The dark age is over at Clemens Field.
The span of years since the historic ballpark’s baseball diamond was last illuminated at night by lights officially came to an end shortly after the sun slipped below the western horizon Monday. During a special ceremony hosted by the Hannibal Cavemen, the lights on all six standards were switched on.
“This is a huge milestone for the entire organization,” said Bob Hemond, one of the Cavemen co-owners. “For all the guys who put so much time and effort into this from our construction crew and Larry (Owens), our business partner, and so many people that have spent behind-the-scene hours, this is a really special night.”
Hemond was not worried about the lights coming on.
“We were confident. We were ready to roll,” he said. “We’ve been thinking about this day for a while, and it’s here and we had a great time.”
Also having a good time were over 100 fans who turned out for the field-lighting ceremony.
“We had a great turnout. We said it was going to be another great night even if it rained, but it didn’t,” said Hemond. “I think everyone went away with a great feel of how this field is going to look when we play ball.”
With the stadium lights up and working, attention will now be turned elsewhere as the renovation of Clemens Field continues.
“I think what you’re going to see is the historical grandstand will start being renovated and our seats should be coming in here in the next month, too,” said Hemond. “After that the field will go in, the irrigation and drainage, and things like that. The turf will be here the first part of May.”
Hemond invites fans to keep track of the ongoing renovations.
“I would hope that people could come by, take a look around and continue to monitor what we’re doing. And don’t forget to stop in and get your season tickets because we’re expecting a very exciting year attendance-wise,” he said.
Ticket sales continue to be strong, according to Hemond.
“We’ll continue to sell our season tickets. All our suites are sold out. We’re now also selling our group deck. After that we’ll have individual tickets on sale the first part of April,” he said.
The Cavemen will be a part of the new Prospect League that will feature 11 teams in 2009.
“Fans are going to see some quality baseball in a beautiful setting so come on down and buy some tickets and enjoy the summer with us,” said Hemond.
