Baseball Controversy in Hagerstown

Municipal Stadium
has had its share of controversy.

Including:

In 2005 a movement arose to rename an adjacent street to honor Willie Mays, who played his first game at the park as a minor league rookie. The proposal, however, was shot down due to protests by various American war veterans groups who wanted to keep the original road name of Memorial Boulevard. The affair was covered by ESPN on its Outside the Lines program.

And now the controversy of

New Stadium downtown


Suns to possibly move to Winchester?


And the owner being told by the MLB and the Nats organization the stadium needed to be updated (Actually they seem to demand a new stadium)


Now here is where the rubber mets the road.

1. Why should the government be funding this?

2. What happened to past tax revenue that was suppose to be used for this?

3. What about the History of the Stadium? We forget the traditions etc. Willie Mays, (and even current super stars like Bryce Harper, Steven Strasburg) Do we destroy one landmark for something new?

(On a side and personal note it seems Washington County has already done that with several of its buildings - destory and build anew forget the past seems to be the motto from the ole Library, Hospital, Pangborn


I think we're too quick to build anew without considering the history and rich tradition in the current facility being used.

(Of course I'm still stuck on Air Canada Center and want Maple Leaf Gardens .... want where the Jays play be called the Skydome etc.)

What surprised me, as a fan, of the Suns is the willingness to just build and appease the new owners and the lack of NOISE for tradition and even that of a GREAT BASEBALL player and African American in Willie Mays.

Why is that?

Is it because the community has already been through this? Is it because the "Tension" of it and the history we have in this area (I'm reminded I like both near major Civil Wat battles: Antietam and Gettysburg), The Mason Dixon line, and that of a slave plantation Rockland Info here


It saddens me that we can so easily toss away history, have what seems like a bad business plan (Umm they already put in $$$ for improving the stadium several hundreds of thousands of dollars and just want to build a new one because MLB, The Nats, and the Owners want one? And the ole threat of "We're out of here...") Something seems terribly wrong in this situation and SHAME on everyone for being so quiet about it!!! (And I'm not even a Big Baseball fan but know this just doesn't all ADD up)

Thoughts?

What do you think?