Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy6
It wasn't very good but they could get a lot of people in there, and sometimes did. People weren't quite so fussy about everything in the long-ago world of 1996.
Prior to that, the baseball stand was at the other end of the field, but between the time that the Whips left and the current Goldeyes were born the Bomber offices encroached on the old ballpark area so it had to be relocated.
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I always thought it was a little peculiar that the Bombers were allowed to build their offices and clubhouse directly on the site where the original 1953 baseball stands were located. It's not like they were pressed for space at the old stadium site.
That's what triggered the 1987 renovation which ended up seeing the field converted to artificial turf and the "baseball stands" being built in a gap between the west grandstand and north end zone stands, along with the conversion of the lower parts of the east grandstand to retractable seating to extend the left field area by a little bit.
If you can believe it, an effort was mounted to attract a AAA franchise sometime in the late 80s or early 90s (they had a name and everything: the Mounties). It ended up failing, mainly, as I recall, due to the reluctance of the western Pacific Coast League teams to travel this far east. These days a setup like the 1987 baseball configuration probably wouldn't be considered for anything but the lowest levels (rookie level, maybe single A) of pro baseball, and even then it would only be accepted with the greatest reluctance I'm sure.