Sam Lynn Ballpark

Sam Lynn Ball Park is located in Bakersfield, California (4009 Chester Avenue Bakersfield, CA 93301 661/716-HITS) and is the oldest ballpark of the 10 team, Class-A Advanced, California League. It was built in 1941 for the Bakersfield Badgers who began that season as a charter member of the Cal League. The current team carries the moniker Blaze and has been affiliated with the AL's Texas Rangers since 2005. During 2006 season, the Rangers extended their working agreement (Player Development Contract)with the Bakersfield franchise for an additional four years, through the 2010 season.

Over the years, the Bakersfield franchise fielded teams known as:
*Badgers 1941-1942,
*Indians 1946-1955,
*Boosters 1956,
*Bears 1957-1967,
*Dodgers 1968-1975,
*Outlaws 1978-1979,
*Mariners 1982-1983,
*Dodgers 1984-1994,
*Blaze 1995-Present.
*note: "Bakersfield did not field teams in 1943-45 (WWII),1976-77 and 1980-81".

It is the only ballpark in organized professional baseball where the batter faces west, and as such, faces directly into the setting sun. This forces the Blaze to start most games later than any team in professional ball. From mid-June to mid-August, its not unusual for games to begin as late as 7:58pm.

Sam Lynn Ballpark was named for the former local owner of a Coca-Cola bottling company who donated much of his income to youth baseball leagues.

Sam Lynn Ballpark originally featured a covered wooden grandstand that was demolished in 1993 and replaced with the current concrete main stand. It is known for having the shortest center field in all of professional baseball at 354 feet from home plate. The outfield wooden wall is 15 feet high and offers a quirk in right field, which is an old catwalk that exists under the current, albeit older, electronic scoreboard. The site of the catwalk used to be the location of a hand-operated scoreboard. If a fly ball hits off this area and rebounds onto the field, the ball is played as live. If the ball stays up on the catwalk, it is ruled a ground rule double. During the twilight time of a ballgame, it's extremely difficult for the umpire to see if the ball has left the park or landed in the catwalk. Until recently, it was not unusual for kids to occasionally sneak onto the metal-grated catwalk during the course of a ballgame before being chased off by club employees. The catwalk posed an obvious safety hazard, and so what remained of it was finally removed for good.

Sam Lynn Ballpark's playing field was renovated for the 2006 season, following years of poor maintenance and threats by affiliates to not play there anymore. The field, and head groundskeeper Chris Ralston, was given an award for being one of the top minor league fields at the end of the season.

The first-base (home) dugout has been expanded to hold more players, though many still sit on a bench outside of the dugout. The third-base (away) dugout retains its cramped original design prompting most players to either sit on the front edge or an adjacent bench located in foul ground. The third-base dugout once had its roof blown off in a windstorm during a game.

Prior to the start of the 2006 season, the bullpens, previously located behind the stands and hidden from the view of the teams playing the game, were moved into foul territory. Due to this change, the overall seating capacity of the ballpark was reduced by 700 general admission bleacher seats, from 4,200 to 3,500.

There are several large illustrations of former star players who played in Bakersfield that greet fans as soon as they walk into the ballpark. Some of the former players honored on canvas include Hall of Famer Don Drysdale, Cy Young winner Pedro Martinez, NL ROY Eric Karros, and potential Hall of Famer Mike Piazza. Also there to greet fans is the longtime program seller "Froggy". Froggy was given his nickname because his gravel-voice is similar to the character of the same name in the old "Our Gang/Little Rascals" serials from the 30's and 40's.

The bat racks and on-deck circles are located about 80 feet away from the dugouts near the backstop, thus creating a "walk of shame" for a batter who struck out.

One of the oft-repeated stories about Sam Lynn Ballpark is the use of a gasoline fueled fire to dry puddles of water along the infield grass of the third-baseline to complete a game. Back in 1982, the sprinklers came on automatically during a game that was still being played at 11:40pm. The puddles were created when a couple of ushers and the mascot tried to keep the spraying water off the dirt areas (plate, mound, baselines) by stepping on the sprinkler heads. The groundskeeper had left for the night so, after taking about 20 minutes to locate the water shut off valve, a not so bright member of the Bakersfield front office took seriously the suggestion of the visiting team's manager (Visalia's Phil Roof) that the game could proceed by pouring gasoline on the puddles and striking up a few matches. When the impromptu bonfire was finally put out, the third base side of the diamond was scorched and remained that way for the rest of the season. In case you're wondering, a "fired-up" Visalia squad came back and won the game.

A couple of wrong reasons given for Sam Lynn Ballpark facing west into the setting sun was that the ballpark developer faced his blueprints in the wrong direction. Another explanation for the wrong-way laying of the playing field is that the lights that were to be part of he ballpark were donated to the military due to WWII so it didn't matter which direction the field faced. The only problem with this theory is that WWII didn't start until Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the Bakersfield Badgers opened the new ballpark on April 22, 1941 with an 8:00pm night game against the Fresno Cardinals. Due to the setting sun creating a potential hazard for batters, night games were scheduled for several decades with an 8:00pm start. Years later, night games were scheduled for earlier starting times then delayed in progress until the sun had set and it was safe for the batters. The last in game sun delay took place on July 3, 1996 and lasted three minutes. Since 1997, the game's first pitch during the summer months takes place after the sun sets and is based on a timetable that has been updated annually by the official scorer. During this part of the season, the time of the game's first pitch ranges from 7:35 pm to 7:58 pm. These are only theories as the original blueprints were nowhere to be found when the ballpark underwent the renovations previously mentioned. A large steel and sheet metal screen (125'x50') was constructed in left-center field, but it only offers a minimal amount of help since the measurements for the sun screen were taken during the off season prior to 1993, when the setting sun was not a factor.

The mystery of the wrong way facing Sam Lynn Ball Park was finally solved by Kevin Eubanks, the current editor of "Bakersfield Life Magazine". Eubanks, a former public address announcer for the Bakersfield Blaze baseball team, discovered documentation that stated that the ballpark was built inside the mile-long horseracing track at what was the original Kern County Fairgrounds on Chester Avenue. According to a December 4, 1940 article appearing in the town's newspaper, "The Bakersfield Californian", the story begins, "Preliminary work of grading and planting grass seed was under way today by the county work relief department within the mile track at the fairgrounds in preparation for the 1941 baseball season, when Bakersfield will be represented in a Class C professional league. Present plans call for moving lights over from the softball diamond, constructing dressing rooms, and depending largely the present grandstand for seating facilities." So with that information the mystery was solved albeit a little bit boring when compared to the theories. Basically Sam Lynn ball Park was built on available land with an existing grandstand already in place. It should be noted as well that back in that time, night games across America were usually scheduled for 8 or 8:15pm starts thus it really didn't matter, except for tradition, which way the ballparks faced, especially in the lower minors when ballparks were built pretty rapidly with WPA funding. It wasn't until the 1970's that starting times across America began moving earlier, first 7:30 then later around 7:00pm.

There have been calls to replace Sam Lynn Ballpark since the 1980s, but serious considerations have only come along since the rise of numerous California League teams building top-rate facilities, such as Rancho Cucamonga, Lancaster, Lake Elsinore, Stockton, Adelanto (High Desert), and San Bernardino (Inland Empire). The City of Bakersfield and the County of Kern have both had proposals presented to them to build a new facility, and both refused to finance it. This caused local fan favorite organization, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to relocate their California League affiliate from Bakersfield after the 1994 season.

With Cal State Bakersfield creating a Division I baseball program that will begin play in 2009 (and a hopeful entry into the Big West Conference), many are calling for CSUB to share its future baseball facility with the Blaze in the same manner that the Inland Empire 66ers shares its ballpark with Cal State San Bernardino. This would effectively lead to the abandonment of Sam Lynn Ballpark whose field might be salvageable for high school and youth league contests.

External links

* [http://www.bakersfieldblaze.com/the_ballpark/history.asp History Of Sam Lynn Ballpark]
* [http://www.minorleagueballparks.com/saml_ca.html Sam Lynn Ballpark Profile]