Pensacola Independent News

COVER STORY | Vol. 5, No. 43, November 10, 2005
(Field of Dreams)
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Field of Dreams

by Duwayne Escobedo

"If you believe in the impossible, the incredible can come true."
—"Field of Dreams"

In the 1989 hit movie "Field of Dreams," Kevin Costner plays Ray Kinsella. The Iowa farmer hears a strange voice that tells him, "If you build it, he will come."

So what does the farmer do? Spend $25,000 on an "expert," call all his neighbors and ask for their input and then decide to hold a referendum on the issue?

Nope. Kinsella goes along with the crazy notion to cut a baseball diamond out of his cornfields.

Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, Smokey Joe Wood, Mel Ott, Gil Hodges and a bunch of baseball legends show up to play, except for Ty Cobb because he's a son-of-a-bitch and they told him to stick it.

The movie earned three Oscar nominations, including one for best picture. Kinsella and his ballpark tapped into the American tenet to chase your dreams.

Hollywood rubbish?

Pensacola area residents have listened to voices ad nauseam since January about building a multi-use baseball field downtown on Pensacola Bay. The Community Maritime Park creators pitched the ballpark, a waterfront park, a conference center, shops, restaurants, offices, a Maritime Museum, and University of West Florida classrooms as part of the development of the prime, 27.5-acre Trillium property.

The Pensacola City Council is expected before the end of December to make up its mind on the $77.5 million public-private project. Ballpark and development opponents began gearing up Tuesday to put the initiative on a citywide referendum for voters to accept or reject.

Shoeless Joe Jackson: "Is this heaven?" Ray Kinsella: "No, it's Iowa."

Pensacola officials and voters might want to consider: Will Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and the rest of the New York Yankees' "Murderers Row" show up like the World Champions did in March 1929 to play the Pensacola Fliers? What about the Philadelphia Phillies' Bobby Bragan, Les "Bubba" Floyd, Johnny Hutchings and Harry Walker, who all played on the 1939 Pensacola Fliers, considered by historians as the best team to ever wear a Pensacola baseball uniform? Maybe Ted Williams—the Major League's last .400 hitter—will blast another 450-shot like he did when he was stationed here for a brief time during World War II? Will Pensacola's famed Negro League team, the Pensacola Pepsi-Cola Stars, come to play? Maybe Pensacola and Washington Senators pitcher Fred Waters will take the field?

America's pastime dates back to July 4, 1868, in Pensacola. The Pensacola Tri-Weekly Observer reported on the first organized game ever played, which was between the Seminoles and Bay City Club in Seville Square.

Pensacola fielded minor league ball clubs affiliated with the Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators and other teams for the next 94 years until 1962, when the Class D Alabama-Florida League the Pensacola baseball team played in decided to fold rather than integrate.

Pensacola wouldn't get another minor league club again until the Pensacola Pelicans started playing in 2002.

Mort O'Sullivan, managing partner of O'Sullivan Creel, longs to attend a baseball game on the waterfront again. He used to attend games with his father at Admiral Mason Park, which used to be located on what today is known as Veterans Memorial Park. O'Sullivan, an outspoken Community Maritime Park supporter, also played in the baseball stadium as a teenager.

"I remember as a child how fun it was to go down there and play and watch ball games," he says. "I'm excited about doing the same thing today. Put that thing on the waterfront and just watch what comes behind it."

Charles Fairchild bears no nostalgia or love for a ballpark on Pensacola Bay, which he and others single out as a major stumbling block to the Community Maritime Park proposal.

"I fail to see how a baseball stadium generates economic impact or even becomes a catalyst," says Fairchild, who founded Save Our City, which opposes the project. "We can have a vacant lot with overgrown weeds or we can have a vacant lot with a baseball stadium no one uses. I support developing the site but let's do something viable."

Terence Mann: "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."

Community Maritime Park backers call for Pensacola's Community Redevelopment Agency to chip in $40 million toward the major development with private and state matching funds covering the rest.

When it comes to the $15.7 million, 3,500-seat ballpark, Community Maritime Park leader and Pensacola Pelicans owner Quint Studer pledges to pay a $175,000 annual lease to the city for 10 years.

The ball club, which is joining the new, high-caliber American Association of Professional Baseball, also plans to donate all profits from the Pelicans to local charities with no payment to Studer of any salary or fees. And, if there aren't any profits, Studer is committing to a minimum of $250,000 annually in charitable contributions for the first five years.

The stadium, when not hosting minor league baseball, can return to being simply a park, or turn into a venue for concerts, festivals, plays and other outdoor events.

Pensacola City Councilman Mike Wiggins sees the ballpark as a key and successful element to improving Pensacola's waterfront. A dog? Wiggins doesn't see how.

"I don't see it failing," he says. "There's a guaranteed lease for 10 years. The city and taxpayers really don't lose. Everything is a risk. Nothing is for sure. But I still contend, this is a linchpin to redeveloping the whole west side."

Not so fast, say opponents. They contend the Community Maritime Park backers are exploiting the prime, city-owned land and claim if the project and ballpark falters the city gets stuck with a $2.6 million yearly debt payment for the next 30 years.

"Either way, the results will be an everlasting monument to the lack of business savvy in those we elect to exercise fiscal oversight over public assets," says Pensacola resident Pompelio A. Ucci, a prolific critic who writes and sends e-mails bashing the plan.

Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham: "This is my most special place in all the world, Ray. Once a place touches you like this, the wind nevers blows so cold again. You feel for it, like it was your child."

This year, Pensacola Pelicans attendance at the out-of-the-way, University of West Florida baseball field averaged more than 1,600 a game.

But a report done for the team conservatively projects a nightly average of 2,338 baseball fans at a downtown, waterfront, professional facility. That translates into 105,188 in attendance for the Pelicans' 45 home games.

The projected Pelicans' attendance would generate about $1.73 million in revenue, covering a forecasted $1.49 million in expenses.

Consider this: In 1946 when Pensacola's population stood at 25,000, about 126,000 turned out to see the Pensacola Fliers. In fact, one preseason parade drew and estimated 6,000 fans.

Also consider that since 1992, there have been about 80 new baseball stadiums developed. This number includes stadiums for both affiliated minor league baseball, as well as independent baseball leagues. Studies show with these new stadiums comes an increase in overall attendance, especially for minor league teams staying in the same city.

The Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs saw attendance skyrocket from 100,428 to 231,006—a 130 percent increase—when it opened the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park or "The Joe" on the banks of Ashley River in 1997. The Appleton, Wisc., Timber Rattlers increased attendance 174 percent to 209,159 in its new digs in 1995.

Even independent minor league teams like Winnipeg (Manitoba) Goldeyes and Sioux Falls (S.D.) Carnies saw attendance jump. Winnipeg crowds swelled 56 percent to 248,488 in 1999 and Sioux Falls attendance rose 14 percent to 135,216 in 2000.

Minor league baseball attendance has steadily grown hitting a record 40 million this past season.

Ray Kinsella: "I'm 36 years old, I love my family, I love baseball and I'm about to become a farmer. But until I heard the voice, I'd never done a crazy thing in my whole life."

O'Sullivan likes to point to Community Maritime Park projections that shows if the annual growth rate ranges from 5 to 15 percent, the project, including the ballpark, will have an economic impact from $360 to $966 million to the area. The past five years, Pensacola has averaged a 21 percent growth rate.

"This will have a catalytic effect," he argues. "Other cities have experienced it with their stadiums."

Wiggins agrees.

"There's no telling what other kind of private development will happen," he says. "And it will draw people down there."

Fairchild just isn't buying the whole economic impact thing.

"If the sewer plant is relocated, the west side will develop," he says.

But other mayors do say downtown minor league stadiums helped in their cities' renaissance efforts.

Brockton, Mass., Mayor John Yunits Jr. credits the $17 million ballpark as a key development in helping transform the industrial, gritty, crime-ridden town restore its image as the "City of Champions." It's a nickname given to the city of 100,000, since it's the hometown of boxing greats Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler.

The ballpark increased traffic and hotel and motel bed taxes. It was a plus when the city embarked on replacing its factories with new Fortune 500 companies, revitalized neighborhoods and attracted more luxury condos downtown. The city's assessed taxable property rose from $2.6 billion to $6.6 billion over the past decade.

"Perhaps the most visible testament to the improving perception of Brockton has been the addition of the Campanelli Stadium and the Brockton Rox (in 2002)," he says. "People said it couldn't be done, but in a true example of what a public-private partnership can and should be, the stadium and conference center were built through the determination, creativity and hard work of many people. Look at the result that we've achieved: the stadium has become a kind of town common for the city, it draws Brocktonians and fans from all over the South Shore."

Joe Riley Jr. says the city's racial progress, Waterfront Park and South Carolina Aquarium are his crowning achievements as Charleston's mayor for eight terms. But he also takes pride in the 5,900-seat baseball stadium opened and named after him in 1997. He finds the park on Charleston's riverfront relaxing and beautiful, besides providing economic stimulus.

"Cities that complain about the cost or difficulty of creating beautiful and inspirational public zones for all their people deprive their citizens of life enriching experiences and force their citizens, if they can afford it, to find beauty and inspiration in private zones, often in far away places," Riley says. "On the other hand, great cities understand their responsibility to give to all of their citizens, regardless of their resources, regular, warm confrontation with inspiration and beauty in their surroundings.

"People said: 'Why go to the expense of building a baseball park on the river?' The answer is found at the baseball park now," he adds. "It is the thousands of families who go there to one of the most beautiful sites in America, in their city, not in some far away place, enjoying a memorable experience."

Shoeless Joe Jackson: "Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game...the sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?"

Charleston residents turn out to the $20 million baseball stadium that hosts the Yankees' Class A affiliate, the RiverDogs, for concerts and festivals as well. "The Joe" recently played host to popular singer Jack Johnson and hosted the Festival of Beers.

In fact, it's common for minor league parks, like the one proposed for Pensacola, to host outdoor concerts, plays, festivals and even drive-in movies on their jumbo video screens.

Northwest Florida Arts Council Executive Director Paul Berg foresees Shakespeare plays or Pensacola Symphony and Orchestra performances at the ballpark.

"Personally as well as professionally, I'm fully in favor of the ballpark," he says. "Its uses for the arts community will be phenomenal. Right now, we're regulated and constrained to Seville Square. It'll be a great location and the outdoors just add to the ambience of a performance. I hope we move forward with this soon."

Dr. Archibald "Moonlight" Graham: "You know we just don't recognize the most significant moments of our lives, while they're happening. Back then, I thought, well, there'll be other days. I didn't realize that that was the only day."

Greg Litton, a former major leaguer and Pensacola product, says he always felt that ballparks added to the minor and major league towns he played in.

He recalls fearing for his life when he had to take a cab ride to the San Francisco Giants bay-front stadium, when it opened in 2000. Now, the seedy area is safe and stocked with shops, restaurants, hotels and other commercial developments, he says.

"Pensacola has one of the potentially most beautiful downtowns of anywhere," says Litton, who now works at Meadows' Jewelers in downtown. "I've been very fortunate to see a lot of very beautiful downtowns, like Baltimore, San Francisco, Norfolk and Charleston. Until we develop our downtown, who cares what's in the rest of the county? I'm in favor of the stadium and it will make a major difference. They're doing it everywhere else. We can't afford to do nothing."

duwayne@inweekly.net

More Than A Ballpark

Here is a list of stadium events that are happening in baseball stadiums across the country. The proposed $15.7 million Pensacola Pelicans ballpark on Pensacola Bay would be a multi-use facility and could host similar events.

• Symphony at the Ballpark: "Pops at the Park," South Bend
• Concerts (featuring all types of music throughout the country):
       Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson
         String Cheese Incident
         Jack Johnson
•   Special Olympics, Savannah
•   Football tailgating and game watching on the scoreboard: Throughout the country
•   Corporate Team Building: Throughout the country
•   Corporate-Family Outings/Picnics on-field: Throughout the country
•   College Invitational Tournaments: Savannah, Round Rock, Charleston, etc.
•   College Regional Tournaments: Throughout the country
•   High School Games: Throughout the country
•   High School Gradations: Throughout the country
•   Family Sit-in Movie Nights: South Bend, Lincoln, Joliet, etc.
•   Charity Softball Games:
       Back Street Boys in Schuamburg, Ill.
       Guns vs. Hoses (Police vs. Fire Departments), various cities
•   Local media vs. Various participants, such as NASCAR, Kansas City and Joliet
• Cancer Survivors Charity Walk "Relay for Life,"Kansas City
•    5K Fun Run, Savannah
•    Little League Games (90-foot baseball): Round Rock, Joliet, etc.
•    Baseball Camps: Throughout the country
•    Youth/High School Showcases/Scout Tryouts: Throughout the county
•    Broadway Productions: "Damn Yankees," Pittsfield, Mass.
•    Boy/Girl Scout Campouts: Savannah, Joliet, Kansas City etc.
•    Wrestling/Boxing Matches: South Bend, Lansing, etc.
•    Santa at the Stadium: Holiday Expo, Kansas City
•    Trade Shows on the concourse: Kansas City, Charleston, etc.
•    Car Shows: "Corvettes, Porches, Mustangs" in Round Rock
•    Harley "Hog" Rally, Kansas City
•    Basketball Tourneys: Throughout the country
•    Football/Soccer Games (depending on field design): Long Island

InWeekly

Field of Dreams