(Major League Baseball)As just about everyone within a hundred miles radius of Evansville knows, I am fighting with all my might to convince city hall to construct the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park, which is next to Bosse Field, instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and building them at Wesselman Park.
I have given many, many reasons why I believe we should do this. If you look at the post below this one, you will see that we have the opportunity to help 12 groups. We have the opportunity to ....
1. Help Hamilton Golf Course
2. Help the current North High School building
3. Help EYFL
4. Help Bob Walthers
5. Help the Bosse Field District
6. Help Roberts Stadium
7. Help North Main Street finally connect to downtown Main Street
8. Help Wesselman Park grow around Roberts Stadium
9. Help increase the Innkeepers Tax revenue
10. Help the Parks Dept clean up a current park
11. Help the new arena with parking
12. Help the Evansville Otters find more revenue
With that being said, there still is one other group that I believe we need to reach out to, pay tribute to them, and ask them for guidance and help with our ball fields project. Who is this group and why should we reach out to them?
This group is none other than our local MLB stars. If you take a look at the list wikipedia has generated for us, you will notice that over the course of time we have had many MLB players either live here in Evansville, live in one of Evansville's surrounding counties, or play in Evansville at historic Bosse Field...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sports_in_Evansville
Notable Evansville athletes
Baseball
Alan Benes, MLB baseball player
Andy Benes, MLB baseball player
Jamey Carroll, MLB baseball player
Bob Coleman, MLB manager, Evansville minor league baseball coach, Indiana Baseball Hall of Famer
Charlie Dexter, MLB baseball player
Ervin "Pete" Fox, MLB player
Hank Greenberg, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Charles Knoll, MLB baseball player
Clarence "Big Boy" Kraft, MLB baseball player
Don Mattingly, MLB baseball player and coach
Edd Roush, MLB Baseball Hall of Famer
Jack Warner, MLB baseball player
Jeff Schulz, MLB baseball player
Jim "Lefty" Wallace, MLB baseball player
Paul Splittorff, MLB baseball player
Ray Newman, MLB baseball player
Sam Thompson, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame
Scott Rolen, MLB baseball player and 1997 NL Rookie of the Year
Al Schellhase, MLB baseball player
Syl "Sammy" Simon, MLB baseball player
Warren Spahn, MLB Baseball Hall of Fame
As I look through this list, I see many names on there that stick out to me. It makes you wonder: With all of these great players, why isn't Evansville reaching out to the current batch of MLB players for assistance in our ball fields project, and why isn't Evansville paying tribute to past MLB greats from the area?
If you will recall, the 8 fields that I propose the fields replicate are Tiger Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Crosley Field, Sportsman's Park, the Polo Grounds, and Ebbets Field ( Take a look at these fields: http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/replica-fields ). Most of the players on the list above (if not all) have played in one of those parks during their career. Don't you think they would want to be a part of this project if we are going to replicate these fields at Kleymeyer Park?
One of the main people I would like the city to reach out to for this project is Mr. Don Mattingly.
Mr. Mattingly has done many great things for our city and for the game of baseball ( not counting his legendary career).
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mattingly was the owner of a restaurant here called "Mattingly's 23", after the uniform number he wore for most of his career.
In 2005, Mattingly launched Mattingly Sports, a baseball and softball equipment company, based primarily around the patented V-Grip baseball and softball bats. After watching his kids and their friends struggle to maintain the proper hitting grip, Don, along with co-inventor Jim Wells, created the V-Grip as a way to ensure the proper alignment of the hands and to keep the bat out in the hitter's fingertips.
Mattingly has also appeared in public service announcements airing on the Spike TV network advocating fathers spending time with their children as part of the "True Dads" campaign to encourage men to take an active role in their children's lives.
You can always find Mr. Mattingly doing something good for our local baseball organizations whether it be fundraisers, autograph signings, or hosting training camps.
If we are going to construct a ball fields project that replicates vintage MLB fields such as Yankee Stadium where Mr. Mattingly played his entire career for the Yankees, don't you think Mr. Mattingly might be interested in helping us get this project off the ground especially since the little league field he played at here in Evansville is in Garvin Park as well? Don't you think this would be the PERFECT opportunity to pay tribute to Mr. Mattingly as well as our other great MLB stars? Wouldn't that attract a whole lot more tourists and tournaments than Dunn's proposed fields at Wesselman Park?
To me, the answer to all of those questions is YES! We have an absolute golden opportunity with this ball fields project to do something special for our city. We need to pay tribute to those local residents who have played at the highest level of baseball.
If you recall, I talked about the opportunities we missed when we cancelled our new downtown ballpark project back in 2003...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/06/now-you-will-know-rest-of-story.html
As you see, the team that would be playing in that ballpark right now would be owned by Don Mattingly and Cal Ripken Jr.
Mr. Ripken, like Mr. Mattingly, has done so many wonderful things for the game of baseball. Ripken has made donations to many charity causes, including donations supporting research on Lou Gehrig's disease. Along with his brother Billy, he formed the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation to give underprivileged children the opportunity to attend baseball camps around the country and learn the game. The Foundation is a branch of Ripken Baseball.
In addition to controlling these camps and Ripken's minor league teams, Ripken Baseball operates for-profit camps and designs ball fields for youth, college, and professional teams. Cal Ripken youth leagues compete with Little League and are growing in importance while Little League shrinks.
Ripken gives speeches about his time in baseball and some of the lessons he has learned. Between 2001 and 2004, inclusive, Ripken served as commissioner of the White House Tee Ball Initiative of President George W. Bush, in which capacity he worked to promote the value of teamwork amongst players and volunteership amongst the public and helped to teach tee ball fundamentals to teams of children at the White House.
When we cancelled our downtown ballpark, we missed out on two great MLB All-Stars! However, this is our one opportunity to make up for that missed opportunity. If we reach out to athletes such as Scott Rolen, Jamey Carroll, Andy & Alan Benes, Don Mattingly, and Cal Ripken Jr., they will have the respect and the attention of Major League Baseball who can be an enormous asset to us if we are going to take back our Bosse Field district from the decay and despair that is diminishing it.
Do I know for a fact if these players will be willing to work with us to get this project done? No. But do I believe that we have a golden opportunity to pay tribute to each and every one of these men as well as give them a golden opportunity to serve their hometown once more? Yes, YES I DO!
Instead of demolishing historic Roberts Stadium and constructing 8 dull and boring ball fields on the site, why don't we do the correct thing? Why don't we build 8 ball fields at Kleymeyer Park that replicate vintage MLB ballparks so that we can pay tribute to our local MLB stars?
If city hall was smart, they would realize that it is time to make one more phone call to our bullpen to bring in our local legends to seal the deal on our ball fields project!
(eyefetch.com)
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