Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 14, 1995 TAG: 9501160050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The final stages of construction at the new Salem baseball field are just about to commence.
Assembly of the grandstand is scheduled to begin Jan.23 after the first shipment of prestressed concrete arrives by truck from Richmond.
``They'll put it together just like Tinker Toys,'' said F.A. ``Doc'' Shane of stadium architects Kinsey Shane & Associates. ``People are going to be surprised at how fast it goes up.''
Avis Construction, the general contractor, has a deadline of March 1 to have the grandstands in place.
``The field is looking very good, the foundations are all but dug, and by March 1, we'll have the stadium sitting there - weather permitting,'' Shane said.
Shane conceded midwinter weather in this region always is an iffy proposition.
``These concrete pieces are very heavy, and we don't want to endanger any of the workers by making them work in icy weather,'' Shane said.
With the Salem Avalanche slated to open the Carolina League season April 14 at home, it would appear the construction schedule is not leaving much room for delays.
``It's true we let a lot of nice weather go by in the fall,'' said Kelvin Bowles, the Avalanche's owner.
Shane does not have to be reminded of that.
``We underestimated the time it would take to do the drawings,'' Shane said. ``There's a lot that goes into a baseball field - more than a football field. We've been putting in 16-hour days just to get to this point. Still, we ended up meeting the deadlines we'd set for ourselves.''
Now if the weather will just cooperate. If it doesn't, no contingency plans have been made in case the stadium is not ready by opening day.
``We certainly hope the stadium is going to be ready in time,'' said Sam Lazzaro, the Avalanche's general manager. ``We're planning on selling 6,000 opening-night tickets, and we don't know where we're going to put 6,000 people in Municipal Field.''
But returning to the former home of the Salem Buccaneers is not an option.
``We'd have to have major-league approval to do that, and they're not going to give it,'' Bowles said. ``They'd already given us a year more than they wanted to so we could be in there last year.''
Preliminary discussions have been conducted about other possibilities should an alternative site for opening night be required, Bowles said.
``We've looked at Lynchburg, but they're at home the same time we're supposed to open up at home. Then there's Martinsville. But they're working on their stadium, and it'll be torn up. They're not in any hurry because they don't start the same time we do [the Appalachian League season begins in late June].
``So I don't know. We plan on being in the new park. The city of Salem always comes through.''
Weather permitting ...
``I think it would be late March before I start pushing the panic button,'' Bowles said.
It's going to take a lot to cause panic in the Avalanche offices, Lazzaro said.
``We're not expecting everything to be pristine on opening day,'' he said. ``There might be a few things that are unfinished. But that won't mean we can't move in.''
AVALANCHE DEBRIS: Lazzaro says he expects to close on the sale of the new $250,000 scoreboard by early next week. Four companies have made sales pitches. The sales contract will call for the scoreboard to be fully operational by April 1. ... The scoreboard is being moved from left field, where the original plans called for it to be located, to right center. The old location would have made the scoreboard hard to read in the late afternoon sun. ... Lazzaro has about 50 or 60 tapes and 100 resumes from prospective radio play-by-play men. He's whittled the group down to a list of five or six finalists. ... Out of 12 skyboxes, seven have been sold, and there have been plenty of inquiries about the other five, Lazzaro said. ``We expect them to go quickly,'' he said.
by CNB