Cal notes: Aging Sam Lynn a 'unique' draw

BAKERSFIELD, California -- Not long ago, it seemed likely that professional baseball would have seen its last game at San Lynn Ballpark by now.

A pair of local business people bought the Bakersfield Blaze in 2012, but their plans to raise funds for a new stadium fell short, they sold the club back to Elmore Sports Group and so the 75-year-old facility -- with all its oddities -- is still home to one of the California League's charter franchises.

"A lot of quirks," said Blaze general manager Mike Candela, who's been with the team since 2012 and stepped into his current role in May. "We continue on, and we provide a great environment for people when they come out. We're fun, friendly, we have fun promotions -- we do a good job with what we have to work with."

Those oddities are plentiful, and well-documented. Sam Lynn's center-field fence, at 354 feet, is the closest in affiliated ball while the park itself is the only one that faces due West, which means games in mid- and late-summer frequently start as late as 7:45 to ensure batters aren't blinded by the setting sun. It also has one of the smallest capacities in pro ball -- after the installation of a new picnic area on the third-base side of the park in 2015, it holds about 2,000.

Candela, who worked at 70-year-old Recreation Park for the Visalia Rawhide from 2008-2012, sees plenty to love about Sam Lynn.

"History! People come here for its history," he said. "Randomly, earlier today, someone came by and said, 'Hey, we were just traveling through and we wanted to see this old ballpark,'" he said. "Piazza played here. Drysdale played here.

"It's pretty intimate. If you're sitting behind home plate you are right, smack there and you can feel the breeze of the fastball. It's close. Especially if you're paying eight bucks for a home-plate lower ticket, and you're right smack there ... you get your money's worth."

The players aren't complaining, either.

"It's awesome to play here," Blaze catcher Daniel Torres said. "It's different. It's a different atmosphere than you're normally used to, and everyone enjoys playing here."

A 354-foot center field may seem like a headache for pitchers, but the ball carries much more easily out of other Cal League parks.

"We joke that it's kind of like a force field," lefty Eddie Campbell said. "Guys hit the ball hard, and sometimes it doesn't go out."

Tyler Pike, another lefty, added, "You see the frustration on the guys' faces when that happens. It kind of plays to our favor a little bit. Pitchers from other teams come here thinking, 'Well, I need to keep the ball down.' It's a short park and stuff, but the reality is, it plays like a true ballpark."

Still, there's no doubt a newer park would draw a bit better -- the Blaze are regularly at or near the bottom of the Cal League in annual attendance -- especially if it was situated closer to where Bakersfield residents have started living over the last couple decades.

"The people who live here still feel like it's a small town. It's not," said Blaze broadcaster and assistant GM Dan Besbris. "There are 400,000 people that live in and around Bakersfield, but the way the city has grown has been all on the west side. In LA, if I can get anywhere in 15 minutes, it's cause for celebration, but people in Bakersfield don't want to drive more than 10 minutes.

"You could take the same backwards ballpark, the same late start times, the same stands and put it near the residential area, and I guarantee you, there'd be a huge uptick in attendance."

If the Blaze were to build a new stadium, which isn't in the cards in the immediate future, Candela wouldn't let the franchise's heritage or historic first home be forgotten.

"The new ballpark could still find a way to honor this stadium to some capacity," he said. "I'm a Mets fan, so I loved it when they brought the apple to the new ballpark and brought that Shea Stadium aspect right over. With a new ballpark, I don't know how we'd honor [Sam Lynn] -- we'd cross that bridge when we got to it -- but I'd want to honor it to some extent."

In the meantime, attendance has climbed over the last several years at Sam Lynn, and the club is excited about continuing to make the best of the facility it has.

"I don't know about ticket sales, but in terms of humans in seats, this is the biggest attendance in at least 10 years, so we're doing well," Besbris said. "The [negative] things that you hear about are not things that impact the fan experience that much. The late start times affect the fan experience, that's all. Once you get here, we have new seats, great baseball and an intimate atmosphere."

And some renovations may be in order.

"We could get a dome for the heat," Candela joked. "And for the sun. That's our biggest deterrent right now, the sun."

In brief

In -- and out -- like a lion: No Cal League pitcher had a better July than the Blaze's own Zack Littel, who went 4-0 with a 0.84 ERA over five starts. In the meantime, 20th-ranked Rockies prospect Yency Almonte had a 2.25 ERA despite an ugly start on the 15th in which he gave up five runs on nine hits and two walks over six innings. The Nuts right-hander led the circuit with 44 strikeouts over the month, punching out 20 and allowing one unearned run over 14 innings across his last two starts.

Conflict of interest? Stockton fans were in for a night of treats Sunday as the Ports hosted Root Beer Float Day. The purchase of a special-edition Ports cup guaranteed unlimited root beer floats. Pregame, Ports players helped serve up the frosty, sugary beverages. The promotion was sponsored by a local dentist.

Winning habits: High Desert, which won the Cal League South first-half title with a 43-27 record, wasn't slowed down by the loss of Travis Demeritte, whom the Rangers traded to the Braves last Wednesday. The Mavericks dropped one that night but went on to win four straight at Rancho Cucamonga through the weekend. Scott Heineman, Luke Tendler and Jairo Beras picked up the slack, combining for seven home runs and 13 RBIs over those five games.