ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, December 13, 1996              TAG: 9612130046
SECTION: CURRENT                  PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
DATELINE: PULASKI
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER

BASEBALL MAY BE BACK IN PULASKI

An agreement that could bring professional baseball back to Pulaski for at least one season is being negotiated by local baseball boosters and the Texas Rangers team.

"There's a lot of details still to be worked out," Hiawatha Nicely, one of the members of Pulaski Baseball Inc., said Thursday. "We are working very closely with the Texas Rangers organization and the town of Pulaski ."

Pulaski has not fielded a baseball team for the past four seasons. Texas has never had a club in the Appalachian League.

When local baseball enthusiasts were trying to land another team in 1994, professional baseball's governing body demanded the town make an estimated $100,000 in improvements to bring Calfee Park up to its standards. The improvements included a new clubhouse and improved lighting.

For a one-year commitment, however, the town might get by with some cleaning and painting and light replacements. The league would have to grant a waiver for the other requirements.

The baseball promotional group still has to discuss with town officials what improvements could be made in time for the 1997 season, which starts in June.

An additional Appalachian League team would give the league a desperately needed 10th team, which would ease the league's scheduling headaches. The league now includes teams from West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Pulaski has not had a professional baseball team since the Atlanta Braves relocated their Appalachian League affiliate to Danville at the end of the 1992 season. The Braves had called Pulaski home since 1982.

During 1993 and 1994, Pulaski tried unsuccessfully to lure a Pittsburgh Pirates team here. The Boston Red Sox seemed to be a possibility for the following season, but that did not work out, either.

Nicely said it is still too early to be certain that a baseball agreement for Pulaski will be reached for the next season.

"But, assuming that we can get all the details worked out, we'll have baseball in the New River Valley in the spring of '97," he said. "I feel they will be worked out. I feel real good about that."

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