If you've ever traveled to Northern Michigan, you know how truly stunning the the landscape is there. The lakes and pine forests give you an instant feeling of relief from the daily grind. On this Monday, the road from Washington to Traverse City was long, but it was a soft landing in the Frontier League's northern station.The home of the Traverse City Beach Bums, Wuerfel Park, is located a stone's throw from Grand Traverse Bay. If you look from the road, it is hard to recognize the building as a ballpark. If not for the light standards rising from the field, you would think that the structure is a complex of summer cottages, painted blue with white trim.
The stadium, and the Beach Bums, owe their birth to the efforts of John and Leslye Wuerfel, whose journey of hard work and love of sports led them to establish independent baseball in this resort community. John and Leslye hail from Traverse City (Leslye actually grew up on one of the area's signature cherry farms) and worked in the hotel business. As a young married couple, they managed a small motel, eventually building their own hotels for folks escaping downstate lives.
Along the way the Wuerfels developed an affinity for a life involving sports. John, an accomplished football kicker, w
ould send one son, Josh, to play for Bo Schembechler at the University of Michigan as a kicker and punter. Son Jason was also a Wolverine, playing catcher at U of M before moving on to independent professional baseball, including the Frontier League. He is now the head coach for the Butler (PA) Blue Sox in the Prospect League, a college wood bat league in its inaugural season.For anyone who knows the Wuerfels, it is unnecessary to mention how much they enjoy their roles as baseball entrepreneurs. They were the general contractors for the construction of the stadium that bears their name, with John often aboard the heavy machinery that moved the "black dirt" to create the playing field. He has run the stadium operations for the four years of the Beach Bums' existence. Leslye is the day-to-day operator of the club, wearing as many hats as there is space on the rack. Jason, in addition to his coaching gig, remains as the team's baseball personnel director.
I guess the thing that always strikes me about my trips to Wuerfel Park is the attention to detail. For example, it is impeccably clean - I always feel like I have to tidy up my hotel room at the end of the night to keep up. The fans clearly appreciate their efforts; it is one of the loudest venues in the League. With all of the amenities and spirit at this gem, anyone visiting Traverse City is making a mistake if they don't add a baseball game to their getaway plans.
A couple of things to note from Monday's game at Wuerfel Park. First, the combination of the introduction of the National Anthem by a soldier stationed in Iraq, as shown on the stadium's video board, along with a perfectly-sung rendition of the Star Spangled Banner made me feel proud to be a citizen. I rarely notice the crowd singing the Anthem, but the fans in Traverse City could be heard above the sound system.
Also, if you follow the Beach Bums, you know play-by-play announcer Tim Calderwood. He is in his third year with the team and gives them a strong voice on the airwaves. Earlier this year, Tim, who is a devoted follower of the professional teams from his hometown of Chicago, hung a Black Hawks' jersey in the Kalamazoo pressbox during the Hawks' NHL playoff series against the Red Wings. It is unspeakable how that "sweater" was treated by the Kings' staff.
Time to get on the road again - headed to Kalamazoo for tonight's game with the Lake Erie Crushers. Hope to get a chance to talk to the person who is the poster child for the League, a record-setter as a player and a champion as a skipper, Fran Riordan. More then!
