Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 29, 1994 TAG: 9405290056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
However, if you look beyond the Salem Civic Center, between the football stadium and the tennis courts, then close your eyes, maybe you too can see a new baseball park.
The Salem Buccaneers don't play July 19, but there's no question the biggest cheer in the history of the Roanoke Valley's minor-league franchise could come that day. A referendum on the construction of a new ballpark will be posed to Salem's 11,000-plus registered voters.
The referendum is non-binding, and besides, there doesn't seem to be much opposition to a new ballpark that's needed to keep professional baseball in town. The cost of the project won't exceed $5 million, and city officials promise no tax increase.
Salem City Council is expected to approve construction that likely would begin in September. If that's going to happen and if the Buccaneers hope to play in the new park on Opening Day 1995, then someone had better be warming up. That would be the city's ballpark development committee.
Led by Mayor Jim Taliaferro, a 10-person group recently visited two Carolina League parks - in Frederick, Md., and Wilmington, Del. - and The Diamond in Richmond. The group also wants to check out 5,100-seat Frans Stadium, which the Hickory (N.C.) Crawdads moved into last season.
Representatives of Kinsey, Shane & Associates, the architectural company that is designing the Salem stadium, have seen these parks, too. The ballpark must meet Class A standards set by the major leagues in the Professional Baseball Agreement.
It won't meet those standards. It will exceed them.
"Baseball is Salem," Taliaferro said last weekend while watching the NCAA Division III softball championships at the Moyer Complex. "It's always been here. We want a Salem-type facility. We're going to do it right.
"We take a great deal of pride in our city. Sometimes people poke fun at that. Well, there's nothing wrong with having pride."
Taliaferro said the city has an independent accounting firm - "not ours, not baseball's" - working up figures on the potential economic impact of a new ballpark. An artist's rendering of the proposed park will be available from Kinsey, Shane by July 1, and it will be displayed publicly in the lobby of the civic center.
The city plans to mail a flyer on the stadium to residents during the first week of July, explaining the proposal, with facts and figures on the ballpark's construction and potential impact.
So, what about this new ballpark? What are fans likely to see? What is Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles likely to rent? What did the ballpark tour group see?
They mostly saw things they don't want to do.
Here's a glimpse at what some ballpark committee members see in the new stadium:
About 6,000 to 6,500 seats, most made of heavy-duty Fiberglas, as in the new major-league parks. This won't be a place filled with aluminum-bench bleachers. It will have a brick facade to match the nearby football stadium, combined with concrete. No cinder blocks.
It will have wide concourses. Fan comforts will include ample height and width between rows. The Buccaneers - or whatever the club might be named if the Pittsburgh Pirates don't return as the parent club - will have their offices in the ballpark and will operate a gift shop year-round.
There will be glass-enclosed private boxes for rent, probably eight to 10. There also may be a reservations-only restaurant overlooking the diamond. And here's hoping at least a portion of the stands is covered by a nice green roof, creating the look and feel of an old ballpark - like Municipal Field.
The restrooms and team clubhouses will be large. The storage space will be more than ample, the lighting as bright or brighter than that at Municipal Field now. The ballpark will be built to Class AAA specifications in those areas.
Bowles' rent also will be significantly more than the $1,000 per month he pays, which is up from only $250 monthly in recent years. Then, too, baseball accountants say a new park usually means at least a 35 percent rise in attendance.
There already are 4,500 on-site parking spaces, and more money can be put into the structure because excavation will be minimal and the site already has water, sewer and electricity.
"One reason we're taking these trips is we want a state-of-the-art ballpark, and we don't know what `state of the art' is," said Forest Jones, Salem's assistant manager who is working on his third sports-facility design job. "We want a ballpark that people will be comfortable in.
"Municipal Field is a nice place to watch a game with the view. We want to keep a homey atmosphere. We want a ballpark with new comforts combined with an old feel. We want a park that will be the finest in the Carolina League, one not just Salem, but the whole Roanoke Valley, will enjoy."
Asked what he would like to see most in a new ballpark, Taliaferro said, "People."
He shouldn't worry. If Salem builds it, they will come.
by CNB