cityofRaven 2,451 Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 Enlarging it...wouldn't be suprised if its not ready come baseball season... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cityofRaven 2,451 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 i was wondering cause i drove by last night and seen all the trees gone i always hate when they wait till the last minute to do something in tazewell co. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 They started this back in the late fall but haven't done a whole lot with it. I've heard Bluefield College is helping foot the bill for this in order to use the field for practice/games this spring (my understanding is that Bowen Field will be making some renovations to the outfield and will not be available for a while). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 28, 2005 I liked the way the trees looked behind the fence but I guess they wanted a bigger field. Honestly I think it is big enough. Bowen field can't be closed for to long because bluefield has there first home game on March 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 You might want to have your coach or AD verify that Bowen will be available...I'm not sure when (or even if) these "renovations" are supposed to happen, but that is what I've heard...you know how things get started around Bluefield... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 29, 2005 Yea lol I know last year that we couldn't play there for like 2 weeks because they were putting up new lights. Do u know what renovations they r doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I've heard they were planning on moving the outfield walls back to make it more in line with other minor/major league ball park distances. And from what I understand, that will also involve moving part of the road that leads into city park. Don't know when, or if, this will actually happen but that is what I've heard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 Gosh that is strange because if i remember correctly there right and left field walls were as far back as the St.louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluefield_Rules 46 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 The outfield wall at Bowen Field is being moved back, 5-10 feet if I'm not mistaken... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I wish they would just do this in the offseason! LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 [ QUOTE ] The outfield wall at Bowen Field is being moved back, 5-10 feet if I'm not mistaken... Â [/ QUOTE ] Â I actually think its more than that. Currently its 335 down the line, 345 to the alleys, and 365 to center. The new numbers I heard were like 355, 370, and 385. The hold-up may be trying to figure out where to move the road going into the park...moving the fence back 20 ft. in center would move the road into the creek... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I wish they wouldn't do that. I don't think i can jack a 380 foot homer. haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 30, 2005 I personally don't think they should move the walls at all. Here are some of the Major league Fields Distances. Â Fenway Park: Right Field: 302ft(talk about short lol) Left Field: 310ft Center: 420 Â Busch Stadium: Left field: 330 Rightfield: 330 Center: 402 Â Bank one ballpark(Arizona) Left Field: 330 Rightfield: 334 Center Fld: 407 Â Coors Field(colordo) Left:347 Right: 350 Center: 415 Â Great American Ballpark(reds) left:328 right:325 Center: 404 Â Miller Park(brewins) Left:332 righ:328 cent:400 Â Wrigley Field(cubs) left field: 355 rightfield: 353 centerfiel: 400 Â Turner Field(alanta) left field:335 Rightfield:330 centerfiel:400 Â SBC park(giants) Left: 339 right:309 center:399 Â Shea Staduim(mets) left field: 338 rightfield: 338 centerfield:410 Â Yankee Stadium left field: 318 rightfield: 317 centerfield:408 Â Safeco Field(Mariners) left field: 331 right field:327 center fiel:405 Â This is not all the fields in the majors but here are a few of them and when I look at it all the fields to left and right field are shorter then 355 except Wrigley Field it is 355 to left and 353 to right. So I don't see how Bowen field would move the walls back that far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 I have just fount out that they have already made the changes to Bowen Field They moved left and right to 355 and center to 380 The reason they moved the walls back are because the new lights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GMan 3,569 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Are you sure they've already made the changes? Â The walls looked to be in the same place they've always been just before Christmas when we drove through the "festival of lights"...especially from center to right field. That section of the wall has always been close to the road, not enough room to move it back 20 feet without doing something to the road and the road was in the same place it had always been. Â I'd be suprised if they moved them back during the first two weeks of January, and with the weather over the last two weeks, I know they haven't been able to do anything to them. Â I don't think the reason they move(d) them back is because of the lights. When they put the new lights up, they placed the poles further back from the wall knowing they would be moving the walls back to get the distances more in line with other minor/major league ball parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swva_fan 91 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005  Changes on horizon for Bowen Field Jul 10, 2004    By TOM BONE Bluefield Daily Telegraph BLUEFIELD - Bowen Field is now noticeably brighter - and will soon get bigger.  The $250,000 field lighting project added extra candlepower to illuminate the Bluefield Orioles' Appy League action, and other local teams which use the park.  Many visitors to the ballfield and Lotito Park have noticed that the light standards have been placed back from the existing outfield wall. This was planned to accommodate an enlargement of the playing field after the 2004 season.  Once renovation is completed, the center-field wall will be 392 feet from home plate, not counting the height of the barrier the balls will have to clear. The present distance to the wall is 365 feet.  It took more than five years for the lighting upgrade to become reality.  The lights are the products of an economic development grant by the state of West Virginia. The request by the Bluefield Baseball Club was initially turned down, but the proposal gained a second chance when the state Supreme Court ordered the grant-awarding process to be redone.  The approval was hailed locally. "That's money we don't have to pay back and it didn't cost the city a dime," said George McGonagle, club president and the Orioles' general manager.  Once the funds were released, Baby Birds management wasted no time. On April 20, a crew from a North Carolina electronics firm was digging ditches for the new electrical cables.  Exactly three weeks later, on the evening of May 11, the lights were turned on for their first full test. Basking in the glow were members of the ballclub's board of directors, and of the governing boards of Bluefield, W.Va. and Bluefield, Va.  At that time, McGonagle thanked the community for its support in helping to land the grant.  All cables between the lights are now underground, and the light poles will no longer obstruct patrons' views. The pole nearest home plate is 115 feet tall and the others are 90 feet tall.  The lighting exceeds the standards set by minor league baseball for their short-season rookie leagues, McGonagle said.  The last major work at Bowen Field was its reconstruction in the mid-1970s using cinderblock and steel after a fire destroyed much of the original wooden structures.  Bowen Field has been the site of minor league baseball for 65 years, and has been the home of the Baltimore Orioles' rookie league team since 1958, the longest-running unbroken relationship in professional baseball between a Major League team and a minor league host city.  - Contact Tom Bone at  tbone@bdtonline.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted January 31, 2005 Im not 100% sure about my last post, but from what a few people have told me that work at Bluefield Rec(which maintains the stadium) they said it was already done and it was because the lights. BUT DON'T TAKE MY WORD ON IT CUZ IM NOT 4-SURE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beano5 14 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 they are making sizemore field's outfield walls longer and they are resodding the infield.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted February 28, 2005 when is it going to be finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beano5 14 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Coach Campbell was saying that if there was good enough weather then the field should be done before the first home game which will be early April.....unless it keeps up snowing and raining then who knows when... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted March 1, 2005 Well thats cool, i really don't like playing on that field to much, it seems to attract alot of sun. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamball 10 Report Share Posted March 8, 2005 if you play right field like i do you do get tons of sun, it can be a line drive or a blooper high pop up, anything but a grounder and you are battling the evening sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beaverbaseball 10 Report Share Posted March 8, 2005 Yea it sucks lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05baseball 10 Report Share Posted March 17, 2005 sizemore should look great if and when it is finished. Richlands still playing at SVCC or on their little league field? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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