Coach John Massarelli is pulling on his socks after putting the Lake Erie Crushers through their paces for most of the morning. For the past decade, he's been a minor league manager coaching players with big league dreams. The Crushers are a new franchise in the Frontier League -- a group of Midwest teams that play single-A ball.
JOHN MASSARELLI: It's a fun group of professional athletes to watch, because they're probably as hungry as any professional athlete. It's a second opportunity for those guys that maybe are trying to get to the double-A level -- got released and want to prove people wrong. Or a second chance for guys that maybe got overlooked in the draft.
Second baseman Drew Saylor grew-up about an hour and a half from here in Wadsworth. Since graduating from Kent State, Saylor has had short stints with the Marlins and the Astros. He now has his sights set on working his way back up from the minors and into the "Big Show".
DREW SAYLOR: It's kind of a nomadic type of lifestyle -- a living out of your suitcase, living-out-of-your-car-type-deal. You really don't have a "home" per se, because you're always gone.
The closest thing Saylor and his teammates have to a home is All Pro Freight Stadium -- a brand new, five thousand seat facility in suburban Avon, west of Cleveland, that opens tonight. Avon mayor Jim Smith takes us on a tour.
MAYOR SMITH: The first two rows are the premium seats -- they're $13.00. The next rows up there are all $9.00. And these are $15.00… and upstairs, these are $18.00.
And if you don't mind bringing a blanket, you can sit on the grass just past the outfield fence for six bucks -- a family-friendly price that Mayor Smith hopes will bring repeat customers to his $12 million baseball field. Smith says Avon learned some lessons from Eastlake, an eastside suburban community that built its minor league ballpark in 2003 betting that rising property values would help pay for the facility. A bad bet, as it turned out; the park is reportedly $30 million in debt. Smith convinced Avon voters to pay for their field with a quarter percent income tax levy.
MAYOR SMITH: You have to have a revenue stream. When you go in blindly and say, "When we build it, we will get more income from property taxes, because of the valuation increases." -- that doesn't take place right away. Sometimes that takes years. And in the meantime, you're accumulating this debt that you have to pay off.
But, will Avon's higher taxes pay off? The plan is for the new stadium to spark more growth in the neighborhood, which will bring more businesses and revenue from property taxes, as land gets developed. Paul Jagielski is sure hoping for that kind of ripple effect. He runs the popular nearby eatery, Henry's at the Barn.
PAUL JAGIELSKI: Unfortunately, a lot of the TV is saying don't go out to spend, but it's really the opposite -- we need people to go out and spend. Unemployment's going crazy, so we need to give folks jobs and keep people employed.
Mayor Smith estimates a million people a year will pass by the new stadium and an adjoining recreation center... and well they could given that it's all located at the intersection of I-90 and State Route 611. Smith points to a building boom taking place just outside his city hall office, one exit down the highway.
MAYOR SMITH: At 611 two years ago, the valuations of that property went anywhere from $150,000 to $220,000 an acre. Up here at 83, it goes for from $600,000 to a million dollars an acre.
Yep, it's the old "build it and they will come" dream. It's hard to say if those hoped for new businesses will crop up, but the ball park itself could well be a hit in a summer where people are planning "staycations" and looking for inexpensive entertainment.
