Zupo grandstands burn
Cause of destruction to historic Lodi baseball field unknown
“When our guys first got there ... there were a bunch of explosions going off. Parts of the melted pipes that were welded on both ends got super hot and just exploded.” BUCK QUAGLIA, LODI FIRE DEPARTMENT
LODI — Fire investigators have not yet determined what caused structures at a historic baseball field that once was home to Single-A baseball action to go up in flames over the weekend.
Lodi Fire Department crews were called to Zupo Field, located at 350 Washington St., just before 5 p.m. Sunday, and found the home plate grandstands, the press box and an office engulfed in flames.
Fire investigator Buck Quaglia said the cause is still being investigated.
“(The cause is) under investigation right now,” he said. “We were able to eliminate natural causes from weather. We were able to eliminate electrical.”
Quaglia said crews had to cut locks off the main gates to gain entry and immediately encountered grandstand scaffolding ready to explode.
“When our guys first got there ... there were a bunch of explosions going off,” Quaglia said Monday morning. “Parts of the melted pipes that were welded on both ends got super hot and just exploded.”
He said crews began a defense from the outside of the stadium to prevent flames from spreading to the Grape Bowl next door. He said the fire had already spread to vegetation between the two stadiums.
“We just proceeded to knock it down mainly from the outside and prevent it from going into the vegetation and adjacent stands,” he said.
Battalion Chief Shane Langone said an area of origin had been pinned down to somewhere behind the Zupo Field sign that greets guests as they enter the stadium, and closer to the first base side of the grandstands and office.
“The call came in at about 4:45 p.m. as a single engine response to the Grape Bowl,” he said. “The initial report was a scoreboard was on fire. As a second engine responded, they noticed a large amount of black smoke in the area, and we determined it was at Zupo Field.”
A total of four engines, a truck and one battalion chief responded to the blaze, which was under control by 6 p.m., Langone said. Crews were on scene until 8 p.m., he said.
Langone couldn’t estimate how much monetary damage was done to the stadium, but described it as a “total loss.”
Lt. Eric Versteeg of the Lodi Police Department said witnesses have provided descriptions of a suspect, but no one has been identified.
Jeff Hood, director of Lodi Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services, said it was unknown how much monetary damage was caused to the stadium.
The structures will be torn down as soon as possible and replaced but will not be made of wood, he said.
Hood said the city hopes to rebuild the stadium by the spring, when local adult and youth baseball leagues start their 2020 seasons. However, he said the city now has to make the structure compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and it is unknown how long architectural designs and construction might take to complete.
Hood said the damage caused to the nearly century old facility was a big loss for Lodi.
“There are a lot of iconic structures and fields in Lodi, and certainly Zupo Field is one of them,” he said. “We will rebuild it so people can continue to play on the field. But it won’t have the ambiance it once had with the wooden bleachers.”
Built in 1924, the facility was originally known as Lawrence Park. In 1966, the stadium became the home of the Lodi Crushers, a Single A California League team affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, according to www.baseball-reference.com.
The team was affiliated with a number of Major League Baseball franchises, including the Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Dodgers, as well as two Nippon Pro Baseball league clubs from Japan over its 18-year existence in Lodi.
The team took a hiatus in 1985 before moving to Ventura County in 1986. According to Wikipedia, the team moved to San Bernadino in 1987 as the Spirit, and now exists as the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
Zupo Field was also home to semi-professional baseball teams for 55 years, dating back to the mid-1940s.
According to News-Sentinel archives, Tony Zupo, Sr., Herb Handel and Ed DeBenedetti approached the local Guild Winery about sponsoring a Lodi team. A deal was made, and in 1946, the Lodi Guild Wines began playing against Northern California prison teams.
Zupo managed the team until his death in the mid1980s.
“I walked into the area that was destroyed, and I just started crying. When you see all that happened and can see that there are still parts of the building that are still burning ... it’s just overwhelming.” KIM RUOFF, PRESIDENT OF THE LODI BOOSTERS FOR BOYS/GIRLS SPORTS
John Nilmeyer took over in 1986, and that year asked the city to change the stadium’s name to Tony Zupo Field, according to a Lodi City Council agenda report from Dec. 17 of that year.
The team’s name was changed to the Packers, and its last season was 2000 when scheduling conflicts at the field caused the Packers to cancel the 2001 season.
In recent years, the stadium was home to several Lodi summer collegiate teams including the Glory and Crushers, the latter of which ceased operations in 2016.
Some notable names who played in Lodi with the Dodgers affiliation include Fernando Valenzuela and Mike Marshall in 1979.
Zupo Field has also been home to both the Lodi and Tokay high school baseball programs as well as American Legion and recreational teams.
Kim Ruoff, president of the Lodi Boosters for Boys/Girls Sports, said the concessions area of the stadium was not damaged, so the organization did not suffer a loss in that area.
She said the BOBS are considering holding fundraisers in the coming months to help pay for rebuilding costs, and the organization is working with the city to determine what steps are next.
“I walked into the area that was destroyed, and I just started crying,” she said. “When you see all that happened and can see that there are still parts of the building that are still burning ... it’s just overwhelming.”
Ruoff said the fire was “beyond devastating,” as many BOBS board members played at the stadium, as have their children.
The BOBS fall ball leagues were just ending their seasons when the fire happened, she said, and sign-ups for 2020 begin in January. The season begins in March, and Ruoff hopes the BOBS and city will have a new facility in place by that time.
Mark Armstrong, chief executive officer of the Lodi Grape Festival, said he can still remember watching American Legion and local high school baseball games at Zupo Field when he first moved to town nearly 30 years ago.
He coached American Legion baseball for many years, and the organization was instrumental in replacing the bleachers and sound system, as well as repainting the pressbox and office there.
During his coaching years, Armstrong said he tried to make the stadium a fun place for local youths to play baseball and give it the professional atmosphere it once had.
He called the stadium a “mecca for baseball,” noting more recent players like Aaron Judge, now a star with the New York Yankees, had once played there.
“I think this might be a good chance to rebuild the stadium,” he said. “I’m not happy that a fire happened there, but work on the field is long overdue. If the city could do something really good with it, maybe we can get the Legion or another professional team out here.”
Quaglia said a witness spoke to him and Lodi Police Department investigators, stating they saw someone in the area with soot on him around the time the fire began.
However, Quaglia said the description of the person was not very good, and neither department has a lead.
Witnesses can contact both the fire department at 209-333-6739 or the police department at (209) 3336728, Quaglia said.