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75 °F Forecast | Road Cams Saturday, August 28, 2004 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Prime Times Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Rogue Valley's Finest EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 4, 2004 Gary Miller, president of the Medford Youth Baseball Society, stands on the 132-acre lot where the next baseball stadium will be built. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell The long goodbye After 42 years, it won’t be easy to bid farewell to venerable Miles Field By KRIS HENRY Mail Tribune ike many in the Rogue Valley, letting go of Miles Field won’t come easy for Gary Miller. He has fond memories of playing baseball there in 1962 during the first summer of games following Shorty Miles’ renovation of the ballpark. As a leading figure in today’s "Red, White and Boom" fireworks display at Miles Field, Miller also nervously recalls the Fourth of July fire that burned down then-Cheney Stadium on the site prior to his playing days. His own work over the past decade as director of the Miles Field Renovation Project has only served to broaden Miller’s attachment to Miles through efforts to maintain the ballpark’s reputation as one of the state’s finest facilities. Advertisement But with Wal-Mart’s recent purchase of Miles Field and the surrounding property from Jackson County, Miller recognizes it’s finally time to say goodbye. He’s just happy the whole process may come on his own terms. If all goes as planned with the county commissioners and Medford City Council, Miller’s group — renamed the Medford Youth Baseball Society — will be assigned the task of building and operating a replacement ballpark at Medford’s new 132-acre sports park on Highway 99 across from Bear Creek Corp. "Once the sale of Miles Field was finalized (June 15)," says Miller, "we kind of had mixed emotions. On the one hand, you’re excited, but on the other hand, it’s just a tough situation with all the emotional attachments at Miles." About $2.3 million of the roughly $8 million purchase price is earmarked for a replacement facility. The county and city have drafted an agreement that transfers those funds to the city, with a secondary agreement between the city and MYBS shifting responsibility of the project to the group. Miller says county commissioners are expected to vote on both agreements at a session Wednesday or Thursday, with the City Council scheduled to do the same at a July 15 meeting. On July 22, the Planning Commission will also recommend a necessary zoning change of the sports park site from farm use to regional commercial. All conditions must be approved before Miller’s group can move forward, but City Manager Mike Dyal says he doesn’t anticipate any hiccups along the way. "As far as I know, everything’s working in a positive direction," says Dyal. "We’d like to see this thing move along as expeditiously as possible." So, too, would Miller and the rest of a Medford baseball community counting on the use of a replacement ballpark for next spring. "Everything’s contingent upon getting all the approvals," says the 1963 Medford High graduate, "but once that’s done, we want to move quickly because our optimistic view is to have a facility ready in March of next year." In a perfect scenario, Miller says, groundbreaking for the new Harry and David Baseball Park would begin in September, with sod laid in the infield and hydroseed sprayed in the outfield by the first week of October. "To be playable in March, we need to have that done," he says. "We need to ensure the grass takes hold before it’s considered playable." Inability to meet a March deadline would force the Medford School District’s high school teams to seek out alternate sites for home games, with the budding complex at North Medford High as the most likely choice. "We have a Plan B, but it’s not an optimum Plan B," says Miller. "We’ve already been through the drill with (North baseball coach Brett Wolfe and South baseball coach Steve Antich) if it’s not ready, and the school district’s been very cooperative." The new ballpark is modeled after Volcanoes Stadium in Keizer, which is considerably larger than the Medford design and was built in six months. While a similar time frame is optimistic, Miller believes the March 2005 goal isn’t out of the question considering the leg work already done by MYBS for the project. "We’ve been on this parallel path where we’re maintaining Miles Field and, meanwhile, we’re doing all the planning so that when we do get final approval, we’re ready to go at the new site," says Miller, who credits groundskeeper Richard Steinmuller for maintaining Miles on a shoestring budget. Miller says plans for the new ballpark have already been approved by the Site Plan and Architectural Commission, and Medford Parks and Recreation Director Scott Archer says he has been working closely with Miller and Arbuckle Costic Architects, Inc., throughout the process to ensure all parties are on the same page. "We’re prepared for them to get going on that," Archer says of the ballpark. "Building one of the most significant and prominent facilities in the sports park, which is what that ballpark is going to end up being, is certainly going to go a long way toward building momentum for the completion of the rest of the sports park." And for the completion of a vision Miller has had for Medford going on 13 years now. "Gary’s somebody who has really stepped forward for the community," says City Councilman Greg Jones. "My hat’s off to him for all the work he’s done and his group has done in supporting baseball in Medford." Reach reporter Kris Henry at 776-4488, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2004 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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