Courtesy Paul Post
By Paul Post
Ben Bernard cut his baseball business teeth at East Field with the Glens Falls White Sox in the early 1980s.
A few years later, when he owned the Albany-Colonie Yankees, The Sporting News named him America’s Double-A Executive of the Year.
Eleven years ago, he went back to East Field where it all began, as new owner of the Golden Eagles, comprised of top-flight college players, which became the Glens Falls Dragons, preparing now for their 10th season in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League.
The ballpark Bernard took over had seen much better days. Bleacher seats weren’t safe, lighting was bad – a far cry from the venue’s glory days when future big leaguers such as 1983 AL Rookie of the Year Ron Kittle and Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz played there.
Slowly, despite a summer without baseball during the COVID-19 pandemic, East Field has made a steady comeback. Five hundred stadium-style seats were installed behind home plate last year, wooden bleachers are new and LED lighting casts a brighter glow when the sun goes down.
This spring, city Public Works crews spruced things up by removing unsightly trees just inside the gate.
“We survived, that’s all I can tell you,” Bernard said. “Now we can concentrate back on the field and marketing of the team.”
At Heritage Park, in Colonie, Bernard oversaw one of minor league baseball’s best-run operations and the Yankee lineup, at various times, featured future all-time greats such as Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.
At East Field now, his job is much different.
“I didn’t mow the lawn in Albany,” Bernard said, smiling.
While he’s in the outfield riding a tractor, Assistant for Baseball Operations Mark Rogers sells ads and secures business sponsors, while Victoria Ferguson staffs the office – overseeing interns, handling player contracts and trying to find housing for players who come from outside the Capital Region.
Lack of host families makes it hard to recruit premier talent from the nation’s best college baseball programs.
“I’d love to have a team that won all the time,” Bernard said. “But I look at it differently. If guys from the local area are playing baseball, that means their families get to come here and watch them. The biggest thing is kids coming out here to the ballpark. You see Little Leaguers out here with their parents. That’s what this ballpark is for.”
East Field also helps stimulate the local economy.
Parents and friends of players on opposing teams such as Amsterdam, Albany and Oneonta quite often visit local restaurants prior to games and fuel up their vehicles before heading home.
“They’re spending money, no doubt about it,” Bernard said.
In addition to the Dragons, several youth tournaments are planned this summer including one by Rhode Island-based Firecracker Sports, which brings 75 teams to the Capital Region, using East Field as one of its venues.
“Lake George hotels probably benefit the most from that,” Bernard said. “A lot of things go on here that people don’t know about.”
Glens Falls High School Baseball Coach Matt Stevens is planning a Memorial Day Weekend baseball camp, Bernard said.
But the key to East Field’s future is putting people in seats during Dragons games. Drawing on its rich history, Bernard is planning a “Throwback Night” this summer when players wear jerseys with the logos of every team that’s ever played at East Field – White Sox, Tigers, Cardinals, Lumberjacks, Golden Eagles and Dragons.
The observance coincides with this year’s 30th anniversary of the Lumberjacks’ 1995 Northeast League Championship, a team managed by former major league pitcher Dave Lapoint, of Glens Falls.
Last year, the Dragons hosted an Adirondack Thunder night, which drew a big crowd, and Bernard believes there’s an opportunity for the Dragons to capitalize on the hockey team’s success by joining forces with cross-promotions.
Thunder President Jeff Mead said, “We’ve never really done that formally. If they wanted us to do that (Thunder Night) again, we would be more than willing to, and help them in any way we can.”
The Thunder set a franchise attendance record this year, averaging more than 4,500 fans per game including 16 sell-outs, despite having a last-place team.
“They’ve got great marketing, a great organization,” Bernard said. “I feel down the road it would be great to have those guys become part of this.”