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Richmond's new team is the Flying Squirrels.
Nutzy, the Flying Squirrels' mascot, greets a fan. |
IN THE Valley of the
I'm not talking about those furry rodents that glide between trees at night in search of bugs. I'm talking about minor-league baseball players who will bring the fans to their feet this spring and summer in a stadium on the north side of Richmond.
The goofy nickname of Flying Squirrels may not awaken the memories of Ruth and Gehrig. But it will do for a Double-A baseball club that will offer Virginia's capital city a new team to cheer after a depressing year without America's Pastime.
The home of the Squirrels is the Diamond, the patched-up stadium built on the site of the ballfield of my memories--Parker Field.
As a youngster visiting my grandparents on Hermitage Road during the summer, I was just a few blocks away from the glamour and excitement of the ol' Richmond Virginians, the top farm club for the fabled New York Yankees.
The woman who lived in the downstairs apartment of my grandparents' duplex used to rent rooms to ballplayers. I'll never forget the day I was bouncing a tennis ball off the garage for fielding practice when pitcher Duke Maas, down from the Yanks for rehabilitation in Richmond, ambled out to the backyard and said: "Hey, kid. Want me to show you how to throw that ball?"
Skeptics may say that Richmond has been demoted from hosting the top farm clubs of the Yankees and then the Atlanta Braves to the one-rung-down affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
But I'm a half-full kind of fan. The Double-A Eastern League is more likely to have the kind of untainted young talents than the AAA International League of Richmond's past, with all its major-leaguers on the mend.
True, those great Richmond rivalries with Rochester and Buffalo (not to mention Havana and Montreal, back in the '50s) will be missed. It will take awhile to build up enthusiasm for battling teams from New Britain, Conn., and Manchester, N.H.
Who cares? A perfectly serviceable stadium, less than an hour from Fredericksburg, will soon be celebrating the return of baseball players without millionaire egos.
You may think of April 15 as the hated IOU day for Uncle Sam. But for me, it's my birthday, it's the first home game of the season for the Flying Squirrels, and it's the day the Ladysmith I-95 rest area is scheduled to reopen.
Does life get any sweeter?
Ed Jones: 540/374-5401
Email: edjones@freelancestar.com
