Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994 TAG: 9404030187
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
This may come as harsh and depressing news for all those traditionalists, aficionados and history buffs who inhabit the grandstand when the Bucs are in residence, but it is a fact. Despite all the coats of paint and other renovations through the years, the Depression-era stadium doesn't stack up against its peers.
To hear some critics tell it, the only thing that would help ancient Municipal Field is a can of gasoline and a match.
Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles has said he wants out before the start of the 1995 season, but he must wait for a July referendum to gauge voter sentiment for a new ballyard in Salem and, if approved, construction of a new stadium.
If and when a new ballpark is built, this is what it will be compared with:
In Durham, N.C., the other tottering grandmother of the league, Durham Athletic Park, is being abandoned in favor of a $16 million state-of-the-art minor-league park that was designed by HOK Sports of Kansas City, Mo., the same outfit that gave the world Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the new Comiskey Park in Chicago, among others. The new Durham stadium, which will accommodate 7,500 to 10,000 (depending on whether the customer sits in a seat or on a blanket on the grassy bank) and has yet to be named, has taken much longer than planned to build and will not be ready until the 1995 season.
In Wilmington, Del., the Blue Rocks joined the league in 1993 and brought with them newly constructed Daniel S. Frawley Stadium, a 5,891-seat palace built for $4.5 million of the state's money.
Frederick, Md., opened 5,500-seat Harry Grove Stadium in 1990 after building it at a cost of $5.3 million. The real estate on which the ballpark sits was donated and the cost of construction was shared by the city, county, state and private sources and by Maryland Baseball Limited Partnership, the operator of the Keys.
Kinston's 45-year-old Grainger Stadium has undergone a $1 million face lift to bring the North Carolina facility up to the standards outlined in the Professional Baseball Agreement, which governs the relationship between the major and minor leagues.
With its 6,000-seat aluminum grandstands, Prince William's County Stadium is not a glamorous facility, but it is a functional and adequate one. The ballpark does have at least one nice feature - the dugouts are connected to the clubhouse via a passageway, sparing visiting teams a trip through crowds of potential hecklers and sparing the home team from legions of autograph seekers.
Ernie Shore Field in Winston-Salem, N.C., was built in 1956 but doesn't look it. That is in part because of a $1.2 million renovation in 1992. Among the improvements were expanded grandstands that include 877 new box seats, new concession stands and toilets, a new sound system, a mesh backstop replacing the old chain-link fence and a face lift for the stadium's facade.
City Stadium in Lynchburg opened in 1940 but has been kept up to date by a series of renovations. Among the recent additions were a new clubhouse (1981), a new scoreboard (1982) and a new sprinkler system (1984). The playing surface was voted best in the league by the league's umpires and managers in 1993.
Aside from the questions about major-league affiliation for the Bucs (the Pittsburgh Pirates have hinted strongly that they don't want their prospects at Municipal Field a second longer than they have to be) and minor-league standards, Bowles has said a new stadium is necessary for financial reasons.
Salem was sixth among eight Carolina League teams in 1993 attendance with a gate of 145,657. The top three were Frederick (351,146), Wilmington (332,132) and Durham (305,692).
As for the value of a new stadium, Frederick general manager Larry Martin offered this opinion:
"Tell the people in Salem to build the new stadium. It will pay for itself."
by CNB