Vacant
6/10
 |
The exterior of the relatively modest park is equally modest.
|
 |
| On this summer night before a home game vs. the Chico Outlaws, the field was in great shape. However, this wasn't always the case. |
 |
| One of the bigger crowds of the 2010 season watches the home opener against Maui. |
After a 1 year run in summer league baseball(I went to the opening game and never went back), Victoria was awarded a franchise in the Golden Baseball League in 2009. The Seals, as they branded themselves, would play home games at RAP. I went to a getaway game against the Yuma Scorpions my only time that season, but it just never fit into my schedule and I couldn't be convinced that they'd even be around the next season. But, they finished an entire pro season in Victoria, for the first one in nearly 30 years and that off season, I suddenly became interested.
In 2010, I went to the home opener against Maui, a sparsely attended mid week game against the Orange County Flyers and their apparently potty-mouthed manager, Paul Abbott, Military Appreciation day against the Calgary Vipers, A June game against the bottom-feeding Tijuana Cimarrones, the Canadian debut of the "Knuckle Princess", Eri Yosihda and the Chico Outlaws and my going-away party, against the Tucson Toros. I left for work in August of 2010 and missed the rest of the year. While I was still gone in early December, I got a text from my brother that the Seals had folded.
The park itself is a big rectangle, with an L-shaped grandstand that starts off on the third base side, before meeting a wall where the soccer/football grandstand is. Some kids sat in the soccer stands against Maui and around 500 people were in for the Yoshida game, which drew around 5,000 people.
That's around the time when things came to a head in Victoria. The ownership of the Seals scored a bit of a coup by getting Yoshida to pitch a road game, when the Outlaws came to Victoria for a mid-summer roadtrip. The Seals promoted the game well and drew their largest crowd ever, by a wide margin, even exceeding the number of people that could be comfortably seated for baseball.
 |
Bonus Picture: The seats are jam packed against Chico.
This is the long side of the L, the short side was full too.
|
But, the problem that soon emerged was the same problem they'd had all year, the concessions were very slow. The Seals were a tenant of the city at RAP, which meant that concession staff didn't work for the team, which meant staffing levels were set by the city. When the team tried to have the city call in extra staff(whether this was before or during the game I don't know), they refused and lines ended up being nearly 2 innings long for pretty much anything, with items selling completely out.
This was one of a few issues with RAP the Seals had, the other was the condition of the field, namely, the temporary outfield fence. The city insisted that the fence be able to be removed, so the outfield could be used with the rest of the soccer field while the Seals were away. The Seals, wanted something more permanent for the entire season, but removable for the winter. The pitcher's mound was in such bad shape for a game against Calgary during a rainy May that a relief pitcher for the Seals came out and ended up borrowing the tools of the befuddled grounds crew to fix it himself.
These issues became even more important when the Seals discovered that the Golden League would merge into the North American League the next season and travel costs were likely to go up. Apparently, building their own park in suburban Langford was considered, but never went anywhere and the Seals folded. Their rights were purchased by a group that intended to set up shop in Fort McMurray, Alberta, a rough and tumble oil town of around 75,000 with a brand new rec complex, but that didn't go anywhere, especially with Calgary going broke and Edmonton suspending operations.
Anyway, especially in their last year, the Seals gave RAP the feel of a legit minor league ballpark, which, considering the commissioner of Minor League Baseball once reportedly said it would be one of the three worst facilities in the whole of MiLB if the Portland Rockies moved there, says a lot(The Rockies became the Tri-City Dust Devils, more on them later). The food, if you could get some, wasn't bad, as a local sports bar had a BBQ pit on the third base side, which wasn't well advertised. The beer was fantastic local microbrews. The park looks old and dingy. There isn't one stadium seat in the entire place, but the atmosphere was electric and almost always about baseball, which is like a precious gem these days. Casual sports fans in Victoria don't go to baseball games, but baseball people do. The park is quite old and I would have hoped if the Seals could have strung together a few good years, a baseball-specific stadium would have been built. Sadly, they are gone and with Independent level baseball well and truly dead in the Northwest, it looks like Victoria's last pro ballclub.
But, there is some relief, as the Victoria HarbourCats of the summer league West Coast League, just finished their first season, hosting the WCL all star game and finishing 2nd in attendance averaging around 1,400, which for summer league isn't bad at all. Still, memories of summer nights at RAP in 2010 will always be amongst my most precious in baseball.
Update 2016: The HarbourCats continue to draw well, averaging 1,900 this past season, best in the WCL. This is still around a thousand less than the 2,957 the Seals drew in 2010. This is ahead of 4 teams in the NWL for 2015, with 45 home dates compared to 38. Victoria would be a great market for the NWL, minus the travel and the unsuitable ballpark.
This place must be rescored, a little more realistically. Firstly, the facility is inadequate for any level of professional baseball. The fence isn't permanent, there weren't any actual seats anywhere(there might be now) and it's mostly wood and concrete. The concessions, while having some good options, suffered from a reputation for slow/poor service, as even a crowd of 3,500 led to long lines. The atmosphere here was great though, people in town are big on baseball and it showed when you went here. I give it a point for atmosphere, but take a point for facility and food, leaving a 6 as the new(and likely more accurate) score.
The team ended up leaving not just because of the concession issue, but because they simply didn't make enough money, as the city took most of the revenues generated and with a 1.2 million dollar budget, the team simply didn't come close to breaking even. Hopefully, someday somehow, the region gets a better facility with a better business model. Until then, the Cats will continue to draw well.
Linescores
2009-07-09
123 456 789 R H E
Yuma Scorpions 101 012 101 7 13 0
Victoria Seals 020 000 010 3 5 1
Temp: 19C Time: 2:38 Att: 2,846
2010-05-21
123 456 789 RHE
Maui Na Koa Ikaika 001 001 000 271
Victoria Seals 012 101 00x 592
Temp:13 C Time: 3:02 Att: 3,521
Temp is Afternoon High
2010-05-27
123 456 789 R H E
Orange County Flyers 000 400 101 6 13 4
Victoria Seals 301 000 310 8 7 4
Temp: 14C Time: 3:25 Att: 1,157
Temp is Afternoon High
2010-06-08
123 456 789 RHE
Calgary Vipers 011 110 101 6 10 2
Victoria Seals 000 101 001 3 6 2
Temp: 15C Time: N/A Att: 2,537
2010-07-02
123 4 5 6 789 R H E
Tijuana Cimarrones 100 0 0 0 000 1 8 1
Victoria Seals 000 0 11 0 100 12 11 0
Temp: 17C Time: 3:48 Att: 4,310
Temp is Afternoon High
2010-07-29
123 456 789 R H E
Chico Outlaws 210 021 000 6 10 1
Victoria Seals 063 100 020 12 6 2
Temp: 18C Time: N/A Att: 4,763
Temp is Afternoon High
2010-08-06
123 456 789 R H E
Tucson Toros 000 023 201 8 13 2
Victoria Seals 001 000 020 3 6 2
Temp: 16C Time: 3:07 Att: 1,623
Temp is Afternoon High
No comments:
Post a Comment