Mother and son enjoy local stadium's baseball

By Deborah Taylor-Hollis

When my son wants to see professional baseball live- (and not on TV like some couch potato) , I have two options- I can get out my credit card and spend upwards of $30 per ticket for crappy seats up in the bleachers of a park in San Francisco or Oakland, and then plan an entire day to drive up there, pay $10 for parking, hike for 20 minutes to get into a huge dirty loud dangerous stadium so I can have him watch the game with binoculars and get bored in two innings-or I can plan on a three hour evening after dinner right down the street here in San Jose. I can take him to the Muni park.

An evening's entertainment is $7 for me and $4 for him, and I can drive there in eight minutes. Parking in the lot costs me less than $5, and the walk into that little gem of a stadium is about three minutes- unless we stop for dinner. There are programs with bingo games played at each inning, lucky numbers for candy and chances to compete at breaks in the evening, a designated,"beer batter," each game that needs to get a hit to drop the price of a brewsky, promotional giveaways and interactive skills on the field ranging from kids running the bases between innings for prizes, to the "Bagel toss", for free bakery goods. They have hot dogs and sodas and peanuts in the bag-as well as a world class barbecue dinner with all the trimmings available out behind second base.

You have to feel at home in a place where they toss beach balls into the stadium, and whoever has them when the music stops wins prizes. "Team spirit Nights" are held each season for local Little Leagues to come down to the field, meet the players, have their baseballs autographed by the whole team-and then they follow the players out on to the field and sing "The Star Spangled Banner". No one could be more proud than a kid standing next to his real life counterpart on second base, hat over heart, staring into the outfield and the flag as he stumbles over the National Anthem-except maybe the gaggle of parents standing in the dugout weeping and watching our kids take a big bite out of the American pass time. "Take me out to the ball game" has been a plausible request in San Jose since 1942, when the WPA built the city's municipal stadium and minor league baseball came to San Jose. The stadium-and the game of hometown baseball that is still played within its walls-is now in jeopardy of disappearing forever if the "Major League" movers have their say.

Back when $80,000 could buy you a great stadium with 25 rows of front row seats, there was never any discussion about bringing "The Show" (the majors) to town-San Jose was a smaller, less elitist minded town. People were thrilled with a ball team only 10 minutes from most homes out at Senter and Alma, and the joy of watching such future greats as George Brett, Dave Henderson, Frank White and John "Blue Moon" Odom play their rookie years up close and personal to the crowd was what gave San Jose its charm. More than 58 players that debuted with our local teams have moved on to the big leagues and we saw them here first. Long before our current A league club was born, the SJ Owls, the SJ Red Sox, the JoSox, the Pirates, the Missions, the Expo's and the Bees all contributed to the History of Americas favorite pastime.

Unfortunately, all this goes away forever if the Big Leagues are brought to town. There is a clause in the Majors that does not allow having a minor league team within 25 miles of a Major League team. Bringing in another team would cost taxpayers in lots of ways, including having the city float bonds and give up taxable revenue sources to lure the right team-it would cost us a tradition. Right now, everyone can afford a night out at the stadium-"Merchant Nights" happen regularly, with free tickets given away at gas stations, book shops and convenience stores all over the city, and dinner can be packed in for the kids as long as no glass or alcohol is smuggled past the main gate. A full dinner of ribs, chicken, second sides and a drink only costs $15 a person, and there is limited free parking on the street for those who arrive early.

It does not take a rocket scientist to know that free merchant nights- let alone free parking-would be impossible to get with a major league in town.Introducing your child to the joys of baseball at 30 feet from home plate is possible now in San Jose, and includes all the joys of what makes the game a national pastime. Keeping a place without pressure or exorbitant cost to sit back and enjoy the crack of the bat is what's at stake here.

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D.T. Hollis can be reached at DTHollis@metronews.com.

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