There were plenty of curveballs thrown some 20 years ago Monday when Canal Park threw open its gates to welcome fans and usher in the era of minor-league baseball in Akron.
Yet not one of these plot twists was thrown by the Akron Aeros’ Opening Day pitcher — a young, right-handed flamethrower by the name of Jaret Wright.
The arrival of the Double-A Cleveland Indians farm team and the opening of the city’s brand-spanking-new $31 million ballpark — well above the original estimated cost of $15 million — should have been a cause for celebration and civic pride.
But a simmering feud between team owner Michael Agganis and Mayor Don Plusquellic over stadium costs and the fine print in its lease hit a fever pitch, just as the crews from ESPN2 were making their final adjustments to broadcast the game and celebration live to a national audience.
The first sign of trouble was literally a sign on the right field fence. The decal of advertising sponsor Video Time caught the eye — and ire — of the mayor.
Plusquellic, already fuming for months over the team’s apparent refusal to ante up $1.1 million in payments toward the stadium construction, was hotter than a slugger on an 18-game hitting streak.
The mayor argued the advertisement on the outfield fence was a violation of the team’s lease and amounted to vandalism of city-owned property. He dispatched a gaggle of his administrators and police officers with orders to have Agganis remove the ad or face arrest.
After a standoff in the outfield that would have made late New York Yankees manager Billy Martin proud, the team agreed to remove the ad.
But taking the decal off the padded fence proved more difficult than simply peeling it away, so workers hastily grabbed a can of paint and painted over it.
Plusquellic was convinced the team would try to call another trick play and put up another sign elsewhere in the park, so he ordered Akron police officers to stand guard just outside the outfield fence to ensure there would be no such shenanigans.
The mayor then benched himself and scratched his name from the Opening Day roster, refusing to attend the festivities and throw out the ceremonial first pitch in a stadium he fought so hard to get built.
Twists and triumphs
For Akron attorney Dave Lieberth, who was charged by the mayor to coordinate and oversee the Opening Day ceremonies, this was just one of many unexpected twists and triumphs that day.
Opening a new ballpark calls for a lot of pomp and circumstance, and Lieberth wanted to make sure the ceremony was fitting for such a large investment in what was then a struggling downtown.
He procured a giant American flag that stretched from the warning track along the first-base side all the way across the field to the third-base side.
The Scintas, a singing group from Buffalo that plays frequently at Tangier, sang the national anthem. The University of Akron brass ensemble performed, and Akron composer David Frye penned a special song for the event.
Lieberth even persuaded a local classic car club to drive 12 dignitaries and Akron-area baseball greats in a parade to the field.
But high above the 9,086 fans in the stands, another unexpected surprise was unfolding — one that almost turned tragic.
Lieberth had convinced an Ohio National Guardsman to jump out of an airplane dressed in the team’s Orbit mascot costume to deliver three game balls to the pitcher’s mound.
The parachutist jumped out of the plane, and the mission at first appeared to be going as planned.
But soon, Lieberth said, a quiet panic filled the stands as the soldier hurtled toward the field.
It seems the soldier, Herman Valentine, was in a bit of uncharted territory as he had never jumped out of plane wearing a mascot costume.
When gravity kicked in — as it always does — Orbit’s head shifted, obscuring his vision of the five types of bluegrass below.
“Boy, did he hit the ground hard,” Lieberth recalled. “We were all pretty nervous, but he jumped right up.
“We were all relieved.”
Look out below!
Valentine chuckles now about his dramatic, abrupt entrance.
He has since retired from the Guard and the Army and, of the 2,862 jumps he made in his career, just two were in a costume. The other one was at his former school, Kent State, as Flash the Golden Eagle — and that character’s big furry beak also created vision issues.
But Orbit was his first and perhaps most memorable such jump.
Aside from practically flying blind because of the large furry head that shifted mid-flight, forcing him to look out the mesh mouth hole with one eye, Valentine said, he was also using a parachute that, let’s just say, was designed for a lighter fellow.
He ended up missing his intended mark on the mound and landed at second base.
“It was pretty wild,” said Valentine, who now flies for MedFlight in central Ohio. “But, as they say, ‘All’s well that ends well.’ ”
The other comical moment came when then-Gov. George Voinovich took the microphone and not only mispronounced the mayor’s name but also congratulated the “Astros” on the team’s new era in Akron.
The governor’s confusion over the team’s name was only fitting, given the controversy when the relocated Canton team ditched its Indians name. Agganis announced he was renaming his team the “Akron Blast” to honor the city’s contributions to the U.S. space program, including Akron native and astronaut Judith Resnik.
After fans complained that the name was insensitive to the Resnik family and in bad taste, given that Resnik died in the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986, Agganis backtracked. Fans were given a choice of three names, and selected the Aeros. The mascot also got a new moniker, becoming Orbit instead of Kaboom.
Turning point
When the team — renamed the Akron RubberDucks in 2013 — gathers once again Monday night to mark the historic milestone, it also will celebrate what some call a turning point for the city, particularly its downtown.
Plusquellic, who has refused to talk with the Beacon Journal since he left office in 2015, deserves credit for having the vision and wherewithal to not only land a minor-league team but also insist that its ballpark be built downtown, said Lieberth, who went on to be deputy mayor charged with overseeing the rebirth of the city center.
The modern history of the city, which will turn 200 in 2025, can be characterized by the era before the ballpark was built and after it opened its gates, according to Lieberth, who is also the city’s unofficial keeper of trivia and history.
There was a contingent who wanted the ballpark built in an area outside the city center where there was plenty of space for free parking. Plusquellic wanted it in the heart of downtown, and in a particularly blighted section of Main Street where the Anthony Wayne Hotel stood.
During a multimillion-dollar renovation project spearheaded in recent years by current team owner Ken Babby, workers found remnants of the old hotel’s foundation, explaining why the field never drained correctly and flooded the dugouts just about every year.
“Before Canal Park, you could have shot a cannon off on Main Street and not hit anybody,” Lieberth pointed out.
RubberDucks General Manager Jim Pfander agrees.
The Akron native remembers life — or the lack of nightlife — downtown before the park was built.
Pfander was still in high school when Canal Park opened and remembers the actual first games pitted local high school baseball teams against each other, including rivals Archbishop Hoban and St. Vincent-St. Mary.
“There were construction workers still working [on the ballpark] during those games,” he said.
Having Akron high schools play one another in the first games in the park was no accident.
Lieberth said Plusquellic wanted the community to take ownership and pride in the endeavor, right down to the park’s signature clock tower that pays homage to those put up ages ago by the tire giants that formed the city’s industrial roots.
It took guts to build the park right on Main Street, with just a sidewalk separating fans from the entrance, he adds.
Downtown rebirth
The baseball-movie adage “If you build it, they will come” has borne fruit for Akron.
On game days, the sidewalks are full of baseball fans of all ages making their way to the ballpark. And on about 22 nights a season, the night sky is lit up by thundering fireworks displays.
The anticipated development of restaurants and bars in and around the ballpark happened as planned, too.
Lieberth acknowledges that some have come and gone over the years — like Jillian’s and Treva — but other entrepreneurs for the most part have stepped in to take their places. The places to eat downtown now number in the dozens, he said, and there was a time before Canal Park was built when that simply was not the case.
“Without Canal Park, we would not have had the progress we have had in downtown Akron,” he said.
Akron Mayor Daniel Horrigan agrees. When the park first opened, he was still a teacher at St. V-M, but it was clear even then the impact it had on his hometown.
A self-described baseball guy, Horrigan said the ballpark anchors the entertainment district on the southern end of Main Street, complementing the new hotel and other economic development on the Northside end.
The goal now, he said, is to encourage businesses and restaurants to fill in the gaps.
“We are working to connect those two ends,” the mayor said.
It is also important that the city has a great partner in RubberDucks owner Babby, who not only works hard to put fans in the stands but also actively promotes the city.
“This stadium is a real jewel,” Horrigan said. “This is what it is all about, getting folks downtown.”
Some say the love of America’s pastime is because the game is timeless. And in some ways, this will be the case when the RubberDucks take the field Monday night.
Team spokesman Adam Liberman said music and video clips from the era will be played, but the real special surprise has been tucked away for years and years in a storage area just outside the right field fence.
Players will be wearing the original purple Aeros uniforms from the 1997 season.
Even Orbit will be old-school for the night as he will be wearing his original purple jersey, and they even plan to break out his long-abandoned jet pack for the trip down memory lane.
“This is very cool,” Liberman said. “This will be a really neat night for the fans.”
Craig Webb, who once almost got hit in the head in the middle of Main Street by a foul ball hit out of Canal Park, can be reached at cwebb@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3547.