Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, April 8, 1991                   TAG: 9104080245
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAVID M. POOLE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BASEBALL

At the top of my itinerary was Chain-O-Lakes Park in Winter Haven, winter home of the Boston Red Sox.

It was there, more than two decades ago, that my father introduced me to the game of baseball.

I grew up in Winter Haven, and my father - a native Bostonian - would take me to Chain-O-Lakes to watch the Sox limber up for the long summer ahead.

I remember my father pointing out a tall gentleman at the batting cage imparting advice to young ballplayers. My father's hushed voice told me that Ted Williams was a legend.

My most vivid memories are of a towering home run by Carl Yastrzemski that disappeared into the fifth row of an orange grove beyond the right field wall and the sound of foul balls as they landed on the grandstand's metal roof.

We moved away in 1970, and I hadn't been back to the park since I was a 9-year-old kid with my first mitt.

Returning to Winter Haven would be a chance to slip into the warm bath of nostalgia.

Instead, I got a cold shot in the face, like an old man who returns to his hometown and discovers that his neighborhood has been blacktopped into a shopping mall parking lot.

Don't get me wrong. Chain-O-Lakes is still a charming place to watch a ball game. Ted Williams still gives batting tips. Foul balls still clang off the grandstand roof.

But the orange grove beyond right field was gone - replaced by townhouses. What's worse, the Red Sox have announced this would be their last year at the little ballpark they've called home for 25 years.

The Red Sox - like other teams - are selling themselves to the highest bidder. The Sox will move their training facilities to the town that can offer guaranteed gate receipts and the most favorable lease.

It's happening all across Florida and Arizona, as teams leave familiar parks for sterile stadiums named not after Hall of Famers, but Chamber of Commerce operatives.

The new venues extract a toll far higher than $7.50 box seats. Stadiums like the one built for the New York Mets in a Port St. Lucie industrial park put a distance between fans and players and destroy the relaxed atmosphere that gave spring training its allure.

Winter Haven has joined the bidding. To entice the Pittsburgh Pirates to leave Bradenton, City Council may spend several million dollars to buy a hotel near the park and turn it into a player dormitory.

Who knows? Maybe next year Chain-O-Lakes Park will have a fresh coat of yellow and black paint, fathers will recall the feats of Roberto Clemente and little boys will watch home runs bounce off condos.

One thing is certain. I'll be less nostalgic about the good old days. At least until next spring.

\ David M. Poole is a staff writer who covers Franklin County