Municipal Stadium

HAGERSTOWN -- The playing field's in a flood plain. The bathrooms have the appeal of a turnpike rest stop. There isn't much in the way of concessions. Most of the seats have no backs.And here's a particularly charming detail you don't see in most ballparks: An underground shale deposit gives left field a 39-inch rise, a veritable mountain climb for an outfielder chasing a deep fly ball.There's nothing quite like 68-year-old Municipal Stadium, home of the minor-league Hagerstown Suns. For all its shortcomings, the ballpark has achieved an unexpected status: Maryland's only professional sports stadium that predates the Clinton White House.

Nothing quite like a privileged childhood, or, put another way, to grow up within walking distance of Municipal/Memorial Stadium. Most of the neighborhood boys didn't have the price of admission, but it didn't always prevent them from attending the games. It was called "hooking in," which by the language of the times meant finding a way to gain admittance without paying for a seat.It was either go over the fence, tunnel under it or take your chances of encountering a friendly ticket taker who looked the other way, which was a direct signal that he was inviting you to come in on a complimentary basis.

HAGERSTOWN -- They first played when the Bay Bridge was only a vision and the visiting team's bus could sit for hours waiting for a ferry to cross the Chesapeake.They last played Aug. 28, 1952, in the defunct Interstate League, with the Salisbury Reds defeating a Hagerstown Braves team en route to the pennant, 6-3, on the Eastern Shore.Major-league baseball had only 16 teams and was not even thinking of expanding into Canada.So, last night at Municipal Stadium -- in those days a showplace -- Delmarva (based in Salisbury)

HAGERSTOWN -- The Hagerstown Suns split a Single-A South Atlantic League doubleheader with the Columbus Red Stixx at Municipal Stadium last night, winning the opener, 6-5, and dropping the nightcap, 3-1.

HAGERSTOWN -- Mike Toney picked off pinch runner Chad Gambill with the tying run on third in the eighth inning to help the Hagerstown Suns edge the Asheville Tourists, 3-2, last night in a Single-A South Atlantic League game at Municipal Stadium.The Suns ended a three-game losing streak.

HAGERSTOWN -- Mike Strange's one-out single in the ninth scored Julio Mosquera with the winning run as the Hagerstown Suns scored twice in their last at-bat to defeat the Piedmont Phillies, 4-3, in a Single-A South Atlantic League game last night before a season-high crowd of 4,350 at Municipal Stadium.Strange's hit was his first of the night and extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Brian Smith (9-1) picked up the victory with two scoreless innings, extending his streak of innings without an unearned run to 51 1/3 .

HAGERSTOWN -- Jeff ladd singled to center field to score Anthony Sanders with two outs in the 110th inning, leading the Hagerstown Suns to a 3-2 victory over the Albany Polecats last night at Municipal Stadium.Brian Smith improved to 7-1 with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief work that extended his strek of innings without an unearned run to 39 1/3 .

From The Sun July 3-9, 1844July 4: The Fourth of July -- No paper will be issued from this office to-morrow.From The Sun July 3-9, 1894July 4: The patients of Spring Grove Insane Asylum were given a dance last night by Superintendent George H. Rohe.From The Sun July 3-9, 1944July 5: Baltimore's Orioles, left homeless by a fire, will movetemporarily into Municipal Stadium.

It was a fire that singularly and dramatically revolutionized the future of Baltimore sports and opened the door of opportunity for coveted major-league identity.Fifty years ago, the heavens were illuminated in a blaze so intense there was temporary fear German airplanes, this being the height of World War II, had somehow pene- trated coastal defenses and dropped incendiary bombs.The flames on July 4, 1944, which totally destroyed the wooden bandbox known as Oriole Park became the catalyst that burned Baltimore out of its minor-league confinement and ignited a desire for major-league franchises in both baseball and football.

HAGERSTOWN -- Greg Elliott hit a two-run home run in the third inning to lead the Asheville Tourists past the Hagerstown Suns, 4-1, in a Single-A South Atlantic League game last night at Municipal Stadium.

Philadelphia has long been the unofficial home of the Army-Navy football game, but Baltimore might be in line to host some of the games after the 2009 season. M&T Bank Stadium is among four finalists to host games from 2010 through 2014 and perhaps beyond, according to officials familiar with the bid. State marketing officials said the game could help provide a $22 million economic development boost to Maryland should Baltimore score what is considered one of the biggest rivalries in sports.

HAGERSTOWN -- Already in his uniform an hour before game time, Brandon Nall sets up across from a snack counter behind the grandstand at Muncipal Stadium. The lanky relief pitcher for the hometown Suns holds a Bible in his right hand; a "What Would Jesus Do?" band encircles his left wrist. Fans are trickling in as he begins his testimony. "God has given me the ability to throw a baseball," Nall, 24, a second-year pro from Dothan, Ala., says to the circle of spectators that has stopped to listen.

Hagerstown Mayor William M. Breichner is pitching an alternative tribute to Willie Mays, saying he wants to name the field at Municipal Stadium after the baseball great who made his minor league debut there. Rebuffed in his attempt to rename a city street - Memorial Boulevard - in Mays' honor, the mayor asked the City Council on Tuesday night to consider naming the ball field after the legendary center fielder. Local veterans had angrily opposed changing Memorial Boulevard's name because it is the only tribute to them in town.

Baseball great Willie Mays is not offended that angry veterans blocked Hagerstown's attempt to make amends for the racial jeers he experienced at his 1950 minor league debut there by renaming a street in his honor. Saying he has long since gotten over past insults, the Giants' legendary center fielder said yesterday that he understands why the blue-collar city in Western Maryland heeded veterans' objections to changing Memorial Boulevard to "Willie Mays Way." "I think veterans who go to war and come back have the right to say what's on their mind," Mays, 73, said in a telephone interview from his home in Atherton, Calif.

HAGERSTOWN - It was 1950 when baseball great Willie Mays made his minor league debut at the humble ballpark here to catcalls and racial jeers. He hit two doubles and a home run. Almost no one applauded. Years passed, and this blue-collar town in Western Maryland wanted to make amends with the Giants' legendary center fielder. When a reluctant Mays returned last summer, after turning down earlier invitations, Mayor William M. Breichner publicly apologized to the 73-year-old Hall of Famer and promised to name a street in his honor.

The decision to stage the annual Army-Navy classic at Municipal Stadium in 1944 had its origins in the White House and came from a president who realized the enormous boost the game would give to a war-weary nation. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who described the game as being good for "the morale of the nation," and Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., planned to capitalize on the game's popularity by linking it with a war bond drive that required ticket buyers to purchase a bond in support of the war effort.

HAGERSTOWN -- The playing field's in a flood plain. The bathrooms have the appeal of a turnpike rest stop. There isn't much in the way of concessions. Most of the seats have no backs.And here's a particularly charming detail you don't see in most ballparks: An underground shale deposit gives left field a 39-inch rise, a veritable mountain climb for an outfielder chasing a deep fly ball.There's nothing quite like 68-year-old Municipal Stadium, home of the minor-league Hagerstown Suns. For all its shortcomings, the ballpark has achieved an unexpected status: Maryland's only professional sports stadium that predates the Clinton White House.

Nothing quite like a privileged childhood, or, put another way, to grow up within walking distance of Municipal/Memorial Stadium. Most of the neighborhood boys didn't have the price of admission, but it didn't always prevent them from attending the games. It was called "hooking in," which by the language of the times meant finding a way to gain admittance without paying for a seat.It was either go over the fence, tunnel under it or take your chances of encountering a friendly ticket taker who looked the other way, which was a direct signal that he was inviting you to come in on a complimentary basis.

HAGERSTOWN -- They first played when the Bay Bridge was only a vision and the visiting team's bus could sit for hours waiting for a ferry to cross the Chesapeake.They last played Aug. 28, 1952, in the defunct Interstate League, with the Salisbury Reds defeating a Hagerstown Braves team en route to the pennant, 6-3, on the Eastern Shore.Major-league baseball had only 16 teams and was not even thinking of expanding into Canada.So, last night at Municipal Stadium -- in those days a showplace -- Delmarva (based in Salisbury)

HAGERSTOWN -- Mike Strange's one-out single in the ninth scored Julio Mosquera with the winning run as the Hagerstown Suns scored twice in their last at-bat to defeat the Piedmont Phillies, 4-3, in a Single-A South Atlantic League game last night before a season-high crowd of 4,350 at Municipal Stadium.Strange's hit was his first of the night and extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Brian Smith (9-1) picked up the victory with two scoreless innings, extending his streak of innings without an unearned run to 51 1/3 .