ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : A New Field of Dreams

The world of college baseball at ballparks around Southern California these spring days at times resembles the minor-league atmosphere portrayed in the movie “Bull Durham.”

In these small, intimate fields, fans commune with the sun-blessed breeze and--often and directly--with the umpire. During the seventh-inning stretch, the version of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” that comes over the loudspeakers may well be countrified. If you go to a college ballpark, as we did recently for the unofficial opening of the spiffy new Titans Sports Complex at Cal State Fullerton, you may find yourself sitting next to someone like the dad of the visiting team’s first baseman.

Monday night, after nearly two seasons in an old downtown park, Cal State Fullerton, one of America’s best college teams, officially opened its new field, against UC Irvine. And it’s fitting that “Bull Durham’s” Crash Davis himself, Cal State Fullerton alumnus Kevin Costner, threw out the first ball. The actor, even after the baseball-movie hits “Bull Durham” and “Field of Dreams,” remembers his roots.

Costner met with the university president, but he wanted to see Fullerton Coach Augie Garrido too. Garrido summed up a life of dugout wisdom recently when he delivered a line that might have come from the movies. He said, “This is a strange game.”

Good things come in small packages, and this 1,580-seat house of baseball is a wonderful addition to the sports facilities of the region. May this strange game have a long run in a fine new field of dreams.