From Chapter 8:

1991-1994: Tarnished Silver

1994

The hope of a new stadium did not prevent the Wings from attempting to maximize Silver’s potential. The 1,000-seat aluminum left field bleachers were sold to Nazareth College. Explained Assistant General Manager Dan Mason: “We really only filled the bleachers three times last year. Other than that, we got about 20 to 25 people out there every night.” The front office was unsure of what it would do with the area; ideas being floated included a corporate or family picnic area, or possibly a kids’ playground.

The Wings also revealed that they were adding two computerized, rotating advertising signs. The signs were common to the NBA and used on the major-league level on a limited basis in 1993. Rochester was believed to be the first minor league team to use the devices. The pair would flank the screen behind home plate, mounted midway between the screen and each dugout.

Another change was the switch of radio networks. RCB reached agreement with WCMF-AM (990) to broadcast all of its games, replacing WPXY, which had changed call letters and format.

Personnel changes were partially due to the fact that the parent Orioles had been sold over the off-season. The new owners were anxious to dip into the free-agent market and spend some of the excess cash generated by Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Baltimore made a number of player moves over the off-season that directly and indirectly affected the Wings. Free-agent signings at the major-league level pushed prospects down the Red Wings. The O’s also made moves to surround its young Triple-A talent with some veteran leadership.

Veterans also left the organization. By December of 1993, four starters from that year’s Red Wing squad had moved on. Mark Leonard, Mark Parent and Scott Coolbaugh were released, and MVP Tommy Hinzo signed with Seattle.

The most encouraging off-season development, other than the continuing saga of the new stadium, was the year-end statement, released on Jan. 11. For the first time since the renovation, RCB had realized a legitimate profit. The black ink of $9,930 was small, but it wasn’t a loss, and the team’s total revenues of $2.7 million were up over $1 million from 1992. A large chunk of the gain was realized from concession operations. For 1994 the team would continue to expand its food offerings, announcing the opening of a “Chez Stadium Speciality Stand,” which would serve a variety of trendy food fare.

Not everything was unfamiliar, however. In December the Orioles announced that Bob Miscik would return as manager and Steve Luebber as pitching coach. Ed Napoleon was named a full-time coach/instructor, after serving as the New York Yankees’ bench coach in 1993. Likewise returning for another season was stadium organist Fred Costello. Costello, who performed for the hockey Americans and Red Wings for the past 17 years, turned down an offer from the Colorado Rockies.

The start of the season was anxiously anticipated, as the Wings figured to be among the league’s elite. But spring training pared the roster in an unexpected manner. First baseman Paul Carey broke his arm and early estimates had him sidelined until June. Regular shortstop Manny Alexander had a cyst on his left thigh removed. The growth was benign, but he did not figure to return until mid-May. Terry Jorgenson, the expected starter at third base, was cut by the Orioles.

So before the season had even commenced, three-quarters of the expected starting infield was out. Baltimore helped by signing 31-year-old major-league veteran Tracy Woodson. A trade also brought pitcher Tom Wegmann and shortstop Kevin Baez. Both had played with Norfolk in 1993 and were assigned to Rochester.

The addition of gloveman Baez allowed Jeff Schaefer to remain at second base. Schaefer, an off-season acquisition who played for Rochester in ’84 and ’85, was a mainstay for Charlotte’s Governors’ Cup champs, hitting .279. Woodson, who could play first as well, was penciled in at third. Mel Wearing, hoping to reverse his poor ’93 stats, would open at first in place of Carey. Other infielders included Double-A graduates Brad Tyler (.236, 17 triples) and T.R. Lewis (.304, Eastern League all-star). Lewis was a pure hitter, but questionable in the field due to the lingering effects of an injury to his throwing shoulder.

Mark Smith was the only returning starter, reclaiming his spot in right field. Damon Buford unexpectedly stuck with Baltimore, so Jim Wawruck would patrol center. Wawruck came up from Bowie for his first complete season in Triple-A after hitting .297 with 28 steals. Panamanian Sherman Obando came down from Baltimore for a full year of seasoning and was expected to approach the 20-homer plateau. Bruce Dostal and Dennis Hood completed the outfield roster.

Switch-hitting Gregg Zaun, fresh off his strong playoff performance, was handed the starting catching role. Backing him was Craig Faulkner, a Red Wing briefly in 1989, who hit 15 home runs for St. Louis’s Double-A squad in 1993.

The pitching staff looked strong. The returning trio of Kevin McGehee, Mike Oquist and John O’Donoghue gave the starting rotation a solid foundation. McGehee would start the year on the sidelines with a strained right elbow, so his place would be filled by Jason Satre. Rick Krivda and Brian DuBois rounded out a rotation balanced with three right-handers (McGehee, Oquist and Satre) and three lefties (Krivda, O’Donoghue and DuBois).

Closer Mike Cook, a late cut by Baltimore, brought his 13 Triple-A saves back to Rochester. Joining him in the pen were Wegmann (5-3, 3.23 for Norfolk), and Barry Manuel. Veteran major-league southpaw Tom Bolton was added late in the spring.

Before the losses of Carey, Alexander and Buford, the Red Wings looked like a powerhouse. Even absent those players (as well as McGehee for the first couple weeks), Rochester looked like the class of the Eastern Division. The test would be the season’s opening month, in which Miscik’s team would play 14 of its first 17 on the road.

Rochester debuted against rival Ottawa, but four inches of snow forced a cancellation and threatened the entire opening series. The field was cleared, however, and the Wings dropped their rescheduled opener 1-0 in 30-degree weather. Scranton/Wilkes-Barre was the next stop before a return to Rochester. Sid Fernandez, down from Baltimore to make a rehab appearance, started one of the games, a 7-4 win against the Red Barons.

Strong pitching and a torrid start by Woodson allowed the Wings to come home with a 4-2 mark. The Lynx provided the April 15 Opening Day opponent, contested on an incredible 86-degree spring day. The crowd of 11,345 included about 200 fans who paid $2.50 to stand in the area left vacant by the removal of the bleachers. It was the largest first-day count since 14,156 in 1963. The Wings disappointed the huge crowd, however, dropping a 7-2 decision.

The standing-room-only crowd witnessed the raising of the Eastern Division pennant down the left field line. Out in right field was the unexpected sight of a deck above and behind the right field wall: the Wavy Lays/Sugarcreek Couch Potato Club. The covered wooden deck housed an old sofa on which a lucky/lazy fan could view the game. (The next day, during a game contested in gusty winds, the sofa’s cushion was blown onto the field during play.) Unseen because of the afternoon start and bright sunshine were improvements to Silver’s lighting system. Financed by the Wings in order to meet the National Association requirements, several of the 199 bulbs in the stadium’s light towers had been replaced.

The Red Wings made it through the crucial first 16 games (there was one rainout) with nine wins, good for second place behind the quick-starting Pawtucket Red Sox. In the first 16 games the Wings outhomered their opponents 19-3, while in the same span, Rochester pitchers had taken one-hitters into the eighth inning four times. The starting five was so effective in the early going that there was no room for reigning ERA champ McGehee until Baltimore recalled the 3-0 Oquist. The Wings also added Brad Pennington and Damon Buford from Baltimore, while subtracting Dennis Hood (released) and Mike Cook (traded to Norfolk). Buford’s arrival shifted Wawruck to his more familiar position in left field and moved Obando to designated hitter. An extended home string began with three victories in the final at-bat over a five-game stretch. April closed with the Wings at 12-9, the franchise’s most successful opening month in four years.

Alexander rejoined the team in May. He was to play second base at least three times a week in order to increase his value to Baltimore. Schaefer was given the option of remaining with the team as a coach or pursue offers from other organizations. Alexander played his first game as the Wings opened a home-and-home series with the streaking Red Sox, who had had won 19 of their first 24 games.

The first four contests were at Silver, the final three in Rhode Island. Pawtucket continued its torrid play, winning six of the seven games, dropping the Wings below .500 (14-15) and 10 games back. The most devastating loss was on May 7 in McCoy Stadium. With two outs and none on, Woodson dropped a game-ending foul pop. After a walk and a game-tying double, three consecutive walks (only one of which was intentional) gave the home team the 3-2 victory.

Rochester had players performing at opposite ends of the spectrum. While Obando and Lewis were among the league leaders in average and RBI, Zaun and Tyler were under .200. The former was so desperate to change his luck that he switched jersey numbers from #1 to #6. Among the pitchers, only Krivda and Wegmann had winning records. DuBois, McGehee and O’Donoghue were a combined 1-8. Manuel, who had an ERA of 9.00, became the second Wing to change his number, switching from #23 to #38.

(Perhaps not only the numbers would be changed on future uniforms. In May, team Director of Operations Naomi Silver confirmed that the team was working with a New York City marketing firm affiliated with Major League Baseball Properties. Hoping to maximize the marketing potential of the new stadium in 1996, the firm was “studying our situation,” said Silver, who added, “I would not at all be surprised if we have a new logo in 1996, and we are open-minded regarding other possible recommendations by the consultants,” including new colors, new uniforms and perhaps a new nickname. “Changing the name of the team is not something we’re contemplating at this time,” continued Silver, “but I’m not ruling it out in the future.”)

The debacle against Pawtucket spun the team downward. The Wings lengthened the losing skid to eight games, dipping into third place. It was mid-May, but the team was already 14 games off the pace. The situation worsened when Buford and Smith were recalled just prior to the Baltimore exhibition game, the O’s first appearance in Rochester since 1991. Nineteen of the 25 players on the Baltimore roster were ex-Red Wings, but the game, an 8-7 Baltimore win, drew only 5,862.

The shortage of outfielders was compounded when Obando went down with the flu. Clayton Byrne, a native of Australia, was called up on emergency basis and the Wings also added free agent Shane Turner, who played 255 games with Rochester between ’89-’91. This acquisition came just four days after veteran infielder Jeff Schaefer decided not to remain with the team as a coach.

The Wings snapped the losing streak, but the offense continued to struggle. In an effort to wake the sleeping bats, the players brought an “honest-to-goodness” witch into the clubhouse before a game to anoint their lumber. Baltimore made a more realistic effort to add some punch to the lineup, acquiring third baseman Jeff Manto from Norfolk to complete the Mike Cook trade. The 6’ 3”, 210-lb. Manto was a legitimate RBI man. He drove in 88 runs for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the previous season, on 17 home runs and a .289 average. Fan favorite Mel Wearing (.233, no home runs since April 26) was cut in order to clear roster space.

Still the losing continued, as did the player moves. Buford and pitcher Arthur Rhodes came down and Brian DuBois was released. The shifts were not limited to between Baltimore and Rochester. In an effort to cure some of his ailing pitchers, Luebber moved Manuel from the bullpen to the starting rotation, and shifted O’Donoghue to the bullpen.

An unsettled roster, uncertainty in the infield — most notably with Alexander switching back and forth from shortstop to second base — and shaky starting pitching kept the team from mounting any kind of winning streak. The attitude of the players remained positive, and most were puzzled as to how such a talented roster could prove unable to win consistently. But a May 22 loss dropped the team into the Eastern Division cellar with the worst record in the IL (16-24).

Rochester showed some signs of life — a four-game winning streak which put the Wings back into second place in the tightly-bunched (except for runaway Pawtucket) Eastern Division. But a freak injury to T.R. Lewis (.326), who broke a finger when he was hit in the dugout by an errant warm-up throw, slowed the revival and the Wings closed out May with a 9-17 mark, the poorest month for a Red Wing team since 1980.

The advent of June provided no turnaround. The Wings dropped to a season-high 15 1/2 games back of first place in front of a Hall of Fame night crowd of 10,494. New members of the Red Wing elite were Ellis “Cot” Deal (pitcher, manager, outfielder and catcher in the 1950s), Bing Devine (general manager from 1949-54 and instrumental in helping to form Rochester Community Baseball) and Jim Fuller (91 home runs in parts of five seasons in the early ’70s).

The month also saw what appeared a final resolution on the new ballpark. The state budget was supposed to be in place by April 1, but that deadline was routinely ignored and in 1994 New York State moved into June without a spending plan. Despite the lack of concrete news, Monroe County went on — had to go on, if it wanted to open on time — with what it needed to do. The city of Rochester began buying land on the stadium site in early April; the cost for acquiring and demolishing buildings and assisting in relocation was $6.6 million. The first-step bonding of $8.8 million was passed in early May, contingent on the state budget and the signing of a 20-year lease with RCB.

A last scare was had in mid-May, when Governor Cuomo stated he opposed aid for both the stadium and the War Memorial, saying that the Legislature needed to cut $450 million in spending to balance the budget. This was immediately rejected, and two weeks later Cuomo was saying a deal was imminent, one that would contain money for both projects.

The New York State budget was finally passed on June 8, 67 days tardy, the latest the plan had ever been put in place. It included the full amounts requested for both the new stadium and the War Memorial. The subsequent inking of a 20-year lease between RCB and the Greater Rochester Outdoor Sports Facilities Corp., a not-for profit branch of the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, sealed the deal.

RCB leadership was excited over the new lease, but IL President Randy Mobley expressed some concerns. The agreement was touted as a marginal deal for the team, a fairly good deal for taxpayers and a great deal for baseball fans. The team, instead of renting the stadium from the county, would split much of the revenue in order to pay off the bonds. RCB and Monroe County would divide, in varying proportions, revenue from ticket sales, concessions, sky box suites, and advertising. The county placed a 50 cent surcharge on all tickets, which would go to the facility; the Wings would also put up to $200,000 in a capital improvement fund each year once attendance exceeded 300,000. The lease assumed actual attendance of 345,000 and paid attendance of 460,000 for the next 20 years. Once the stadium was paid off, the Wings would then rent the facility for $1 a year and retain most of the profits.

“The team has, through its commitment in this lease, taken a step that no other professional sports team in this country has been prepared to take in support of its host community,” said Bob King. On July 20 the lease was signed at the approximate location of home plate. On the same day the County Legislature voted to float the remaining $33 million in bonds needed to begin construction. Answering criticism from those inside baseball that claimed the Red Wings gave away too much, Elliot Curwin stated, “I will consistently say that I don’t care what happens in Timbuktu — I only care about Rochester. As I said before, if this was a straight business deal, we would have been long gone. I feel so strongly that our entire thought process was to preserve baseball in the area.”

The excitement generated by the new ballpark was not matched by the Red Wings’ performance. After the strong start, Rochester dropped 24 of 35 contests. Yet there were still some reasons to predict a turn-around. Manto drove in 21 baserunners in his first 12 games. Obando was profiting from Manto’s installation at clean-up, hitting .368 in a 16-game span. Rhodes was overpowering, Krivda steady, and when McGehee began to return to form it was hoped that the starting pitching would settle.

The mid-point of the season found the club at 33-38. While most players were merely thinking of a playoff berth, Miscik would not rule out the division crown. The club climbed within a half-game of second, but blew a two-run, two-out lead in the ninth against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The offense subsequently sputtered again, helping the club drop five consecutive games. Alexander was beginning to show negative affects of his defensive shuffling, at one point committing errors in three consecutive contests, raising his season total to 13 in just 50 games. On the Fourth of July the club stood seven games below .500, 3 1/2 games from a playoff berth. The team had two months, opined newspaper columnist Bob Matthews, to avoid being remembered as one of the most disappointing teams in Rochester’s baseball history.

Rhodes returned after a short stint in Baltimore, with infielder Shane Turner cut to make room. He and Krivda looked to give the Wings at least two solid starters, but the latter, the squad’s only consistent starter in the first half, began to struggle.

Just before the major league all-star break, Paul Carey finally rejoined the club, after 15 rehab games at Single-A Frederick. Tracy Woodson was released, the third starting infielder from Opening Day to be cut. There was, however, no help coming from the powerhouse Double-A squad at Bowie. As many as 10 BaySox were expected to be 1995 Wings, but the O’s preferred to keep them together.

O’Donoghue was twice removed from the rotation and Pennington, agonizingly frustrating due to his great stuff but lack of control, became the next pitcher flip-flopped when he became a starter in mid-July. He had not been the dominating closer the Miscik had hoped for — no one had — but the Wings were willing to gamble that he could regain his accuracy in a different situation.

It was a team incredible in its inconsistency. Power production picked up in late July and the Wings won three in a row to close within 2 1/2 games of second. Optimism was perhaps at its highest point, with the team intact due to a lack of injuries and the possibility of a major-league strike. But the Wings turned around and lost three games in Charlotte by scores of 10-9, 11-6 and 13-4. The trio of losses were a microcosm of the Wings season: poor pitching by starters and relievers alike, and shoddy defense.

Yet fans, players and the manager alike continued to await the expected hot streak. “I look at our ballclub and I just feel we haven’t gotten over the hump,” said Miscik. Even after Syracuse moved past Rochester into third, in the process dumping the Wings a season-high 11 games below .500, Miscik continued his optimism, feeling the remaining 39 games to be “plenty of time” for his team to accomplish what it had to do.

August debuted with an 11-game homestand, part of a stretch that saw 21 of 28 games at Silver. The team had fallen 5 1/2 games back of the last playoff spot and it was getting late. Mike Oquist and Tom Bolton were added to the roster from Baltimore and Rhodes recalled. Despite the personnel moves, Baltimore could not be used as the scapegoat, for after the early-season shuffles, the Wings had been left relatively intact.

The Wings dropped four of the first six on the homestand, stretching to 17 an embarrassing streak of games in which the team had at least one error. Ottawa came in for a crucial four-game set and again the Wings raised hopes by taking three of four. The hot-hitting Tyler was installed at second base and Alexander permanently returned to shortstop. The solidified lineup was hoped to be a positive factor in the stretch.

Alexander promptly went on a tear at the plate. Manuel won four straight starts and the Wings regained Rhodes when the major-league players went on strike on Aug. 12. Fighting with Syracuse and Ottawa for the final playoff spot, the Wings had crucial games left with both teams.

A trip to Syracuse was first, with the Chiefs two games ahead of the Wings. Syracuse took both games to remain in a second place tie with Ottawa, four games ahead of the Wings. Ottawa was next and the roller-coaster Wings took the first two games. In the third game the Wings rallied from a 8-1 deficit to within one run, but Ottawa finished with a 12-8 win. Also lost in the contest was Obando, who suffered a hairline fracture of his left shin bone.

The Wings never got any closer. They were officially eliminated on Aug. 29, dropping a 13-6 decision at Syracuse. The remaining interest focused on Manto, making a run at 30 home runs, 100 RBI, and carrying a legitimate hope for the league MVP award. Honors were announced prior to the end of the season and Manto was both the IL’s Most Valuable Player and all-star third baseman. Obando joined him as an all-star selection in the outfield.

Manto’s quest for 100 RBI went down to the final three games of the season in Pawtucket. He thought he had the critical marker in the first game when what looked to be a home run bounced off the top of the wall and fell in for a double. He got the historic RBI the next night via a home run and afterwards stated, “I would have had nightmares all winter if I would have ended up on 99.” He was the sixth Red Wing over the previous 40 years to drive in over 100 runs.

The Wings closed with three wins against the division champion Red Sox, ending the season with a 67-74 record. Miscik’s squad finished in fourth place, 10 1/2 games from first and 3 1/2 lengths short of a playoff spot.

Needless to say, it was a strange season. “We’ve been around seven [games] under .500 since the end of May,” said Miscik. “We just could never get over the hump.” Rochester did win 18 of its last 31 games, but too late to make any real move in the standings. Despite the sub-.500 season record, the team and several players compiled some impressive offensive stats. The Red Wings led the league in runs (5.2 per game), were second in home runs (141) and third in steals (118) and average (.266). Jeff Manto topped the circuit in homers (31), RBI (100), on-base percentage and extra-base hits. Later named to Baseball America’s Triple-A all-star squad (the first Red Wing since Mike Mussina in 1991), Manto was also a huge fan favorite and a positive presence in the clubhouse.

Sherman Obando, despite missing the final two weeks, tied for the league lead in doubles (35) and finished second in batting average (.330). Jim Wawruck reached the .300 mark on the second-to-last day of the season. He also added career highs in home runs (9) and RBI (53). Damon Buford (.270, 16, 66) led the league with 89 runs, and topped the Wings with 31 steals. Mark Smith had 19 home runs and 69 RBI, but his average dipped to .247.

The defense had been spotty (145 errors), but pitching was without a doubt the weak link. It was a rocky season for the entire staff, which finished ninth in ERA. Opposing batters hit .270 against Rochester pitching. John O’Donoghue and Jason Satre both disappointed, the latter after a strong start, and were demoted from the starting rotation. Barry Manuel and Brad Pennington went the opposite route, moving up from the bullpen. Manuel led the team in wins (11-8), yet had a 5.48 ERA. Pennington continued to show flashes of brilliance but still battled control problems. Kevin McGehee came back after an 0-5 start to finish with 10 wins in 18 decisions. Rich Krivda tailed off at the end to finish below .500 (9-10), but his 3.53 ERA was ninth in the league. The trade of Mike Cook did bring Manto, but weakened the bullpen, a problem magnified by the team’s 21-31 record in games decided by two runs or less. Tom Wegmann (10 saves) was the closest the team had to a closer.

The failure of the team, made more frustrating due to the high expectations, led to speculation on the future of Manager Bob Miscik. He had not been quickly re-signed after the 1993 season, despite a division crown and appearance in the Governors’ Cup finals. At least the Wings’ future with Baltimore was clear. Just days before the season’s conclusion, RCB officials announced that the Orioles agreed to extend the affiliation through the 1996 season.

It was on the diamond a disappointing year, but developments with the new ballpark made the negatives much easier to swallow. With finances finally in place, plans were beginning to crystallize and fans could finally get a look at what they were going to get. The first glimpse took place earlier in the year, in February, when architects Ellerbe Becket held a design and planning workshop at the Center at High Falls. Attended by 125 people, this was the first of several meetings in which the public could view and offer input into the stadium plans. Preliminary artwork revealed a red brick structure, traditional in design, reflecting the history and architecture of the Brown’s Race/High Falls district. “We want to provide a unique facility to Rochester,” said project architect David Murphy. “One that fits into the neighborhood.” These early plans called for bench seating in general admission, but fans were adamant that individual seats be used throughout the stadium.

Ellerbe Becket and RCB met in June. By that time some details were in place: the stadium would include 11,000 individual seats; room for an additional 1,500 in portable bleachers; natural grass field; 28 skyboxes; asymmetrical outfield dimensions. A sports bar/restaurant might not be included, as it had been in the original proposal. Monroe County would probably sell the stadium name to a corporate sponsor in order to help funding.

More details became public when stadium funding had been secured. The left field area would be home to bleachers, along with a festival and market area. Outside the right field line would be a picnic area and perhaps volleyball courts. Those areas also allowed for future expansion to 18,000 seats if desired. Architectural sketches of the ballpark were put on display in the atrium of the Monroe County Office Building and fans given the opportunity to make comments. The orientation of the field would allow a view of the downtown skyline and the Eastman Kodak tower. Developing plans called for an existing structure, the Genesee Refrigeration Warehouse, to be left standing, and included as part of the outfield wall.

Fan input helped change another detail. The bullpens were removed from the field and elevated behind the outfield fences, one in left, one in right. Another public workshop was held on Aug. 30, during which slides, sketches and a model of the stadium were unveiled. The meeting looked to be the last chance for input, as the construction timeline was getting tight. At this meeting, fans were informed of more specific particulars, including a change in field dimensions, in order to accommodate the change in bullpen placements as well as the adjustment in the soccer field layout. The left field foul pole would sit 335 feet from home plate, its mate in right field would be 322. The outfield barrier in left would run straight across from the left field line until it reached the end of the bullpen in left center, at which point it would angle away from home plate, 385 feet distant. Center field would be 400 feet away, with the right center field power alley 380 feet distant. Between dead center and right center, the Genesee Refrigeration Warehouse jutted into the field, 392 feet from home plate. A scoreboard similar to the one found in Buffalo’s Pilot Field sat in left center, to the right of the bullpens.

The design took many of its features from surrounding downtown landmarks. The colors (brick red and hunter green) matched a factory building at Brown’s Race, while the pale yellow brick of the front office building copied the color of Kodak’s headquarters building. The stadium’s 70 arched windows were patterned after similar openings on the old Rochester Button Company building. The pattern of criss-cross steel beams came from the design of trusses that supported bridges over the Genesee River. County official Terry Slaybaugh said the project was on schedule, with demolition of buildings due to begin in January.

The remaining piece of business was the sale of the naming rights. The bidding process commenced in September, with hopes the new name could be revealed in mid-October. The cost was $1.5 million, with payments of $150,000 per year for ten years. At the beginning, however, none of Rochester’s industrial giants — Kodak, Xerox or Bausch & Lomb — expressed interest. Speculation was put to rest in November, when it was revealed that the recently-renamed Rochester Telephone Corporation had signed a deal which would give the new ballpark the name Frontier Field. An official ground-breaking ceremony was held on Nov. 16 in the parking lot of the scheduled-to-be-demolished Alling & Cory building.

In mid-December stadium planners said everything was on schedule and revealed some of the final stadium details. The screen behind home plate would be vertical, so that foul pops behind the plate could land in the seats. The ballpark would have two state-of-the-art scoreboards. The main board in left would have a multi-color message board, and a second scoreboard in right-center which would feature major-league scores.

The new year brought more positive developments. Steve Donner, the president of the Rochester Americans, said preliminary research was underway on the possibility of bringing a professional soccer team to Rochester. Slaybaugh said Monroe County “would love to have a second sport” play at Frontier Field. The first stage of demolition began on Jan. 12.

At the RCB shareholders meeting that same month came unmistakable signs of the positive impact the new ballpark was expected to have on the Wings’ financial status. At that meeting RCB announced a deficit of $138,420 — a loss caused mainly by the $235,422 in debt payments. This was despite another strong year at the gate. The team sold 370,050 tickets over the season, the total turnstile count was 257,888, and the average crowd of 3,792 was a three-year high. Yet Curwin called it a “bright financial statement from a cash viewpoint,” as the team announced in had more than $715,000 in the bank, the largest sum in years. (The team’s bank account had dipped as low as $160,000 in 1991.)

Assumption of the franchise debt was the main source of optimism. “Without Monroe County’s help on our debt and the new stadium, we’d have been in deep trouble,” said Curwin. “We probably would have had to sell the team. As recently as two years ago, at the winter meetings in Atlanta, a high-ranking official in major-league baseball strongly advised me to sell the franchise to a group from another city. In fact, we were offered $7.5 million on the spot.”

The Red Wings would spend their last year at Silver Stadium free of rent and property taxes. Treasurer Bob Hope anticipated a profit of over $200,000 for 1995. Season-ticket sales were already up considerably, spurred by the offer granting existing season-ticket holders priority on seats in the new park. Slaybaugh was at the meeting, and reported that all was running smoothly and foundations were expected to be laid in March. The most important deadline was the seeding of the field, which needed to be planted before the first snowfall. Slaybaugh was confident that timetable could be reached, stating that growth would be visible by October and that walk-around tours should be available by November.

Copyright © 1997 Brian A. Bennett. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system - except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper - without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, please contact Triphammer Publishing, P.O. Box 45, Scottsville, NY 14546-0045.