Municipal Stadium has life left in it
Parasiliti: Municipal Stadium has life left in it
It has been a year that’s challenged the most accomplished optimist.
A virus — creating varied reasons and opinions — halted everything to a standstill.
During it all, this experience introduced an updated meaning to the term “pivot.”
Pivoting is steeped in resourcefulness and begs for imagination geared to turning on a dime and heading in a new direction.
Everything is fair game. There are no wrong answers here. You get points for trying.
Last week, the Municipal Baseball Group (MBG) floated an idea, approaching Hagerstown City Council with a proposal to reuse and repurpose Municipal Stadium.
The plan pivots the long-standing structure from being a recently-vacated, unused facility to one that creates a haven for local youth and adult league baseball.
It borders along the lines of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
For nearly 40 years, Hagerstown’s 90-year-old stadium was the bane of minor league baseball’s existence.
Five major league affiliations, multiple ownerships and a slew of city councilmen tangled in debate over building a sparkling new facility aimed at enhancing the commodity of local professional baseball.
Even this corner labeled the old ballyard as archaic and implied it should be renamed Jurassic Park.
The Suns threatened moving, but held on as long as they possibly could.
The recent contraction of baseball’s minor league system finally deemed the old stadium unfit and unsafe to house valued prospects. The Suns lost their affiliation and the team was disbanded.
Thanks to the pandemic, the stadium got a taste of being dormant in 2020. It was destined for a similar status for many years to come.
Enter the MBG with an equipment bag of new adjectives.
Ancient pivots to well-used.
Eyesore became a rustic treasure.
An expendable plot of land could be reinvented into a field of opportunity and dreams.
A stadium that didn’t meet pro baseball standards could become a treasure for local baseball.
The idea is rather simple. Take the stadium and transform it into a nonprofit facility primarily used for high school, travel and club, college and adult baseball teams in Washington County and the surrounding area.
The group proposed to rent the stadium, maintain the upkeep of the field and take charge of scheduling its use — with some guidance from the city — giving all levels of the game a chance for use.
The catch — if you want to call it that — is the teams that use it must prepare and treat it as their own, and fans would be charged admission to help with the rent payment.
Municipal Stadium would be a municipal stadium again.
When the Suns were the main tenants, there were restrictions — and a high price — for local teams to use the stadium.
The open days were few, since the Suns had 70 home play dates from April to Labor Day. A day or two before and after each homestand were lopped off to prepare and repair the field.
A high rental charge kept most high schools out of the dugouts.
The MBG looks to make the price right and opportunities more abundant with this proposal.
Municipal Stadium would be a focal point of activity once again. Local teams have local fans.
There are still more “pivots” left to make the idea a reality, including tendering and signing the agreement between the group and the city.
If it happens, many fledgling players and others trying not to pass their prime will have a baseball gift filled with memories.
A chance to play on the same field that the likes of Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, Mike Mussina and Jim Palmer once used.
And they can have a whole cheering section watch them play.
MBG’s plan also carries a bit of sentimentality for the sage, old stadium.
The proposal is also designed to keep a piece of Hagerstown history alive.
“Municipal Stadium is a treasure for the City of Hagerstown with a storied history of baseball dating as far back as 1930,” the proposal’s introduction reads. “Along the way it has seen its share of baseball legends, up-and-coming players and rare baseball achievements. It is a place where multiple generations of county and city residents have made countless memories.
“… We believe that Municipal Stadium can once again serve the community.”
There’s a mystique about how the facility was built in six weeks in 1930 to give the town’s teams a more permanent site to play, instead of using the land that is now Bester Elementary.
For better or worse, Municipal Stadium became one of the three oldest stadiums in minor league baseball before its plug was pulled.
In the eyes of acting spokesman Jim Kershner and the rest of the MBG, their proposal is another way to keep using the facility for the reason it was built.
Otherwise, the stadium will be described by a different set of adjectives, like mausoleum or museum.
Or even worse, it could be leveled.
“If we don’t do it, who will?” Kershner said.
With a few more pivots, Municipal Stadium will be good enough to fulfill a lot of needs again.
Bob Parasiliti is a staff writer for The Herald-Mail. He can be reached at bobp@herald-mail.com.