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Limeport ballpark a base for memories
Baseball in Fegely Stadium, built in
1933, is a real 'field of dreams,' say its fans.
By Joe McDermott
Of The Morning Call
Sit in
the grandstand at Limeport's Fegely Stadium and it's easy to forget that
A-Rod is pulling down almost $26 million this year to play for the New
York Yankees.
Heck,
it's easy to forget there is an Alex Rodriguez. Or a George Steinbrenner.
Or salary caps, steroids, assaults and all the other things that make the
letters MLB stand these days for ''major league business.''
The
guys who play here play for fun, for bragging rights, for another at-bat
in the search for the endless summer.
They
call it Pennsylvania's ''Field of Dreams,'' and on a warm summer evening
you wouldn't bat an eye if Shoeless Joe Jackson or Archie ''Moonlight''
Graham traipsed out of the cornfield just beyond the left field fence.
''I
think most places like that have been lost to the developers. The fact
that they were built out in the country was the unique part of it,'' said
Tom Fegely, former Morning Call outdoors editor and the grandson of
stadium builder Howard ''Lefty'' Fegely. ''This is living history. It gave
people from Limeport a lot of pride.''
Named
for its builder, Fegely Stadium hearkens back to a time when almost every
small town in America had its own field and a semi-professional team.
Weekend ballgames were the local entertainment, and fans would often come
straight from church on Sundays, still dressed in their best outfits.
''It
was our field of dreams,'' said Jimmie Schaffer, 69, of Coopersburg, a
former major league player and coach who began his career at Limeport and
returned after retiring from professional baseball in 1989. Schaffer
played for the Cardinals, White Sox, Cubs, Mets, Phillies and Reds during
eight years in the majors, and retired as a coach for the Kansas City
Royals.
Other
major leaguers who played at Limeport over the years included Phillies
Whiz Kid Curt Simmons and former Philadelphia A's pitcher Bobby Schantz.
But the stadium's lore is not steeped in the number of big leaguers who
played there. It is amateur baseball in the best sense of the word that
has long held sway at Limeport.
Howard
Fegely owned the local dairy and built the ballpark in 1933 because a
smaller field across Limeport Pike had become too cramped for the crowds
drawn by his hometown Milkmen. The 1,100-seat stadium opened July 30,
1933, to a standing-room-only crowd of more than 4,000, and photographs
from the day show cars backed up for miles along the usually quiet country
roads leading to the village.
The
uphill center field, its fence a long 485 feet from home plate, the
isolated location and the wooded grove and farm fields just beyond the
fence create a unique atmosphere.
Though
legend tells that a big boulder under center field accounts for the
sloping, Tom Fegely said it was more the hillside itself which extends
well beyond the field that led his grandfather to leave it intact. (He
did, however, confirm the rumor that his grandfather's favorite hunting
dog, Penny the beagle, is buried under third base.)
Construction cost estimates range from $22,000 to $75,000, depending on
the source, but the lower number was more likely accurate for a
Depression-era project. It was cited in a 1933 letter to President
Franklin Roosevelt praising the stadium and Howard Fegely. Written by
Limeport native Russell Egner, who was then living in Sheboygan, Wis., it
brought a commendation reply from Roosevelt's secretary on the president's
behalf.
''My
grandfather had money at that time,'' said Tom Fegely, remembering that
beer and chocolate milk were always in good supply at the stadium. ''I
always said he made his money on the dairy and lost it on baseball.
Baseball was his passion.''
He
discounted tales that Howard build the park so his sons, Homer and
Russell, would have a good place to play ball. Tom, Homer's son, said that
while both men were good ballplayers, they were both much more involved in
the business end of the stadium than the playing field.
Homer
Fegely, who died about seven years ago, told of installing the last seats
in the grandstand at 10 o'clock on the night before the grand opening, his
son said.
The
stadium, like baseball itself, has weathered good and bad times over seven
decades.
Lights
were installed in the mid-1980s, allowing night games and a much-expanded
schedule. The grandstand roof has been replaced over the years, but the
original seats are still in place, maintained, like the field, by
volunteer members of the Limeport Stadium Inc.
The
group rallied in 1990 to save the stadium when the privately owned field
was in danger of seizure by the Internal Revenue Service because of unpaid
taxes and penalties. Since then, the association has steadily restored the
grandstand and created a museum in a former two-car garage near the old
Fegely mansion.
The
museum, open during most games, includes mannequins decked out in the
gray, wool uniforms of Fegely's old Milkmen, pictures of games and
milestones in stadium history, score books from early years and Egner's
original letter and the reply.
On one
wall is a photo from an earlier, 300-seat stadium that stood behind
Fegely's dairy that reportedly shows legendary Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker
of Tinker to Evers to Chance double-play fame with a barnstorming team of
major leaguers who traveled the country playing local teams at small-town
ballparks. However, stadium officers say that has never been confirmed.
The
field these days hosts the Blue Mountain and Tri-County semipro leagues,
and some players belong to teams in both leagues to increase their playing
time. Also playing regularly are American Legion and Southern Lehigh High
School teams.
''It's
one of the best stadiums in our league, that's for sure,'' said Mike
Krauss, 30, a member of the Tri-County Limeport Bulls. ''It's a nice,
relaxing evening. You can come out here, have a hot dog or hamburger, and
watch a game.''
Frank
Koeller Jr., 76, a retired law enforcement chief from Bergen County, N.J.,
and former minor leaguer, fell in love with the ballpark shortly after
moving to Lehigh County in the late 1990s. He now serves as a volunteer
public relations director for the stadium.
''It's
old-fashioned baseball,'' said Koeller, who as a young man played several
games with the Class AAA Jersey City Giants and a season with the Class A
Paterson Blue Jays, also in New Jersey.
Tom
Fulton, president of the stadium association and a lifelong player, coach
and fan, became involved after the late Al Klan, a stadium stalwart, urged
him to visit for a game.
''He
said, 'All it takes is one look, and you'll be hooked.' That's all it
took,'' Fulton admitted. ''You come here on a summer's night with the
lights on, and you pretty much fall in love.
''What's not to love? Once you step in here, it's awesome. The sights, the
sounds, the smells it's baseball.''
joe.mcdermott@mcall.com
610-820-6533
From The Morning Call --
July 4, 2005
Copyright
© 2005,
The Morning Call
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