One, two three, take me out to the ball game

Welcome back Pecos Baseball League. Fort Marcy Ballpark can always find space for you.

And what do you know, it’s been quite some time since this haggardly-put-together professional inhabitant of the somewhat put-together independent hardball circuit that made the grade by using the white-stitched ball found elsewhere around the globe. In some areas they might be a little scratched up and dirty, but forgive this, they are still in play.

Now this is baseball that’s a far cry from all the big leaguers that have taken the field through the ages, and comparing the Santa Fe Fuego to a Mickey Mouse organization would make the venerable cartoon character cry. Kind of a reminder of Tom Hanks getting into one his player’s face to tell her that

‘There’s no crying in baseball.’ from the motion picture “League of their Own.”

Other than the expectation of decent facilitates, no one expected much from this City Different first-year expansion team. Perhaps to that end, the only thing Fuego fans need expect is disappointment.

And so on Saturday night I took a ride up there with a former head baseball coach. We were curious after the Fuego showed off its season opener by taking three from the visiting league rivals from down the way in Roswell. In front of the ballpark itself was the Fort Marcy recreational building and so we stopped in to say hello to some of the employees we knew. But it was Saturday and there weren’t many familiar faces around, and none up at the ballpark either.

But there was good news as the usual slim turnout either found its way through a back and side gate, and through the main gate, those that paid were having their tickets punched. Wonderful, it was about 20 minutes until gametime, there were about 35 tickets collected, and only one umpire was there.

Alas, a few more tics were handed in and two more umps showed up. No drum and roll, but the public address announcer tapped the mic and welcome everyone. Once the game began, the young, mid-age and old crowd scrambled around, most said they were looking for friends who said they’d be there, but not much luck there either. But the concession stand did open, and at one time there were more fans there than in their seats watching the game.

The game, though, was a success, a 13-9 win that completed the 4-game sweep over Roswell, and with the two games won at the tail end of last campaign, it was penciled in as a sweep of half-a-dozen home games. Wow, at 4-0 the Fuego is off to one of its best starts in team history. The PA announcer did say the 2015 team won its first five times, and added that two other times, the resident team had started 4-1, and that was 2014 and 2017.

But now, saying nothing about the levels of competition, the infrastructure that supports the team is at best, wobbly. Also initial league president Andrew Dunn didn’t have much to offer when he made a point way back in the opening game ages ago that he would attend a number of games during the Fuego homestand. But he didn’t, and so if el presidente left others in charge of the day-to-day operation, well that’s like a parent abandoning an infant in his or her initial year of life.

And times haven’t exactly changed. The freebie entrance places haven’t gone away, and the league figures to lose about maybe 40-50 paying fans a game while that northeast parking lot that overlooks the ballpark remains unlocked and with no security.

On opening night one year, Dunn estimated 500 or so fans got in free because of the complex’s loosely established perimeter. What officials need to do but haven’t done is to righten security measures and put up a screened fence to discourage people from accessing the parking lot, but so far, said the PA announcer, the City Council hasn’t okayed it.

The field itself, untenable as it is, the playing field is an oasis compared to the exterior. The yard has never looked good, it takes ground balls through a diagonal pathway that had brough the name “Fort Marcy Hop”.

The press box resembles a crowded cellblock at the old state penitentiary. The concession stand that is said to still being owned by Santa Fe AABC, is said to be taken back and snacks will be sold at a concession table. Plus getting water coolers for teams during homestands will most likely be like negotiating the Afghanistan crisis.

As for the Fuego, nice that it is still a part of this cartoon show. Players come and go, fans come and gather, usually bring their own kind of concession food, boo the umpires, even the teams, and still, pay or sneak in, it might never be the place to be in or at. Visiting teams get a giggle being there, the rocky sandy infield, the wet slippery outfield.

One good thing, turning back Roswell on opening weekend did close the Fuego gap to 25-55 versus it, and cut the home field deficit to 18-31 against these Invaders. And Fuego can enjoy a couple of days off before heading north across the border to Trinidad, Colo., one stop south of Raton, and then home for a four-game stand versus Colorado Springs that throws the first pitch on Thursday.

Who knows, maybe Roswell is in a down year, but it matters only in the won-lost standings when you have a ballpark that draws laughs and not a better look or more winning times.

Overall, did we overlook things? Yeah, I guess we did, like the Mickey Mouse ears in these times when  Disney is again making headlines. Positive or negative, they are there just as the Fuego remains at Fort Marcy Ballpark.

Play ball.