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.
By LEE COLEMAN
