This was a team that had been through just about everything an independent minor league baseball team playing in the backwaters of the nation could possibly endure, and still it found a way to win and come within a game of winning the league’s first championship.
All of this was done without any guarantee Ruidoso will be able to host a minor league team next year, due to a lack of lights at White Mountain Athletic Complex.
I’ve explained the need for lights at that facility before, and I’m not the only one that feels this way, which is why there will be an ad-hoc committee meeting on the subject at the Ruidoso Valley Chamber of Commerce Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The goal of this committee is to figure out how to get lights – how to pay for them and how to pay to keep them on.
The committee was formed following last week’s meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission, during which member Aimee Bennett brought up how slow things move in this town.
Unfortunately, she’s correct in that sentiment, but I now issue a challenge to this community. For this one issue, let’s put things in overdrive and get this done.
Without lights, there will be no Ruidoso Osos, and the earnings potential of that park will still be just that – a potential.
I think that park can meet its potential before the first pitch is thrown next summer – heck, next spring for the high school season – we just need to band together and get this done.
While I’m obviously a cheerleader on this subject, I realize there will be protests against lights at that field as well. There are always two sides to any debate, and I believe the other side of this issue should be heard, as well. If you don’t believe lights should be put up at that park, I encourage you to be at that meeting.
Good sportsmanship
As if the Osos didn’t have enough to worry about at the end of the season, the news got even worse when they returned home Wednesday night following their loss in game two of the championship series.
Their vehicles – which had been parked in the dark lot next to the athletic complex – had been vandalized, with several windows smashed and extensive damage done to the bodies. An estimate on one car came out to $5,500.
Really? This is how these boys are treated after the year they’ve had?
Well, there is some good news to report. After hearing about this senseless act, the Roswell Invaders agreed to give all the proceeds from their raffles – which were meant to support their team – to the Osos to help pay for the damages.
The $1,000-plus they raised may not have been enough for all the damages, but the fact they were even willing to do that shows that sportsmanship in professional sports is not dead. I commend the players, staff, management and fans in Roswell for being so generous to a team they were trying to defeat on the field.
And here’s another challenge – let’s help pay for these damages as well. The vehicles were in our town, and those players – and anyone else who visits our community – should feel they can park their cars anywhere in Ruidoso safely. Let’s band together and give these guys a little more to take care of the damages.
To help with any of these causes, you may contact Cynthia West at 973-4123.