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Baseball Stadium Could be County Non-Tax Bond Financed, Mayor Katt Says

Most Citizens Oppose Use of Tax Dollars for Baseball Project

July 17, 2004       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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The spirit of baseball today is personified by USA Olympic star Brent Abernathy , now a pro with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, taking the field at the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, for a startling victory against Cuba.
 
Clarkson Park was a hotbed of local sports activity, hosting professional baseball as well as high school football from 1909 until it burned the second time in 1929.

      Bay City Mayor Robert Katt says most citizens he has talked to support his position against using tax dollars for a minor league baseball stadium.

      But he told MyBayCity.com that he has not ruled out consideration of a countywide bondissue to provide non-tax financing for stadium construction.

      "If it's the entire county backing it, that may be a different story, but no tax revenues should be used," the mayor said privately to a reporter.

      The CHAMPS committee of the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, is expected in September to propose a revenue bond issue for construction of the $15-19 million stadium. A revenue bond issue would put the full faith and credit of the county behind the financing as a legal mechanism for bond sales but the bonds would be repaid with revenues created from the stadium, not from tax dollars.



      The main issue is what happens in the event of default on the bonds, observers noted. The bond issue would be secured bythe stadium facility, but it would be crucial that the project is a success so bonds are repaid by revenues and there is no necessity for bond repayment from tax funds.

      Many municipalities finance athletic/recreational facilities with tax funds, including the Lansing Lugnuts, which also received state funding, and Ohio and Indiana teams in the Midwest League. Detroit has built several sports facilities with tax funds, including financing a large share of the new Comerica Park.

      A municipal stadium also could be used for other sports and entertainment events that would attract outside visitors, helping meet tourism goals and helping to fill local hotels, motels and restaurants and bring revenues to retail establishments.

      One way for a stadium bond proposal to be put forward is with a petition drive by citizens requesting that the County Commission place the issue on the ballot. That way a community decision by voters would govern the bond proposal.

      A pro-stadium support group is already forming, with supporters asked to connect through the web address BayCityBaseball04@yahoo.com.

      Bay City has a history of minor league and amateur baseball stretching back more than a century. The BayCity Cardinals opened Clarkson Park, a privately-financed baseball facility at Center and Livingston avenues, in 1909.

      The park was named for pitcher John Clarkson, who had played for a Bay City-Saginaw team in the early 1880s and then moved on to a brilliant major league career with Chicago, Boston and Cleveland teams.

      Although he retired in 1895 as the winningest pitcher in the National League, Clarkson was not inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame until 1963. His 328 career wins still ranks his win total among the top 10 all-time major league pitchers. One baseball source even ranks Clarkson the fourth best pitcher ever, after Cy Young, Christy Matthewson and Lefty Grove.

      Clarkson moved to Bay City after his retirement from baseball and operated a snack shop and wholesale cigar business at Center and Washington avenues, according to the late local historian Les Arndt. Clarkson died in his birthplace of Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1909. Clarkson's historyis fully chronicled on the Bay-Journal local history website of Marvin Kusmierz and was the subject of an article by Tim Younkman in The Bay City Times in 2002.

      The Bay City Wolves, run by legendary financier James E. Davidson and managed by Charles "Punch" Knoll, won the MINT League title in 1923. Davidson had "sold" Wolves slugger Hazen "Ki Ki" Cuyler, the "Harrisville Flash," to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1921 for $3,000, one of the first player deals in baseball. Cuyler's clutch hit wonthe 1925 World Series for the Pirates. Davidson moved on to become financial vice president of the Cleveland Indians.

      Clarkson Field, which also hosted high school football games, was home to professional baseball here until struck by a grandstand fire in 1929. It was never rebuilt and circuit court had to divide up profits among shareholders from sale of the property in the 1930s. Because of the Depression, professional baseball never revived in Bay City and has been scarcely mentioned until recently.

      Now, as the city seeks economic development strategies in the wake of the decline of manufacturing jobs, the idea of baseball has arisen. Supporters note that the sport currently is "hot" across the country, with the Minor League Baseball organization reporting attendance expected to break a 55-year-old record of 39.7 million set in 1949. Ten of the 15 minor league teams registered attendance gains last year. Crowds this year are averaging 3,932 per game, a 7.1 percent increase over last year. There are 176 teams that have attracted over 21 million spectators so far this season, the group reported. See www.MinorLeagueBaseball.com. ###



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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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