"He" was a writer for the old Scranton Tribune, the one that existed before being bought out by The Scranton Times, which then became The Times-Tribune.
His name was Tom Casey. Tom was not only a great writer, he was also a keen observer of life in and around Scranton and Lackawanna County. His apparent first love was politics. Being the political-weenie of longstanding, I read Mr. Casey's columns with regularity, actually blowing past all else in The "Trib," the morning paper, just to get to Casey's column, then go back and read the rest of it.
I never met Tom Casey. There was a time when it was probably just as well I did not. Tom lost me when he began bashing what I strongly felt was a key component of NE PA's comeback, the same comeback that I mentioned in my previous post, the one which wobbled along on spindly legs for far too long before hitting stride.
Tom Casey thought that bringing minor league baseball, especially on the lofty level of Triple A, to this area was an enormous mistake. Tom said it wouldn't work. Tom, himself a huge baseball fan, a Yankee man if my memory is any good, was insistent that failure was a built-in given in any attempt to play baseball before big crowds here.
Logically following that thinking, he concluded that any stadium erected to house this team would be a white elephant of the first order, a financial ball and chain for taxpayers present and future. Again, I rely on memory in saying that he felt a basic grass field, with no more than steel-framed bleachers with wood seats, was really all this area would tolerate, meaning that it was about all us locals would pay money to sit on while watching baseball. His meaning was clear; us folk here in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre wouldn't pay much to watch any minor league teams play.
I didn't like Tom Casey for saying these things. At the time, I began to view him as a cranky middle-aged guy on his way to old age who just couldn't stand to see anything succeed. I began to think of him as being possessed of what some call the "Coal Miner Mentality." That's roughly defined as most NE PA residents thinking that a good many things are too good for us, that we don't deserve them, so we push them away in an odd act of self-destruction. Any truth to it? An argument, perhaps, for another time.
Despite Tom Casey's protestations, his dire "you'll be sorry and I told you so..." scolding, AAA Baseball came, a fine stadium was erected as an early monument to our finding the way back, and there was much joy in the shadow of the big mountain in Moosic.
It was a rough ride over the years. Attendance was up, it was down, up again, down again. Allentown made no secret of its wanting our franchise, even building a stadium to house what had been "our" Red Barons. They were confident it would happen. It did.
But we did better yet. The Yankees came to town. The honest-to-God-genuine-America's-baseball-team-of-record moved their franchise from Columbus, Ohio, to Montage Mountain. The Yankees!
Here is where I must confess to not being much of a baseball fan. Yeah, as a kid I adored Mantle, followed Maris' every homerun right up to and a bit beyond the record-breaker, but I am just not a baseball kind of guy.
Yet even a non like me knew that the Yankees were big, maybe the biggest thing to happen in ten, twenty years. The Yankees would be the hottest ticket in town, not to mention saving at least one political career.
They didn't save that career. They haven't been the hottest ticket in town. The sad fact is, tickets sold for this past season failed to break a half million mark. Despite being the International League Champions, two of the Governor's Cup games played here sold less than 3,000 tickets each. Tickets sold versus how many pairs of cheeks were in the bleachers,of course is another matter, they don't always match.
Attendance down, revenue down, and I suppose you really can't muster a very strong argument against interest being down.
In all fairness, this economy isn't helping. Gas prices, money need elsewhere than entertainment, etc., all could play a big role in what was a little season.
Now, a new stadium is being discussed. Heck, it might even be demanded by the Yankees or they'll literally take their bats and balls and go home, wherever that home may end up being.
That new stadium, some are strongly suggesting, should be built in downtown Scranton. What then of Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County's investment in the team? Is Lackawanna County going to write a check and buy out Luzerne County's share in the venture? Somehow, I don't think so.
What I think is probably not all that important. I don't go to games, don't follow any International League teams, don't own any Scranton/Wilkes-Barre merchandise, don't really have much of an emotional investment in the team.
One thing I do have is some pride in the fact that such a nice facility exists here. Even at 23 years of age it's still an impressive site. There is also pride within me that AAA Baseball exists here. What apparently doesn't exist here is widespread support for a AAA club calling our home theirs.
Was Tom Casey right? I wish I had an answer.
For now, though, could be that he was...
