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Ed Nottle doesn’t have anything against Mainers or their state, but he doesn’t relish trips to Orono when his Brockton Rox come to town to play the Bangor Lumberjacks.
The 63-year-old manager, whose career in professional baseball has spanned five decades and all four (Single A, Double A, Triple A, independent) levels of minor league baseball, does not like to play at the University of Maine’s Mahaney Diamond.
“When Ed Nottle, 43 years in ball, never takes infield on your field …. Well, I’m looking forward to the new field,” he said after his team’s recent visit to Orono. “I realize the situation they have here and I’m glad, hopefully, the new stadium goes through.
“I love this area. It’s gorgeous, the people are great, it’s beautiful, and I hate that field. Pro ballplayers shouldn’t have to play on it.”
Nottle’s criticism comes as a bit of a surprise to University of Maine grounds crew members.
“That’s his opinion. You’re not going to please everybody all the time,” said assistant groundskeeper Wayde Willard. “We haven’t had any problems as far as the Lumberjacks go with them saying one thing or the other about it. They’ve had requests about certain things, and we’ve done the best we can with them.”
Nottle says the infield is less than ideal because the lips or ridges where the grass meets the infield dirt, as well as small rocks or pebbles in the infield dirt, cause grounders to take bad hops.
“There are routine ground balls you can’t play on the field and I feel sorry for some of these guys. The other night, we scored a bunch of runs because nobody wants to get their nose in front of the ball and I don’t blame them,” Nottle said. “I’ve never taken infield on that in two years.”
Willard acknowledges that the field has seen better days, but it’s good to keep in mind the field is located in Central Maine, where the season is a very short one and the preparation time is even shorter. Throw in the fact the field is used usually only in April and May by the Black Bears and not again regularly until September, when Maine uses it for two weeks, and maybe another week in October.
“Yeah, there are some lips on that field, but that infield is at least 20 or 30 years old and it has sunk in spots,” he said. “It’s a matter of it being an old field and the specs he’s talking about could only be acquired by digging it up and starting over again, and that would require nobody being on the field for an entire summer. You’re talking about a major undertaking.
“What would need to be done to bring this field up to a professional standard would cost a lot more money than anybody around here would be willing to front.”
Reliever anything but rusty
Former University of Maine pitcher Rusty Tucker has suffered a setback as his impressive Southern League season heads into the stretch.
The lefthanded reliever who is the Mobile (Ala.) Bay Bears all-time leader in single season and career saves with 28, was placed on the disabled list last week with an elbow injury.
Tucker, who suffered the injury in a game against Huntsville on Aug. 8, will be examined by San Diego Padres doctors early this week.
The 22-year-old native of Gloucester, Mass., is 2-6 with a 3.74 ERA in his first full season of Double A ball. He has 63 strikeouts in 53 innings.
Parrotheads at the park
The Bangor Lumberjacks and Pine State Trading of Maine have teamed up to give away tickets to a Jimmy Buffet and the Coral Reefer Band concert at Tweeter Center in Mansfield, Mass., later this month.
Tuesday is Buffet at the Ballpark Night at Mahaney Diamond in Orono. Fans doing their best Parrothead – a term for Buffet aficionados – impersonations and wearing Hawaiian shirts or white sport coats can answer Jimmy Buffet trivia questions to qualify for the drawing for the pair of tickets. In keeping with the theme for the 7:15 game, the park will offer special “Cheeseburgers in Paradise” along with tropical theme drinks and Corona beer – not normally carried – at the concession stands.
Tweaking the schedule
The game time for Bangor’s final Northeast League regular season game has been changed from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 1. The start of the game against the North Shore Spirit was pushed back due to concerns over another event on the University of Maine campus.
Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600, or aneff@bangordailynews.net
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