, top-notch. It's nice coming to a ballpark and seeing people buy tickets to see you play." Fieldbinder is more accustomed to small crowds in Stockton, which has the second-worst attendance in the California League this year, just ahead of Visalia.

Rancho Cucamonga is drawing an average of 5,858 fans per game, while Stockton, a Milwaukee Brewers minor league team, is drawing 1,382. The owners of the Quakes have spent almost $8 million since the park opened to add bleachers, build a second barbecue pavilion and a terrace, because the attendance has been so strong, said Tom Henderson, the team's executive vice president. Michael Curto, the voice of the Quakes on KCKC AM, thinks the Epicenter outshines most major league parks in California in its style and amenities. "It's better than Jack Murphy Stadium (in San Diego)," he said. "It's better than the Oakland Coliseum.

baseball standards, but most of those improvements were in things the fans can't see the clubhouse, the trainer's room, the laundry equipment. For some fans, though, the spartan stadium is a welcome setting in which to concentrate on a game. "Not everyone wants to go to a brand-spanking-new stadium," said General Manager Mark Wilson. "There's still some people who enjoy a Fenway Park or a Wrigley tion because it blinds the batter and it's only 354 feet to deep center. The Bakersfield Blaze, now a San Francisco Giants affiliate, was one of the original teams in the California League.

Attendance is bad, though, and team owners think a new stadium would increase fan interest just as it has for Southern California teams. But Jack Patton, the Blaze's general manager, has been turned down by both Bakersfield City Council and the The 1 0 teams of the California League are not just training grounds for their big league affiliates they make up one of the best Class A leagues in the country. i Sacramento I Milwaukee brewers, i- 'San fcj 1 Francisco Valley Division Freeway Division I .1 nn ,1 IP" 1 f) vl, I Oakland Athletics San francisco Giants I San francisco Giants I I'-- I Fresno it Monterey Oakland Athletics n.T.irimni.iR77 Arizona Diamondbacks San francisco Giants "'A WW illii To woo a team to town, San Bernardino spent more than $13 million to build a new stadium known as "the Ranch" (right). The cost of Lake Elsinore's shoreline stadium (far right) jumped from $14 million to $24 million, and the city had to mortgage the lake to make the first loan payments. 3r Seattle Manners Los Angeles TB a stadium San Uego Cadres Jy: i Anaheim Angels tos Angeles Dodgers San Diego i.

ri Chronicle Graphic.

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