Press Clippings

July 22, 2004 - Berkshire Eagle: Vintage baseball rematch planned

By Tony Dobrowolski

PITTSFIELD -- There will be another vintage baseball game at Wahconah Park this summer.

The Board of Parks Commissioners on Monday night approved a second game between the Pittsfield Hillies and Hartford Senators in Wahconah Park, this time on Labor Day weekend. The game is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 4. In case of rain, the game will be played on Sunday, Sept. 5, or Monday, Sept. 6.

The Hillies have also scheduled a game against the Senators in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday, July 31. That game will also take place at 2 p.m. in Bushnell Park, which is located in the center of Hartford, adjacent to the state capital building.

The Hillies and Senators played at Wahconah Park on July 3 in what was supposed to be a one-time event designed to serve as the city's traditional Independence Day game in the absence of professional baseball at the park for the first time since 1984.

But the success of the first Hillies-Senators game, which drew roughly 5,000 fans and was televised nationally by ESPN Classic, caused the three partners in Wahconah Park Inc. to schedule a second game.

The partnership has signed a licensing agreement with the city of Pittsfield to renovate Wahconah Park and bring an independent league team here in time for the 2005 season.

"We thought it was a one-shot deal, also," said author and former Yankees pitcher Jim Bouton, one of Wahconah Park Inc.'s three partners. "But it's back by popular demand. The players want to play and the people want to see them play."

Bouton, a North Egremont resident, said the Hillies also want to avenge their 14-12 loss to the Senators. Bouton was the losing pitcher for the Hillies in that contest.

The Hillies and Senators are resurrections of minor league rivals who played in the old Eastern League in the early 20th century. The last time the two teams played for real was in 1930. "Vintage" baseball is played under the rules that governed the sport in 1886. Teams also wear replica uniforms and use equipment similar to what was in effect at the end of the 19th century.

Ticket prices for the Sept. 4 game will be the same as they were on July 3 -- $20 for box seats, $10 for the upper grandstand, $5 for bleacher seats and $3 for standing room. Bouton said tickets for the vintage games are higher than they will be when an independent league team plays at Wahconah Park next year, because it costs more for Wahconah Park Inc. to put on special events. He said any profit will be put into the stadium's renovation.

Parks Commission Chairman Michael Filpi said yesterday that Wahconah Park Inc. has agreed to donate $1 from every ticket sold for September's game to a fund-raiser for longtime Parks Department employee David Southard, which will take place Sept. 11. Southard is currently on long-term disability and will never be able to return to work, Filpi said.

Bouton said he isn't sure the Sept. 4 game between the Hillies and Senators will be televised, although he added that ESPN has been notified that the contest will take place.

"But we didn't have any plans to put the other one on TV, either," Bouton said.

ESPN decided to televise the game after discussions with Bouton. The first game also coincided with a wave of national publicity Pittsfield received following the discovery of its 1791 "base ball" bylaw, which predated the previous first reference to the sport in North America by 32 years.

Bouton said the partnership has decided to scale back the "Taste of the Berkshires" food court, which featured food from numerous Berkshire County restaurants, for the Sept. 4 game. He said people who attended the July 3 game preferred "grilled things" similar to traditional ballpark fare instead of some of the food choices that were available.

Bouton said Wahconah Park Inc., which also includes investment banker Donald B. "Chip" Elitzer of Great Barrington and part-time Stockbridge resident and professional sports entrepreneur Eric Margenau, is now planning to begin its extensive renovations of Wahconah Park in September.

The Zoning Board of Appeals has scheduled a hearing for Wednesday, Aug. 4, on the special permits needed to renovate the ballpark. The renovations include increasing Wahconah Park's seating capacity from 2,500 to 4,500, expanding the current restroom facilities and concession stands, and creating a "Walk of Fame" and a food court. Although Wahconah Park's seating capacity is listed at between 4,000 and 4,500 in many publications, the partnership has determined that the park actually has about 2,000 fewer seats. The group plans to construct new bleacher areas along the left and right field lines and along the outfield fence. According to Eagle files, the park's current grandstand was built to hold only 2,000 fans when it was constructed in 1950.

Wahconah Park Inc. intends to demolish the current home and visitors' clubhouses, which are cinderblock additions to the original grandstand. The current restrooms, concession facilities and offices at the ballpark, which Wahconah Park Inc. describes as having "been built haphazardly under the grandstand," will also be torn down, according to plans on file in City Hall.

The Community Development Board has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, Aug. 17, to hear the partnership's petition for special permits for reducing parking spaces in the ballpark's lot and for the building of new dugouts, locker rooms and restroom facilities, all within the flood plain of the Housatonic River.

The ballpark is located within the 100-year flood plain of the west branch of the Housatonic, which runs behind the outfield fence. Plans call for the structures to be built of materials such as block and tile so that they would not be damaged by flooding.