The clocks have been re-set to accommodate afternoons, flowers and palms that looked dead from late-winter freezes are putting out shoots, and local baseball has returned. All none too soon.
Daytona Tortugas’ season home opener was played in a spiffed-up, still-under-reconstruction Jackie Robinson Ballpark and the team’s 11th season commenced. The second home stand is this week in case you missed it.
I settled into my customary spot in the B Section grandstand. I’ve been a regular at home openers since Daytona Cubs days. They are a mile marker in my year, like Christmas, New Year’s and the first day of hurricane season. They mark the year’s changes and this one is the day when my summer state of mind rouses itself.
Daytona’s Jackie Robinson Ballpark gets overdue makeover
A home opener is a day of obligation for the committed fan. A reunion of ballpark regulars, an easing back into the routines of summer, an inspection of the facilities. And this season there’s a lot to inspect at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, now in its 113th summer.
The new clubhouse/locker room/office/event center/training room/indoor batting cage/gift shop facility rises beyond the second baseline fence, where the tennis courts used to be. An impressive addition. Part of $32 million in renovations that were pledged to bring the old ballpark to minor league standards. Upgrades Minor League Baseball demanded if Jackie Robinson Ballpark was to continue in the minor league system.
The locker rooms, which were a particular source of player complaints from both home team and visitors ever since the ballpark reopened for the Daytona Cubs in 1993, are now spiffy and new without being ostentatious. “We went from being the worst locker room in all of minor league baseball to the best,” boasted Bob Fregolle, Tortugas’ co-owner and operating partner.
A maze of vinyl fencing is on the western side of the ballpark at the old concession area, part of the ongoing construction. Enough construction is ongoing that seating was cut back for the first home stand. This will continue until midsummer when the ballpark will return to full capacity. As a result, the short, three-day first home stand completely sold out.
Even with changes, Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona remains an intimate experience
For the fans who got their tickets early, there was disorientation at finding the home team’s dugout at the first-base line, not the third-base line. And beer taps are all near the east gate area. Noted, too: Team mascot Shelldon appears to have a new and greener head.
All these changes and upgrades. Still the ambiance of the place is not so different. It remains an intimate park — the smallest capacity in the Florida State League. A place where the game is close up and right in front of you. One that has a breeze off the river to the east and sunsets over downtown to the west. One with a hand-worked scoreboard where a guy on a ladder hangs panels on hooks to show runs, hits and errors. (Fun fact: of the 120 minor league teams in baseball, only eight have an old-school scoreboard.)
Starting pitcher in that first game against the Jupiter Hammerheads was Cincinnati Reds big-leaguer-on-rehab Nick Lodolo, who cleanly dispatched eight hitters in a row before a blister on one of his pitching fingers acted up again and he left the mound to audible fan disappointment. Major leaguers showing up while recovering from injuries are rarities at this low-single-A level and an attendance draw.
In the second inning, returning catcher Jacob Friend, homered on the first pitch that flewhis way, puttingDaytona on the scoreboard. Things only improved from there for a 4-2 win, leaving the returning home crowd happy as post-game fireworks launched.
As they filtered out to the parking lot, they left behind a ballpark working through its next evolutionary stage.
I bore people telling of days past when the grandstand seats had wooden benches with the carved graffiti of past seasons. When the outfield fence had knotholes and gaps you could peek though. When the grass was real and took forever to dry after a sudden thunderstorm. When Cubs and Islanders took the field.
So much has changed over the seasons. Yet each time springtime play resumes, it feels like returning to a familiar place.
Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona Tortugas season starts – new construction, old ballpark vibe
Reporting by Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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