Apparently Dunn Hospitality Does Support Baseball Tournaments @ Bosse Field

Photo Credit: GLVCSports.com

There are some stories you just can't make up. If you were to put them in a script and give them to a film director in Hollywood, they would pitch it immediately while telling you the script just isn't believable. No, these types of stories you just have to see and hear for yourself to believe them.

This past week, we were treated to one of those stories when we received the great news that this year's GLVC Baseball Tournament will be coming to the historical confines of Bosse Field. For the past decade, the tournament was hosted by GSC Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois. So how in the world did Evansville pull this tournament away from a city who has hosted it year after year?

http://www.glvcsports.com/news/2012/2/10/BSB_0210124950.aspx

(bolding has been added by me)

"After a decade competing at GSC Ballpark in Sauget, Ill., the GLVC Baseball Tournament relocates to a community and a venue that has been associated with the game of baseball for nearly 100 years.

Speaking before an assembled media group inside the main tunnel of Bosse Field, GLVC Commissioner Jim Naumovich spoke about partnering the conference with the community to ensure a positive experience for both the student-athletes and all baseball fans in attendance.

“Benjamin Bosse, for whom this field is named, spoke as he was elected mayor of this city in 1913 that ‘When everybody boosts, everybody wins.’ We could not agree more,” said Naumovich."

That's right, one of Evansville's main recruiters for this tournament is a man who has been dead for nearly 90 years- Benjamin Bosse. How can this be? It's simple- Mayor Bosse constructed a ballpark that was built to last. As a result, nearly 100 years of baseball history has taken place at Bosse Field which has given Evansville a competitive advantage in the baseball industry.

Of course, we already knew that. And we already know that youth baseball tournaments look for these same kind of attributes and amenities when selecting a site for their tournaments as well.

Aberdeen, Maryland, hometown to Cal Ripken Jr. and Ripken Academy which features replica fields of Camden Yards and Wrigley Field, is one of the premier places for youth baseball. Another town, Cooperstown, New York is a popular draw for youth baseball tournaments as it is the home to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Lastly, a new baseball complex is being constructed in Dyersville, Iowa next to the site of the movie "Field of Dreams." I talked about all three of these fields and how they relate to the Bosse Field district in an earlier post...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/12/dyersville-iowa-aberdeen-maryland.html

One organization who apparently is finally starting to understand the value of baseball at Bosse Field and the surrounding neighborhood is the organization whose main leader and investor was in charge of building the ball fields on the Roberts Stadium lot...

(from the above GLVC link; bolding has been added by me)

“Community engagement and providing a fun and welcoming game environment is at the heart of the NCAA Division II philosophy. That is why the GLVC is proud to partner with the Evansville Sports Corporation, Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Evansville Otters and Historic Bosse Field for this year’s event. We are also pleased to have on board Mizuno, Dunn Hospitality, Old National Bank, and Rawlings – the official baseball of the GLVC.”

Yes, that is where this story becomes absolutely, positively unbelievable. Since the ball fields debate began with David Dunn and the previous ECVB selecting the Roberts Stadium site for their ball fields plan, I have issued a counter-idea for placing them next to Bosse Field at Kleymeyer Park. How would this work?

(click to enlarge)

Let's describe the plan using the different colors on the map...

1. The Green Line- This would be the new entrance to Kleymeyer Park where a new stoplight would be placed at First Ave (we'll give naming rights to this stoplight to Bill Jeffers). This new entrance is farther away from Diamond Avenue than the stoplight on the other side of Diamond that use to be the entrance to Buylow and Shop-Ko. As you can see, the current EYFL would have to be relocated but that is to their advantage as the field next to old North H.S is in much better shape.

2. The Purple Circle- This is Bob Walther's Golf-N-Fun. The potential revenue spike for this establishment if the ball fields were placed next to it is astronomical due to the fact that it has what many youth baseball participants want- putt-putt, laser tag, arcade games, and a snack bar.

3. The Red Circle- This is where the other 4 ball fields can be constructed without infringing upon Bob Walther's driving range. However, it would seem to me that a land swap where we would send the driving range out to Hamilton Golf Course in exchange for building the fields closer to Bob's Golf-N-Fun would make more sense.

Remember, the fields need to replicate vintage MLB fields like the organization Big League Dreams does...

http://www.bigleaguedreams.com/replica-fields

4. The Blue Line- This is where the pedestrian bridge would cross over to Garvin Park and Bosse Field so that our championship games can be played at Bosse Field just like the GLVC's championship game. In 2002, Mayor Russ Lloyd Jr. hired a firm to undertake a master plan for the area. You can see the entire plan by contacting Dave Coker. The plan had 13 points with point 13 being the establishment of a bridge in this area to connect the two parks. It's about time we got back to this plan.

5. The Yellow Circle- This is where Don Mattingly played his youth baseball games. We need to market this heavily to travelling baseball tournaments.

6. The Orange Circle- Obviously, this is Bosse Field. By playing our championship games there, we will be..

A. Helping the Otters increase their advertisement revenue and concession stand revenue from Bosse Field on off days.

B. Promoting Evansville as the site of the film "A League of Their Own."

C. Using Evansville's baseball history as a recruiting tool against other cities who will be bidding for travelling youth baseball tournaments.

D. Providing a use for Bosse Field for when the time comes to build a downtown minor league ballpark. Many say Roberts Stadium should have been addressed with the construction of the Ford Center. Why don't we address the needs of Bosse Field BEFORE a new ballpark is built?

E. Tying the whole area into the ball field complex. Doing this will allow for us to market the retail and restaurants that circle the entire area as well as downtown where our new taxpayer funded downtown hotel will eventually be constructed.

Why are Evansville leaders excited about the GLVC coming to town?

(from the GLVC link above; bolding has been added by me)

"Warren expects the economic impact of the GLVC Baseball Tournament to range close to $800,000 for the city of Evansville, while Jones and Bussing both shared the desire to showcase the city’s jewel of a baseball diamond, which was built in 1915 and is the third oldest professional ballpark in the country, behind Wrigley Field and Fenway Park."

A huge economic shot to the arm and a chance to market our existing sports facility which is a historic gem. Shouldn't that be the goals, objectives, and vision for our ball fields project as well?

Of course, those who wanted the ball fields at Roberts argue that Kleymeyer Park is unsuitable for ball fields due to it being on a landfill and that the ground is uneven. I talked about this earlier...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/12/democratic-central-committees-last-move.html

This entire situation reminds me of the situation going on in New York at the Fresh Kills Landfill (where all of the WTC debris was originally taken to) where the city is attempting to convert the landfill into a sports complex.

At first, the scare tactics began...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/fresh_kills_park_plan_is_down_in_dcjERHilmUesoNBXpz0B7N

"The city has hit a major snag in the early stages of a three-decade effort to transform the 2,200-acre former Fresh Kills Landfill along the West Shore Expressway into green space nearly triple the size of Central Park.

The project's long-delayed first segment -- bringing four soccer fields and other amenities to 28 acres at the edge of the former garbage dump -- is on hold again because its foundation is sinking.

Parks Department workers and the contractor hired to build Owl Hollow Fields for the Fresh Kills Park project believe tons of sand laid out as foundation fill has dropped between eight inches and a foot, sources close to the project told The Post.

"If problems like this are happening at this stage, just imagine when they try building thousands of acres in the heart of the landfill," said Geoffrey Croft, of watchdog group New York City Park Advocates."

But in the end, this tactic was seen for what it was worth...

http://www.silive.com/southshore/index.ssf/2011/09/owl_hollow_fields_4_synthetic.html

"According to an initial report by the New York Post, the site's foundation was originally found to be sinking earlier this year. The newspaper reported that Owl Hollow's contractor – D. Gangi Contracting – acknowledged that the foundation had dropped between 8 inches and a foot.

The Parks Department responded by saying it was dropping, but barely, by less than one-half of an inch.

"As we anticipated," said Ignizio, "This was a lot to do about very little. All those issues have been worked out." "

Just like New York, we cannot afford to let this area be bypassed on this once in a lifetime opportunity just because of a few naysayers. We can, and we must, incorporate Bosse Field and its rich history into our youth ball fields project.

Baseball belongs at Kleymeyer and Garvin Parks, not at Roberts Stadium where basketball glory has existed for decades. Most importantly, by saving Roberts Stadium and scaling it back to a mid-sized arena, we can take the seats that will be removed out of the arena and put them in our ball fields at Kleymeyer Park. This was already done when the bleachers from Roberts Stadium were put inside Mesker Amphitheatre.

Building the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park and playing the championship games at Bosse Field isn't just a regional plan, it's a NATIONAL PLAN. How good is a sponsorship at Bosse Field during a baseball tournament? I guess I'll have to defer to Dunn Hospitality on that one...

Photo Credit: GLVCSports.com