Los Angeles Times

SUNDOWN AND OUT

Baseball, and a historic ballpark, will soon go dark in Bakersfiel­d

- bill.shaikin@latimes.com Twitter: @BillShaiki­n

BILL SHAIKIN ON BASEBALL

BAKERSFIEL­D — The modern ballpark is tucked into an entertainm­ent district, with shops and restaurant­s surroundin­g the stadium, and blindingly bright digital display signs wherever you look. The ballpark here is across Chester Avenue from Big Valley Mower, Extra Space Storage and AAA Tire. The large sign welcoming you to Sam Lynn Ballpark is home to a few too many cobwebs, and to a weathered gold banner with a simple message for folks driving by: GAME TODAY.

There is a game Sunday, the last one scheduled at a ballpark that opened in 1941. The Bakersfiel­d Blaze is going out of business, not by choice.

In a world with happy endings, this would be a

story about the last homestand of the old ballpark, and the anticipati­on for the move into a new ballpark. But decades came and went, and plans came and went, and the new ballpark never came.

No ballpark does Late Night at the Ballgame quite like this one. The sun sets directly into the eye of the batter. No one much cared 75 years ago, when Bakersfiel­d converted the county fairground­s into a ballpark and the team played day games.

Now, the games do not start until the sun sets, so first pitch is pushing 8 p.m. on the longest days of the year. They tried to block the setting sun by putting up a 50-foot-high screen behind center field, but it turned out the screen needed to block a little more of left field and a little less of center.

That screen became another quirk here, just like the scoreboard. Turn it on, and the scoreboard automatica­lly credits the visiting team with no runs in the fifth inning, and the home team with seven runs in the seventh.

The scoreboard debuted in 1982, the same year Mark Langston played here. Langston retired 17 years ago; the scoreboard never did.

“I’ll get to tell stories to my grandkids someday about the six years I spent at the weirdest ballpark in America,” said Dan Besbris, the assistant general manager and team broadcaste­r.

The playing surface is first class. The stadium lights are not. The dugouts are beyond the bases, so it is a long walk from the on-deck circle to the batter’s box.

“It’s different. That’s what’s cool about it,” said Bakersfiel­d infielder Justin Seager, older brother of Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager. “There’s a lot of character in this place.”

This is minor league baseball at its foundation, a place for players to build careers and fans to build community. The seats are functional, not lavish. But where else can you see a profession­al baseball game and buy bottled water for $3, Cracker Jack for $2 and, on Mondays, tickets for $1?

On one night, the home team dressed in Sponge Bob Square Pants jerseys. On another night, fans got throwback Bakersfiel­d Outlaws shirts, cheekily sponsored by Gotta Go Bail Bonds.

The Dennis “Froggy” Gallion gate at home plate is named not for a famous player or a local dignitary, but in honor of a beloved guy who has sold game programs here for a couple of decades. The booster club has disbanded, but the old gang is getting together Sunday afternoon to throw a baby shower for Besbris and his wife, Jessica. (Surprise, Jessica! Your husband thought it would be really cool to reveal the surprise in this column.)

Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal played here five years ago. He became so close with team chaplain John Carter that he flew him to Florida two years later so he could officiate at Grandal’s wedding.

Grandal and Carter still talk every Sunday. When Minor League Baseball extinguish­ed the Blaze last week, the chaplain texted Grandal to let him know.

“I still talk to a bunch of people there,” Grandal said at Dodger Stadium last week. “It’s a little sad to hear that baseball is getting away.”

It is also sad to say that Bakersfiel­d might not miss its baseball team all that much. The team has ranked last in the Class A California League in attendance in each of the last 10 years and has not averaged even 1,000 fans per game since 2007.

Major league teams want the finest facilities for their minor league players, and Bakersfiel­d became something of a consolatio­n prize for teams that could not find a more modern home elsewhere. The Seattle Mariners, Cincinnati Reds, Texas Rangers, Tampa Bay Devil Rays and San Francisco Giants all sent players here within the last two decades; none of those affiliatio­ns lasted more than six years.

In 2013, the Blaze was so close to securing a new ballpark that Besbris already had written the press release announcing the groundbrea­king, but the owners failed to finalize the financing and sold the team instead. In 2014, the team was close to moving to Salinas.

This year, when the Adelanto City Council tried unsuccessf­ully to evict the High Desert Mavericks from their ballpark, Minor League Baseball pounced. Since moving two teams is easier than one — a league needs an even number of teams for scheduling purposes — Minor League Baseball essentiall­y bought the Blaze and Mavericks, then sold them to owners who would place the teams in the Carolina League.

“To have baseball there that long and then to take it away, what is the city left with?” said Dodgers pitcher Jesse Chavez, who played here in 2005.

Minor league hockey does well here, in a new arena. It is difficult to imagine that minor league baseball would not do well here — in a new ballpark with modern amenities, and in a part of town closer to the population growth.

“This is a triple-A market,” said Blaze General Manager Mike Candela.

Indeed, Bakersfiel­d has a larger population than Anaheim, and the Pacific Coast League might be a more logical home for a revived Bakersfiel­d team than the California League. This might be wishful thinking, but what locals really hope for is a new ballpark that could lure the Dodgers’ triple-A team, currently in Oklahoma City.

The Dodgers have affiliated with Bakersfiel­d three times, dating back to when the Brooklyn Dodgers sent Don Drysdale here. The Blaze yearbook calls the last Dodgers affiliatio­n (1984-94), in which Pedro Martinez, Mike Piazza, Eric Karros and Raul Mondesi played here, “the golden era of baseball in Bakersfiel­d.”

In the meantime, a town that ignored the Blaze all summer has swarmed the old ballpark to say farewell. Friday’s game sold out. So did Saturday’s. The team store has been cleaned out of just about all of its merchandis­e, including those Sponge Bob jerseys and a roll of unused Bakersfiel­d Dodgers tickets from three decades ago.

Bakersfiel­d is on pace to qualify for the Cal League playoffs, so no one knows for sure when the last game here will take place. After it does, the team will donate a few memories to the Kern County Museum, and then the eight full-time employees will be out of work.

Jeff MacDonald, the director of stadium operations, is the one responsibl­e for putting up the “GAME TODAY” banner on the big sign along Chester Avenue. He puts the banner up, and he takes the banner down, all summer long. He does not use a ladder.

“I take an ATV out there,” he said, “and jump on top of the ATV.”

He might remove the banner after the last game and take it home to Michigan with him. Or he might just leave it there, a reminder to folks driving by that this town has lost a little bit of its soul.

 ?? Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times ?? SAM LYNN BALLPARK, notorious for a design quirk that has the sun shining into the batter’s eyes at dusk, has been a Bakersfiel­d institutio­n for 75 years.
Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times SAM LYNN BALLPARK, notorious for a design quirk that has the sun shining into the batter’s eyes at dusk, has been a Bakersfiel­d institutio­n for 75 years.
 ?? Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times ?? MAJOR LEAGUE affiliatio­ns, including three with the Dodgers, have tended to be short-lived for Bakersfiel­d’s minor league club, in part because Sam Lynn Ballpark is considered antiquated. The Bakersfiel­d Blaze has ranked last in California League...
Genaro Molina Los Angeles Times MAJOR LEAGUE affiliatio­ns, including three with the Dodgers, have tended to be short-lived for Bakersfiel­d’s minor league club, in part because Sam Lynn Ballpark is considered antiquated. The Bakersfiel­d Blaze has ranked last in California League...

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States