No Opening-Day Rain on Lancaster’s Parade

Crash Davis, the catcher-cum-philosopher hero of the film “Bull Durham,” observed that life is like baseball:

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. And sometimes it rains.

Tuesday came and so did a daylong drizzle. Los Angeles was all wet, and driving up the Antelope Valley Freeway, I wondered whether Mother Nature would be kind to the Lancaster JetHawks, the team that has put the Antelope Valley on the minor-league map.

This was the official home opener, both for the minor league JetHawks and “The Hangar,” Lancaster’s brand-new, $9.15-million municipal stadium. They built it, and before this game was over, 6,600 souls would come. With game time a couple of hours away, workmen were still putting up letters on a sign that now read something like: Lancaster Muni al St ium.

Here it was cold and windy, but dry. To the west, a bank of storm clouds threatened, and a JetHawks official seemed pessimistic.

“Looks like you brought the rain with you. Any time you’re looking at the possibility of issuing 7,000 rain checks, it’s a bit worrisome.”

Down below, such weather would keep many fans away. Up here people are more willing to brave the elements. It’s not just toughness born of the terrain. It’s a hunger that comes from the paucity of entertainment options.

“I lived out here all my life,” explained Eboni Phillips, a 19-year-old usherette, “and this is the first big, exciting thing to happen here.”

Two hours before game time, the souvenir shop wasn’t open, but a crowd was milling inside. It seemed high time to protect the public’s right to know. These people, it turned out, had a pretty good explanation for being there. Ownership has its privileges.

“We’re just baseball freaks,” Laura McMurray said. She and her husband, Michael, she explained, are part of the ownership group organized by Michael Ellis, a former executive with the Irvine Co. The McMurrays live in Sierra Madre but have rented a place in Lancaster for the summer, just for JetHawk homestands.

She didn’t seem a bit like Marge Schott. “We just want to put on a show for the people. We’re just having fun.”

Soon I was introduced to Mike Ellis. He didn’t seem a bit like George Steinbrenner.

Ellis explained that his group, which already owned a minor-league franchise in Canada, had acquired this California League franchise, affiliated with the Seattle Mariners, less than two years ago. Last year, the club played at UC Riverside and was one of the few minor-league franchises that wasn’t allowed to serve beer. Ellis said he had hoped Riverside would build a suitable stadium, but there wasn’t the political support.

Then Lancaster and the Ellis group discovered each other. The Lancaster City Council, on a 3-2 vote, decided that the stadium was a worthwhile investment. The JetHawks name was adopted to reflect the region’s rich aviation heritage.

In the stands behind home plate, Dave Byrne, the city’s site supervisor for the project, proudly surveyed the 4,500-seat creation. It’s a bit of Americana, with billboards lining the outfield walls and a scoreboard framed by space shuttles bearing Pepsi ads. Working on a fast-track schedule, Penner Construction built the park in only five months. Under normal circumstances, Byrne said, it would have taken 18 months.

Lancaster City Manager Jim Gilly happened by, wearing a JetHawks cap. “This is more than a baseball stadium for us,” he said. “It gives us a sense of place. . . . We’ll have concerts, revivals, car shows, boxing matches. It’s going to be a big deal in the community forever.”

Six bucks can get you a seat behind home plate, $2.50 a place on the lawn. As the JetHawks and the visiting Visalia Oaks warmed up, fans bundled against the cold, windy weather found their seats and staked their turf on the grass-covered berms. It was half an hour until game time and there were lines for hot dogs, lines for beer, lines for cappuccino, lines for the restrooms.

To say the mood was festive would be an understatement. Usherettes danced and waved purple towels as rock ‘n’ roll blared over the loudspeakers. On the field, a human being in a hawk suit with a rocket pack strapped to his back boogied to the beat. This was the mascot J. B., short for JetHawks Baseball.

To the west, that bank of storm clouds still threatened.

There’d been some sprinkles earlier. Over the loudspeakers came the Creedence Clearwater tune “Who’ll Stop the Rain?”

*

The wind was blowing hard but the storm clouds were polite enough to hover at Lancaster’s edge. We stood for a soaring rendition of the national anthem, with fireworks symbolizing the rockets’ red glare.

Then it was time to play ball.

The JetHawks’ Ken Claude took the mound. His first pitch was a strike. The Oaks went down, 1-2-3.

Up stepped the home team. Leadoff batter Marcus Sturdivant flied out to center. Then Shane Monahan walked, bringing up Mariners’ top prospect Jose Cruz Jr., signed to a million-dollar bonus. “Hey,” a fan yelled, “mind if I borrow a hundred thou?” Ah, baseball.

Cruz singled. By the third out, the JetHawks were up, 6-0. Carlos Villalobos and Scott Sealy had launched homers over the S&S; Home Furnishings sign toward Avenue J, triggering more fireworks. A few fiery spurs came down precariously close to the Oaks’ center fielder.

Confident I’d seen the highlights, I paid too much for a couple of sweatshirts and began the long drive home. Just a few miles down the road, in Palmdale, I had to turn on the windshield wipers. Not a hard rain, so I thought Lancaster’s luck would hold. Later, in the drizzle down below, Vin Scully informed me that up at the Ballpark Formerly Known as Candlestick, the Dodgers were leading the hated Giants, 3-0.

They ended up getting beat, 5-3, on a Barry Bonds homer. Sometimes, you lose.

So it was nice to pick up Wednesday’s paper and see Lancaster 7, Visalia 3.

The JetHawks won, and the rain stayed away. And there were no reports of injuries due to fireworks.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Please include a phone number.