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Wahconah - Yes! By Jim Bouton

Wahconah Park is one of the greatest places to watch a ball game in America. It's delightful, it's charming, it's a step back in time. That's what baseball is all about - nostalgia - it's the connection to our past, and past generations.

It's our own field of dreams right here in the Berkshires - we don't have to build it, and they will come. And they've been coming to Wahconah since 1919. Built so long ago that it faces the wrong way, causing the sun to shine in the batter's eyes for ten minutes or so on certain nights. Personally, I never minded when the sun would shine in a batter's eyes.

And how many stadiums can claim a "sun delay?" It's nature's own special promotional opportunity - guess the precise length of the "delay" and win a free pair of sunglasses.

When I read in the papers that the city of Pittsfield was thinking of building a new baseball stadium downtown, I couldn't believe it!

Abandon Wahconah? Our beautiful antique? How could they even do that to a landmark?

So I called my friend Chip Elitzer, an investment banker (yes, they can make good friends) from Great Barrington, and his friend Eric Margenau, a minor league sports impresario with a home in Stockbridge, and said we have to do something.

That something grew into a business plan we have recently unveiled. This is not a hastily thrown together idea. We've been working on it for months, but we kept quiet about it because we didn't want to confuse the voters before the referendum, or take the blame if the Civic Authority was defeated.

Now the voters have spoken, and what we hear them saying is that they want professional baseball, but they want it at Wahconah Park, if at all possible.

Well, we're here to tell you it is possible - not with an affiliated New York-Penn League team (Cubs, Rangers, Mets, Astros, etc.), that plays musical chairs every few years, or keeps raising the bar for newer and bigger everything, but with an unaffiliated, independent Northern League team, which has other advantages as follows:

1. Superior quality of play. Independent league teams (unlike affiliated "single A" teams) are made up of recently released major and high minor league players.

2. Favorite players return from year to year. They are not bouncing around through a minor league farm system.

3. More local players (like Great Barrington's John Raifstanger, for example). We are not stuck with players sent to us by a minor league farm director.

4. Local ownership and more permanence. Fans will have the opportunity to own stock in their own team.

5. More pride and sense of allegiance. Fans can help name the team, design the logo, and wear their own hearts on their sleeves, hats, jackets, etc.

With a nominal long term lease, we believe we can bring an independent league team to Wahconah Park beginning with the 2002 season, at no cost to the taxpayers.

And we'll make loving improvements to the ballpark, phased in over a period of years.

Our goal is to create a "must-see" entertainment experience at an historic stadium that, properly marketed, will draw fans from all over the Berkshires and beyond.

If the city decides to build an indoor arena downtown (where a twelve-month facility makes a lot more more financial sense than a three-month stadium) we will provide and run a professional minor league hockey team.

An arena can wait. Wahconah Park can't. We need an answer from the city as soon as possible, in order to be ready for the 2002 season.

I want to take my granddaughter to Wahconah Park and give her a feel for my childhood - and maybe pitch a little batting practice.