Big Don's Day

We move forward in the Friends and Family series as our fan that has been with us longer than almost anyone as Big Don joins us with his request for the series.

Big Don was the first person that I met through autographing/minor league baseball that became a fan of the blog and the support that he has given through the years has been very important in keeping things rolling along at TRS, even at times in the early to middle years that I wasn't sure that I was going to continue to write this little project.

Big Don asked two questions and with the increasing likelihood of a second batch of Friends and Family looming, I've decided to hold the second one for the potential next run.
Big Don asked this: As things stand today, the Hagerstown Suns likely have played their final game.
Do you have any particular memories of the franchise from games, autographing, people, etc?

Well, I have plenty of them and even though the team started here in 1981, the majority of my memories come from 2005 and after as the period of my second run in the autographing hobby.
But for this piece, I think I am going to stick to one day- I attended the first game in Hagerstown Suns history.

My dad came and took me out of school early for the day, which really wasn't like him at all.
That day is the only day that I remember him taking me out of school early or allowing me to stay home for a sporting event ( Note- The keyword here is ALLOWING as I used to find ways to stay home for the first round of the ACC basketball tournament and in the last two years of my school  terms, the NFL Draft when it was on cable and on a weekday)

The Muni didn't look a lot different than it does today other than the electronic scoreboard of the age and the higher hill in left field with the original left-field dimensions in play.
The Suns were a "co-op" team consisting of players loaned from the Indians, Pirates, Orioles, Twins, and I think players from two other teams and played in the Carolina League under an Oriole coaching staff that was led by future major league manager Grady Little.

I don't remember much about the game itself, which was a 6-2 win over the Peninsula Pilots, other than local pitcher Dane Anthony got the win and the first homer in Hagerstown Suns history was hit by shortstop Ron Wotus, who was dubbed "Boom Boom" by his next at-bat!
Wotus is the long-time coach for the San Francisco Giants and I think that homer was one of only two he hit for Hagerstown that season.

Those Suns were quite a power-hitting outfit as they hit 158 homers, which is a huge feat considering the Suns then used the original dimensions of Municipal Stadium in a park that would be a pitchers park in today's alignment.
Matt Tyner hit thirty-one homers, John Stefero smashed twenty-five, and Paul Croft added twenty to pace the Hagerstown attack that won the Carolina League's Northern Division and then topped Peninsula to win the Carolina League championship.
The Hagerstown Suns had won a championship in their first season and almost 40 years later as the team prepares for its likely end, it would be the only championship in team history.

The unlikely champions with players that weren't thought of as top prospects at the time (why else would they be sent to a co-op team, except for the Orioles ) did have a few players that would see some time in the majors.
Ron Wotus would have two brief stints with Pittsburgh (58 at-bats) and three of the Hagerstown catchers would eventually play in the bigs as Orioles backups as John Stefero (187 at-bats), Al Pardo (129 at-bats), and Carl Nichols (186 at-bats) would have short stays in the show.
Two pitchers on the 1981 Suns would make the majors with Ken Dixon having the most success with 26 wins for the Orioles in four seasons.
Ramon Romero threw sixty-four innings for the 1985 Indians, who lost 102 games as Romero would be traded to the Minnesota Twins in the off-season, but would never pitch in the majors again.

What I remember most about that day was the genuine excitement to have baseball in a baseball town.
I'm not sure if you are under 35 and have lived through the malaise of the last thirty years of Hagerstown baseball that you can truly understand what it was like at the Muni for those Carolina League and Eastern League seasons.
The stadium even then was well into the dark and damaged stage, but the crowds were very strong, and going to a game was fun.

The loss of Hagerstown baseball has felt inevitable for close to twenty years and I've always taken each season one at a time.
From ownership changes and threatened moves to pressure from MILB and the parent clubs ranging from the Blue Jays, Giants, Mets, and the current Nationals, one thing has always been consistent- the constantly dilapidated Hagerstown Municipal Stadium.
A new stadium has been mentioned for the Suns from the first day of the franchise and while you can blame the team for many things through the years, the lack of a stadium can only be blamed at the feet of the city of Hagerstown and Washington County.
The state of Maryland has its share as well as they contributed money to the following new facilities in the era following the 1981 Suns- Baltimore, Frederick, Bowie, Salisbury (Delmarva), Aberdeen, and Southern Maryland (Independent) all received funding for stadiums, while Hagerstown continued to patch and reupholster a stadium built in the Hoover Administration!

The stadium was the reason that the AA Suns left town, despite good attendance, and it's been downhill ever since as the cycle on this issue repeated itself over and over again.

Even today, there are still rumblings about a new stadium, even on the eve of Major League Baseball announcing that the Suns will be among the teams eliminated by their latest culling.
Any slim scrap of hope of that happening was likely ended by the Covid-19 crisis, but I must admit that I was hoping to see if the Suns could make through 2021 for a hoped-for reunion of the 1981 championship team.

Thirty-nine seasons is a long time between titles.
But as baseball prepares to pack up and leave Hagerstown ( and no matter the stadium situation, affiliated baseball will not return), if you are above a certain age there will always be one championship team from Hagerstown to remember- the 1981 Suns from a time that will be looked back on as the Golden Age of baseball in the Hub City.

Finishing in Frederick

I usually like to save graphing talk for on the signing front,but this was a rare night for the TRS Family as the vacation entered its final night.

Sorry about the glare from the stadium lights from Frederick's Harry Grove Stadium,but this was our first and one never knows maybe only chance to get our two biggest supporters in the same picture as Fred Landucci (with son Michael in tow) and Big Don both were at the game.
Big Don loves pictures as much as I do,but he graciously allowed me to take this one for the blog's posterity.

The Lynchburg Hillcats (Indians) were in town for their last visit of the season and I had plenty of cards.
Between their team set,prospect cards and some recent callups,I had enough cards that I would need two visits during this series (I'll be going there Thursday) and having plenty of collectors there didn't help much.
I'll keep the graphing talk basic,but two pretty cool things happened with players that were neat enough to mention-both after the game.

First,top Cleveland prospect Clint Frazier was signing at the field level and I had 2 cards left for Mike Oravec of his.
I decided to go down and finish them off,because of the long known first rule of graphing-don't wait until next time,if you can do it today,so I walked down to get Frazier.
I was the last person there and handed him the two cards and Clint said "let me ask you something".
I gulped, mainly because my experience in the hobby was telling me that Frazier might be responding with something along the lines of "I got you earlier" or "Don't you guys get tired of this stuff"?
Instead,Frazier asked "how do you move up on these prospect cards"? I wondered and he said "I mean,(Bradley) Zimmer's gone now (AA Akron) and I want to be the best prospect in this league".
I explained to him that the league prospect set is usually decided by the radio announcer or someone in each teams front office to select the player back in April.
Frazier smiled,said thanks and then said "I am going to work double hard to be the best prospect for next season over the winter".
Wow.As an Indians fan to not only see that someone appreciates his fans (Frazier signs a lot),but wants to work hard,improve his craft and pays attention to his surroundings,I'm a Clint Frazier fan whether he makes it or not,but it's great to see someone willing to bust his hump to make it big,rather than relax on his first round laurels.
I don't do many 8 x 10's of athletes,I save those for celebrities because of their lack of cards,but I've become such a fan this year of Clint Frazier and Tyler Beede (Giants),that I hope to get one,if not now,in the future.

The other cool thing was when Levon Washington (Hillcat outfielder) signed a card for me that is headed for Mike Oravec after signing for me earlier.
I told Levon that he signed for me earlier (3 cards) and if he didn't want to sign that would be OK.
Washington and said that it's no problem and then told me how much he liked my sunglasses!
Very cool!

The graphers were out in full force,but having my two most loyal readers in town made up for the graphing aggravation.
It is always a big deal with Big Don hits town for a visit,but the chance for the above picture with Fred was well worth the drive.
I enjoyed the chat and camaraderie with them,Michael and the lovely Cherie,but also enjoyed a respite as our friend Denise invited us to check the view from a Frederick suite box for an inning.
It was the first time I had ever been in one at Harry Grove Stadium and it was fun to see the field from an angle that I had never seen before.

All and all,with plenty of laughs,humor and good cheer even if the graphing had been awful-it was a great way to wrap up vacation with friends.
Thanks to everyone!

I hope to get a podcast done soon and remember I'll be doing many more podcasts once the baseball season ends!!!!

Big Don visits the newest park in the minors

We have a guest column today as our longest faithful reader,Big Don Cain visited the new ballpark in Morgantown WV for the West Virginia Black Bears of the New York/Penn league.
Thanks to Don for taking the time for us...

Photo Credit;Mike Lowry

Hello Shawn. The following is my review of Monongalia County Ballpark.

Location -  The bad - MCB is behind and off to the right of a shopping area. If you don't know the area, you probably won't drive straight to the ballpark. 

                 The good - There are several restaurants located in the shopping area near the ballpark.

Parking -  Parking is $3. The good - It is just across the road from MCB.

                                  The bad - There is only one way out of the parking lot, and you are better off waiting until at least 15 to 20 minutes after the game is over.

Tickets - Tickets are $11 and $12. If the seats are sold out, SRO tickets are sold for I think $9.

              The ticket prices are not bad considering that you are no more than 18 to 20 rows from the field when sitting in the top row.

Merchandise - The Black Bears have an okay selection of merchandise. I have been to 55 ballparks and have seen much better and much worse selection of merchandise. Hats are $30 plus tax. Sizes vary greatly. I had to try FOUR hats on before I found one that fit. I have never experienced this before.

Food Prices - Neither Mike nor I had any food at MCB because it is very overpriced, especially for a short-season A team. I have seen lower food prices in double-A ballparks. One example of this is $4.50 for a pretzel. The pretzels are big, but $4.50 is steep. I think sodas are $5.00.

Graphing - There is little chance of graphing before the game. You have to do one of two things: Stand one side of the dugout, with little room to see the players and coaches, or stand at the other side which is far from the field, and hope that the player/coach comes over to you. Mike and I got one player (Cameron Varga) of Hudson Valley. That is only because I recognized him and he was nice. I think the players and coaches exit from a building beyond the outfield wall (and across from the parking lot.) Mike and I did not want to stay to just get a few cards signed. We were hungry from not buying anything food or drink at the game.

Ushers - Overall, the ushers seemed relatively okay. There are also local police officers there in case anybody gets unruly. The ushers seemed as if they were there to help people, and weren't overbearing.

The Field - The field is nice because it is new. Mike and I were thankful for the drainage system, because the game started on time, despite raining for a while before the game. I don't like artificial turf, though.

When Mike and I entered MCB, our ticket stubs were torn off. I made a joke and said, "What is this 1985." "They tear ticket stubs off here, and they have artificial turf." Mike laughed.

Photo Credit;Mike Lowry

Game experience - The other fans were reasonably polite. There were a few idiots that got up while the game was going on. I have experienced much worse in other places. The music was not overbearing. The one usher near us told the music person to turn the music up. (The music is loud near home plate, and it's normal-sounding at other places in the ballpark.) Mike said "Don't turn it up." Then I said "If I want to hear loud music, I will go to some club." Then I made a reference to when they used to blast the music at The Diamond in Richmond when there was 800 people at a game.

It was kids run the bases day. Mike decided to go back in the ballpark and go on the field. I followed him because I figured that we could take pictures. Mike found a foul ball on the first base side in the grass. Then it was time to take pictures. We took pictures of each of us standing on the Black Bears on deck circle, the Black Bears dugout, the visitors bullpen and the scoreboard. No one said for us to leave. It was a fun experience. The turf did not seem as hard as other artificial turf that I have stood on. Several people on the Black Bears staff said "Thank you for coming" and "Take care guys." 

There were about 20 vehicles left in the parking lot when Mike and I got there. I went to the end of the parking lot, and took a few scenic pictures. Then it was time for Mike and I to leave.

We both agreed that Monongalia County Ballpark was okay, and that we would go back at some point.