ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 26, 1996 TAG: 9606260027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW HAVEN, CONN.
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
BRENT CROWTHER, Forry Wells and other former Avalanche players are enjoying a learning experience at New Haven.
Brent Crowther, fresh off a 4-3 victory over the Bowie (Md.) BaySox the previous night, was lazily loosening his pitching arm two weeks ago in the New Haven Ravens bullpen. Ravens pitching coach Jack Lamabe was eyeing Crowther, called up to the Class AA Colorado Rockies affiliate from Salem, Va., on May 22. Crowther was finishing his workout when Lamabe barked, ``We're a National League team. Go bat a little.''
That's how things work at this, the Colorado Rockies' Class AA affiliate. Like other minor league outposts, baseball is a teaching and learning experience. At the AA level in New Haven, more so than the lower rungs of the minor leagues, there's a sense that the pupils are nearing graduation to the majors.
``At Class A, you have a lot of guys with potential,'' said Bill Hayes, New Haven's manager and Salem's skipper in 1995. ``You can't go to the bank with potential. If you find out you can compete here ... a lot of guys have made the jump from AA to the big leagues.''
Hayes, Lamabe and many others agree on the difference of play between a circuit like the Class A Carolina League and New Haven's AA Eastern League. The hitters don't swing any harder or run any faster, but they have a better knowledge of what to do at the plate. The pitchers don't throw any harder, but they have much better control of where the ball ends up.
``Here guys say, `Everybody knows I've got a good fastball. See if you can hit it on the outside corner.''' said Forry Wells, another former Avalanche player on the Ravens roster. Wells is an authority on good Class AA pitching, and not only because he's often New Haven's designated hitter. He's batting
The differences and similarities between Salem and New Haven don't end on the field, although the short porch in right field at New Haven's Yale Field does divert from the cookie cutter design of Salem's Memorial Stadium.
You can win automobiles at both ballparks, a Jeep in Salem and a Saturn in New Haven. Both parks blare ``YMCA'' over the loudspeakers, although New Haven gets it out of the way before the seventh-inning stretch. Both have dizzy bat races, blindfolded find-the-mascot promotions and yes, the Ravens tell all their fans who has the dirtiest car in the parking lot.
Autographs are easy to come by at both parks, but in New Haven, team officials actually set up a roped area on the field for 15 minutes before each game so children can get close to star prospects like Derrick Gibson and Todd Helton.
New Haven is also more true to its nickname. Aside from Stagg Bowl week, you can't find any Avalanches in the vicinity of Memorial Stadium. Ravens fly over Yale Field all the time.
Memorial Stadium and Yale Field present the most striking contrasts between the franchises. They are similarly-sized, both seating more than 6,000. But while Memorial Stadium is not yet one-year-old, Yale Field is 70. Former first-round draft picks Jamey Wright, John Burke and Doug Million are some of the bigger names to have played at Memorial. Some of the bigger names to play at Yale Field include Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ted Williams.
Yale Field stands out in the Eastern League because it's one of only two facilities in the league (Reading, Pa.'s newly refurbished Municipal Stadium is the other) to have opened before 1983. Five have opened since 1992.
Some Ravens came to New Haven after playing in the brand-new Memorial Stadium. Many have had good things to say about the facility. Thinking back to his Memorial Stadium digs, Crowther said, ``I have yet to see a similar park.''
``It was actually fun to go to the ballpark,'' said catcher Mike Higgins. ``The old park was a joke compared to the new one.''
Infielder Keith Grunewald, who dresses next to Wells, said he preferred hitting in cavernous Memorial Stadium to old Municipal, which he called, ``the Arena ball stadium.''
While the former Avalanche players in New Haven said they missed the comfy confines of Memorial Stadium, none wished to go back down the ladder to get there. From New Haven the big leagues are just too close.
``People in this city realize you're on the doorstep of the major leagues,'' Wells said. ``Sometimes it doesn't seem close, but you'll see a guy on TV and say, `Wait, I just played that guy, now I'm watching him on ESPN.'
``It opens your eyes that it doesn't take a lot to get there.''
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DANIEL UTHMAN Derrick Gibson (right), who was namedby CNBthe No.1 prospect in the Colorado Rockies' organization in the
preseason, signs autographs before a New Haven Ravens game. color.