ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 7, 1996 TAG: 9604110007
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: BASEBALL
SOURCE: RAY COX
A little baseball miracle that occurs every spring goes largely unnoticed.
Fields that are at worst presentable and at best blooming with midseason shades of emerald are opening all across America with not a dandelion or clump of Johnson grass in sight. One of these springtime playpens is the new ballpark in Salem, Memorial Stadium, which will have its first real Opening Day on Monday.
And it will look marvelous. Absolutely stunning. Fairly sparkling in its glory.
``It's looked that way about two days,'' said groundskeeping guru Stan Macko as he leaned on a rake at home plate in a pause from his manicuring one warm day this past week. ``My last two years here, I was mowing by at least March 10. This year, I've only been mowing the past two weeks.''
Presumably, few require reminders that we had a challenging winter in the Roanoke Valley.
``The winter didn't hurt this field,'' Macko said. ``It's the way it's been since winter supposedly has been over. It's cold rain one day, freezing at night, then 40 degrees. It's been bad.''
Frankly, the field was a depressing sight not so long ago.
One guy reported passing by the ballpark on an afternoon in March and being struck by the fact that workmen had peeled the outfield down to the bare dirt, presumably to prepare it for brand new sod. Closer inspection revealed no bare dirt, at least not outside the basepaths.
The brown stuff he was seeing was deceased and obsolete grass.
``The rain really helped recently,'' Macko said.
That's benevolent Mother Nature for you. Which reminds you: Baseball fields are nature at its most unnatural.
That such beauty is possible is a tribute to the particular quiet genius of groundsmeisters such as Macko.
THE BASEBALL APPRENTICE: Macko doesn't face the crabgrass and dust alone. One of his aides-de-camp is a burly fellow from Wilmington, Del., named Lee Batten.
A 1995 graduate of the University of Richmond, Batten was on the Spiders' varsity football roster for three seasons (and an active player for two). The truth is, he wasn't all that active for any of the seasons. An unsound back prevented him from making a significant contribution to the team as a lineman or tight end.
Batten had a post-football plan in place, though, and that was to work in minor-league baseball.
``If they had minor-league football, that's where I'd be,'' he said. ``But since they don't, here I am.''
They call what Batten is doing ``being an intern,'' or ``serving an internship.''
What that means in practice is long hours worked for short change.
The way Batten found his way to Salem is a story in itself. Last year, a friend introduced him to someone who had worked at the same Wilmington saloon, a place called Bottlecaps, that Batten once did. They were introduced over a cold one.
The guy was Dave Oster, who worked for the Wilmington Blue Rocks at the time. but was on his way to Salem to take over as the Avalanche's general manager. When Batten learns the baseball business literally from the (grass) roots up, he'll have Oster to thank.
MIND YOUR MANNERS: The Avalanche turned out in force for a media lunch at a Roanoke restaurant this past week, and manager Bill McGuire was making absolutely certain the troops were camera-ready.
Spotting a couple of players who had not yet doffed their caps after being seated, McGuire marched over and refreshed their memories about the proper place for a gentleman's headgear when he is inside.
ON THE AIR: Former Salem Buccaneers employee Anthony Marek has surfaced as the play-by-play broadcaster and media representative for the Prince William Cannons in Woodbridge.
Marek, it will be recalled, sued Salem Professional Baseball Club, Inc., for $4,000 he claimed was owed him in commissions. Two weeks ago, Marek collected $1,700 in an out-of-court settlement.
Marek spent the 1995 season working for the Lynchburg Hillcats.
SHORT HOPS: Two new Carolina League managers, Randy Ingle of Durham and Phillip Wellman of Winston-Salem, have ties to the old Pulaski Braves of the Appalachian League. Ingle managed Pulaski for three seasons and Wellman was a coach. ... Jon Farrell is back in the Carolina League. The former Pittsburgh Pirates No.1 draft choice (1991) will be doing his third Carolina League tour, this time with Lynchburg after playing for Salem in 1993 and 1994. Farrell hit at-bats with Carolina of the Class AA Southern League in 1995. ... Also on another Carolina League tour is former Bucs slugger Michael Brown, who will be remembered for some fence- and roof-clearing blasts at old Municipal Field during his stay in 1993. After spending the past two years with Carolina, hitting .238 with eight homers in 60 games in '95, Brown was converted into a left-handed pitcher in Hawaii's winter league. He will be the Hillcats' No.5 starter.
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