Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 13, 1990 TAG: 9004130249
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Got complaints about the weather, call WSLS' Cindy Farmer. She was at Municipal Field before the game, on the television news, predicting temperatures in the mid-20s.
Don't believe it.
The warmth of baseball was back in the Roanoke Valley on Thursday night. Maybe you didn't make it to "the yard." You've got 69 more scheduled chances before the end of August.
At Municipal Field, some things never change. Robley Stearnes, the longtime fan who loves to yell "Snakebit!" at Salem's misfortune, was frostbitten on this night.
He's back, as is the 323-foot power alley in left-center, and the bogus distances painted on the outfield walls. But there are some stunning differences at the venerable ballpark.
How about the "Pampers Changing Room" in the women's restroom. As San Francisco manager Roger Craig might say about the changing table, "Humm, Baby."
Then, there's new Bucs manager Stan Cliburn. He's really different from Rocky Bridges, last year's skipper who was almost as old as Municipal Field.
Cliburn can run. Cliburn has teeth. When Cliburn looks in the mirror, he doesn't see a cross between Popeye and Don Zimmer.
There's a family section under the grandstand this year, in Section B. No drinking. No smoking. But, farther down the first-base line, "Rowdy Ridge" remains.
One of the most noticeable additions to Municipal Field is a message board below the scoreboard. Four hours before the first pitch, it was still being installed.
Sam Lazzaro, the Bucs' vice president of operations, has been waiting for the message board controls and components all week. Seems they had been sitting in a parking lot outside the Charlotte Knights' new park in Fort Mill, S.C.
In the concession stands, much is the same. Only ice cream, still in the mini-helmets, has gone up in price, from $1 to $1.50. But now you get three scoops instead of two.
There's a new footlong hot dog and a deep-fried chicken filet sandwich. The Wings of Fire are down to $2 this season.
But this is baseball season. So, let's try Homer's Baseball Cookies. A dollar a box. Trivia questions on the box. The cookies are in the shape of baseball players in action - swinging a bat, throwing a ball. Grabbing a fat paycheck. Just kidding.
They taste like animal crackers. Go well with a beer, any flavor. Yes, it's cold, whether the weather is or not.
Tickets are the same price as they've been for umpteen years. Prices range between $2.50 and $3.50. Children 12 and under get $1 off a regular-priced ticket. That means a kid can get a reserved seat for a buck an ear.
Boo if you like.
But back to Opening Day. It's like your birthday. It comes only once a year. Good thing. Salem vice mayor Mac Green delivered the first pitch. It was 10 feet up the third-base line.
"Snakebit."
Cliburn was at the park by 1:30 Thursday afternoon. He couldn't wait for the first pitch. For a ballplayer, Opening Day is like Christmas morning is for kids who can't hit the curveball.
Bob Bailey knows that. His son, Robert, began his first full professional season as the Bucs' utilityman. Bailey had more than 25 Opening Days, 16 as a major-leaguer with the Pirates, Dodgers, Reds, Expos and Red Sox.
"Opening Day, you're always nervous," Bailey said as he watched his son hit off a tee before the Bucs' opener. "You're always anxious, and then going into about the fourth inning, you settle down.
"On Opening Day, I was always a little nervous . . . maybe a lot nervous. It was always special. I don't know how to explain it."
Bailey hit his first major-league homer, for Pittsburgh, on Opening Day 1963, off Milwaukee's Lew Burdette at Forbes Field. He remembered it like it happened Thursday night at Municipal Field.
"The pitch before I hit the homer, we had the hit-and-run on and I had to go down because the pitch was right at me," Bailey said. "I got up and hit the homer. Then Danny Murtaugh fined me $25 for not hitting the hit-and-run pitch."
Butch Schlopy, the Bucs' scheduled starting pitcher tonight, said Opening Day is part anxiousness, part excitement, part overcoming the boredom of endless fundamentals work in spring training.
"It's a little bit of relaxation time, too," said Schlopy, in his second season at Salem. "After spring training, it's a feeling of knowing you've made a club."
Opening Day ends a winter-filled Field of Dreams. The Boys of Summer are back, even on a night when they're wearing longjohns and turtlenecks.
by CNB