Our memories of the old stadium.
When I was a young boy we lived north of Grove Hill along the river. We only had one car and Dad was the only driver in the family. My mother never had an operators license. We would be allowed to come to the Valley League games at Memorial Stadium if we could find a ride to and from the games. There was three of us boys and when we would find a ride, we had to be sure there was room for all 3 of us. Our father was well thought of so when the neighbors found out who we were, they were glad to haul us. They knew we would behave or they would tell Dad and we knew what the consequences would be. At the ballpark, we enjoyed sitting in the bleacher seats along the 1st base fence. All of the older men would sit out there and actually have farting contest that they had prepared for by eating the gassiest foods they could during the day prior to game time. There must have been some type of ego builder if you could out do someone else.
Other attractions at the ball park included talking to the ball players. Before the Valley League began recruiting college players, all the people on the Indians team were local "home grown" boys. There were people like Larry Dofflemer, Turtle Thompson, Larry Tate, Bobby Tate, Larry Pence, Weldon Grimsley, Buddy Comer, Wayne Comer, and others. The players knew the fans and the fans knew them. This always makes a game more enjoyable when you know who is playing. The players would stop by the bleacher seats and talk or joke with the fans when they were taking the field or coming in to bat after an inning in the field.
There was a concession stand open at every game and man were those good hot dogs. And those "Cokes" poured into a paper cup from the small 6.5 ounce glass bottle. Boy were they good. They had so much fizz that when you took the 1st drink or so, it would tickle your nose. They tasted so good, it was hard not to gulp most of it down in one swallow. But you knew to save enough to wash down the last mouthful of that hot dog.
The Indians even had their own "Howard Cossell" so to speak. Every game had play by play call from local announcers situated in the press box directly behind home plate. Mr Red Sullivan and Mr. James Quintrell announced most of the games. All the players were introduced by name and position each time they batted and anytime there was a change in the line-up.
There was a huge manual score board along the fence in left field and volunteers would hang up a number to represent the number of runs scored, the hits, and the errors after each inning. This was also announced from the press box. There were electric lights on the bottom of the score board that tallied the balls, strikes, and outs. This would be kept up with from the press box.
As with any sports event, it was fun to harass the umpires. One in particular was a man from Harrisonburg by the name of Ward Long. I'm almost certain that Mr. Long indulged in the bottle a little and many times had already had a few by game time. He could really miss some calls and the more he was harassed the worse his job performance got. Once the harassing got under his skin, he would turn to the press box and tell the announcer that he was going to eject the fans responsible for the harassment. You'd push it just to the limit, then let up.
The games always drew decent crowds and it was good, wholesome, family entertainment. Several times each season, local merchants would have family nights with free admission to all attendees. These nights drew crowds that were standing room only. The funny thing about this was, there was always a Page Co. deputy or Shenandoah Police officer who would not allow you to stand in the ramp-way leaking up into the grandstand.
I believe the grandstand was probably the best built one around and for the most part, the stadium board kept it in good repair. Each season you could see where needed repairs had been made to keep it up and safe for the fans. The Veterans Memorial Stadium at Shenandoah most likely provided more wholesome family entertainment to the people of Shenandoah and surrounding community than any other attraction in the area.
I will always remember the nights of my childhood spent at the stadium enjoying the games and the people - Clinton O. Lucas Jr. Shenandoah Mayor
MEMORIES OF THE OLD VETERANS MEMORIAL STADIUM
By Dolores Lackovitch
I remember when I was in third grade, at the end of the school year, the three third grades took packed lunches and went to the ball park where we played ball against each other. It was a fun way to end the school year.
Before Page County High School (now Page County Middle School) was built, almost all school sports took place at the old Veterans' Memorial Stadium. In the Fall, when I was in grade school, all the "home" high school football games took place at the ball park. I remember terrific wins against Elkton and Luray and sad losses as well. In the Spring, everyone walked or rode their bike out to the ball park in the afternoon after school to watch school baseball games. And on hot Summer nights, we spent the evening watching the minor leagues play baseball. You could watch baseball on television by this time but it wasn't the same as sitting on the bleachers and watching a live game. My Dad loved to go to those games and never missed them.
During the summers in the late '60s and early '70s, the minor league players were coached by Larry Dofflemyer and stayed with families or rented places in town, worked various summer jobs and played ball for the Shenandoah Indians at night. One summer, a group of the minor league players stayed in an empty house next door to my Mom and Dad. Mom would fix meals for the young players and we had several family dinners and cook outs with the 'adopted' players. Several of those young men kept in contact with my parents through the years.
Shenandoah has endured many tragic fires and losses, but when the old Veterans' Memorial Stadium burned, Shenandoah lost it heart. I never saw my Dad cry but when that happened I saw tears in his eyes and his summers were never the same after that.
I have many memories of old veterans stadium and still remember watching the games during a span of about 7 years from 1968-'74 , while the Indians were a valley league team. My memories using as many senses as possible are :
Sight: Watching the players transition from the dugout to the field and back while standing along the first base side peering over the retaining fence. Ball players also liked to talk to us kids.
Smell: One word -- Hot dogs ! The smell from the moment you walked through the doors down stairs was often too tempting to pass up , especially if there was no waiting in line.
Taste: Same word---Hot dogs . Also , now it just might be me but the sodas coming from those drink machines seemed so syrupy and for a quarter the best anywhere in town for that price.
Sound: The infield chatter of Tom Brookens , Ron Evans and others encouraging the Indians pitcher to deliver an out for the home team could be heard from every corner of Veterans Stadium.
Feel : The baseballs that I so often would practically break my neck to chase on any given night . My reward for retrieving the baseball was a quarter from the pocket of Bob Comer. It was right on time too ,for another soda was awaiting me.....and maybe a hot dog.
Post Script : If you know of anyone in town that would like to share or sell the programs that had pictures of that years team send me an e-mail. I have only the 1974 program and would like to see or purchase the 70'-73 years..... John Hughes
I remember what a great treat as a teenager to have spent so much time in that stadium as a kid, and then to have been able to actually play on that field in Senior League. thanks for pushing so hard on this. special memories of the old park....Tommy A.
Shenandoah Ball Park-WOW This is a place where my family and friends lived.From the age of about 6 (1969) I have attended games at this facility. As a youth I can remember having to get my section of weeds pulled in the garden before I could go to THE BALL PARK which was in walking distance ( 806 Junior Avenue ). I guess I started out with Coach Preston Douglas ( A baseball Legend) as my first little league coach and then moved on to the infamous Donnie ( AKA STINKER) Knighton another legend of the ball park. We used to chase fouls balls for .50 a night and every now and then we would find a few waterlogged balls that we could take home and throw off of the smoke house wall trying to learn how to throw a curveball like SUPERMAN-Ron Norman another STAR at The Ball Park.
My Dad coached Senior league for years and my Mom never missed a game.This place and the awesome people that surrounded it molded my life into to what I am today. It was when life was not stressful and the family could walk to the ballpark see family and friends listen to RED Sullivan give a pitch by pitch overview and you knew you could count on one of the guys like Otis Foster to knock one of the Goods' windows out with a 500' rocket.
I can remember being on the back of Dad's old plumbing truck at midnight with 4-55 gallon drums of UGLY-ARMY TANK GREEN paint painting the new oak fence where the ball comes off of it faster than it hit. If we did everything right and helped get the field ready Coach Dofflyemer would let us go sit on the scoreboard and hang numbers during the Indians games-Been rocked with a line drive HOMER doing this task before. I could reminise about this place for days.
I got my first at-bat there I got my first walk there I got my first hit there I got my first home run there I got my first no hitter there-Gary Curts and Stinker taught me how to throw the DUECE Let's put it back so that our families would have the potential of having memories like these. .....Mark Stroupe-Junior Avenue Ball park RAT
When I as a little girl, I used to go to ball games with my dad. I fondly remember drinking cokes eating hotdogs and popcorn while watching the games. Sometimes the stadium was so crowded, we would have to stand....Anda Cook
The Old Ballpark
It was good to be me as a kid. My parents would sign me up every year to play t-ball and later on Little League baseball for the Shenandoah Recreation League. We would always play our rec. league games right next to Veterans Memorial Stadium or as everyone for miles around called it the Shenandoah Ballpark. Back then our Little League teams had cool names such as Batman's Pontiac, Wayne's Market, V.F.W. and I proudly suited up at shortstop each season for Sullivan's Mechanical. After the games our parents or coaches would buy the teams "suicides" which unlike the rec. league basketball fitness suicides that we all hated€¦ this suicide was awesome! The volunteer moms working inside the little metal concession stand would mix us up the sweetest mixture of every fountain soda they had. That was our suicide!
Our Little League field didn't have lights back then so after the game we would all set around eating hot dogs while drinking our suicides and on many evenings we would see our hero's across the street begin arriving to get some batting practice before the game. For boys growing up in the rec. league we all dreamed of some day making the jump across the street to the big ballpark where our local hero's played. We would beg our parents to let us go to the game that night and when they said "yes" it was like we won the lottery! Life was good. We got to play baseball, drink suicides and the watch the Shenandoah Indians do battle under the lights at the Shenandoah Ballpark. When you're a 12 year old boy life didn't get much better than that!
I would remember as I got near the entrance to the stadium I could smell the hot dogs in the concession stand and even though I had just ate after our Little League game; wouldn't you know I was hungry again! Time for another hot dog and of course another suicide drink. After getting my hot dog and drink I had to carry it up the wooden entrance ramp that led into the upper portion of the grandstand. As I would slowly walk up the entrance ramp so as not to spill my precious suicide it was always amazing to me. This huge baseball field opened up before my eyes with players warming up and a "buzz" in the air from fans setting and talking. As the players took batting practice the crack of the bat would echo loudly through out the entire ballpark. The smell would often change to a sweet cigar smell that I recall always seemed to linger in the grandstand several days after the game.
I'd always try and set over behind the Indians team usually with my mom, dad and grand daddy. My grand daddy always seemed to have a baseball in his hand rubbing the shine off of it (that's what you're supposed to do with baseballs before a game). He always spent a lot of time getting the diamond ready for the game and also made miscellaneous repairs that the ballpark needed. He was always excited to watch the Indians play and looking back I think he liked rubbing the balls just to burn off nervous energy. Usually a friend or 6 would show up in attendance and we all would soon find our way over to the cinderblock wall next to the bleachers. We would wait on foul balls to go out of play and run to see which one of us could get to the ball the fastest. After we would get the ball Bob Kite was always close by to make sure the ball made its way back into the ball game.
I can remember people talking about Wayne Comer hitting a blast in a game over the 410' center field fence that smacked Skeeter Good's house. My brothers would sometimes attend and talk about one of the past Indians teams that were led by Coach Larry Dofflemyer and featured Otis Foster, Tom and Tim Brookens. The Indians I best recall during my youth days at the ballpark had Coach A.C. Jenkins at the helm and showcased Lorenzo Bundy and Larry Sheets launching home runs while a one armed pitcher by the name of Mark Graves amazed everyone as he snagged lined drives and fielded bunts. I enjoyed playing and creating many memories as a player in Senior League for Coaches Billy Rucker and Carlton Shenk and then Page County High School baseball for Coach Jim Burke at the old ballpark.
I have played, coached and managed at many baseball fields in our area but I honestly don't know what it was about that old ballpark but the feeling in the air was always amazing. No other ballpark has ever come close to the feeling you got setting in that grandstand watching the game. No matter what the age of the fans in attendance everyone seemed to forget all their problems and just enjoy a few hours at the ballpark. The people in our community that built it did a great job and did so by honoring our veterans. I feel certain we will see our ballpark back again and I hope to see a 12 year old boy setting in the grandstand eating a hot dog with no drink. When that time comes I am going to buy him a suicide........ -Kirk Comer
I play for the shenandoah indians and i would love to have that stadium back to play in. it was destroyed the year i was born but ive seen pics of it and hurd alot. and ever since ive wanted to play in it. so i hope it comes sooner then later. i may coach in it one day......David C.
The stadium was a great asset to our town. When a game was being played, and the lights were on, it was like a giant magnet attracting the community to the game! Looking forward to rebuilding the stadium. I have many fond memories of that wonderful old stadium, too many to list all of them here. One in particular that stands out is when I attended games with my dad. I was about 8 years old. My dad used to stand behind the batters box and shake the heck out of the metal screen while the opposing team was pitching. A lot of times he would shout out at the top of his lungs "look out, the lights are falling" as the opposing team was batting. He also had a special prop that he used to take to the games. Once the stadium is rebuilt, maybe I will get it out and take it to a game......Amos Thomas
I have very fond memories of our stadium. I can still see the many outstanding players who excelled for the Indians. Coach Dofflemyer was a fixture and provided great leadership for our players. I would be hard pressed to pick out only one memory but the many battles we had with our rivals from Harrisonburg and Luray were always sure to draw a packed house.....Jim Slye
I remember the night Wayne Comer hit the homerun of homeruns. I was a ball chaser and had just retrieved a couple of foul balls -- when I got to the ramp behind home plate I saw Wayne swing -- the sound was like no other when the ball hit the bat - you knew it was a home run. I watched the ball carry out past the flag pole in center and it was still going up.
The night of Otis Fosters's first at bat in an Indian's uniform -- it was a 2-2 pitch that he hit over the scoreboard in left. There was no doubt that all we had heard about Otis was true.
The night the Indians and the Madison Blue Jays were in a tight pennant race. All night long the team looked tired - it was the seventh inning and the Indians were behind 3-1 -- and Ken Massamini looked unbeatable. In the top of the seventh Madison loaded the bases with no one out. Coach Dofflemyer pulled the starter -- which I think was Gary Curts -- he brought in Geargia Beam -- Geaorge couldn't throw hard enough to break glass -- but he got people out. George had a habit of rubbing under his arm before every pitch -- well -- the Madison coach came and complained to the umpire -- there was a long discussion -- Coach Dofflemyer got a little hot -- an argument ensued-until finally the umpire made George go and remove his white t-shirt. George did and came back to the mound where he proceed to get 3 Madison batters in a row -- they didn't score and the Indians won 4-3.... Harry Byrd
Enjoyed watching Valley League and High School games in the 50's & 60's. Was a FUN place to go!.... Lena Beaghan
During my early childhood, from our house I could see the lights at old Veterans Memorial Stadium. I could remember the announcer calling out the Brookens twins, John Harbin and Preston Douglas names over the loud speaker. I knew one day I wanted to be a Indian. When I got the chance in the late 70's I jumped on it. Best time in my life I had playing in Shenandoah. Memories I'll never forget. Played with a lot of good players, Lorenzo Bundy, Danny Wood, Larry Sheets, one armed Mark Graves, Bo Trumbo, Red Comer, Timmy Comer and to many, many others to mention. Always remember Bob Kite longtime local bat boy, gathering up bats and making sure all foul balls were returned. Still remember dad, A.C. Jenkins doing all he could to keep a team in Shenandoah. The high lite of each game was to gather in the presidentual suite to adlive and have a few refreshments after the game. Enjoyed every minute of being a Indian.... Bobby Jenkins
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