Getting all Memorial in Fort Wayne

The Fort Wayne Wizards are getting ready to say good-bye to Memorial Stadium and to the nickname Wizards. The Journal-Gazette had a few articles yesterday to do the former. Ben Smith really needs to tell us how he feels.

Diamond in the rough

So what can we say now about Memorial Stadium, other than goodbye?

...

And so here is the truth: It was the Taj Mahal of baseball stadiums, except for the Taj Mahal part.

This isn't even the best section. This is...

To be honest, its history is not that historic and its aesthetics less than aesthetic, so let's set aside the poetry. It doesn't work here, frankly. "The Castle" might have been its kinda-sorta nickname, but the Big Concrete Slab probably fit better.

Or maybe it's really this:

...what a ballpark is or was or will be has nothing to do with architecture. People make it what it is. People give it whatever life or loveliness it has, even if it's a place as devoid of external romance as Memorial Stadium.

Or, for the big finish, this story from Opening Night of Memorial Stadium on April 19, 1993:

I spent part of the game sitting next to an 82-year-old man named Red Braden, who's been gone almost a decade now. Sixty-five years before, back in the 1920s, he'd gone door-to-door with a petition, trying to get a baseball stadium built. He failed.

Ah, but on this night

The lights came up, the players trotted to their positions across the green, green grass, and stooped, careworn Red Braden became a child again.

"All of a sudden, I'm seein' what I was " he began.

Then he gestured wordlessly around the place, at the lights, the ballplayers, the fans, the stadium itself.

The Taj Mahal of ballparks?

Memorial Stadium wasn't that then and never would be. But for one moment, on one cold night, it was all the Taj Mahal one man would ever need.

How About an All-Time Wizards Team? Right here

In honor of the final days of Memorial Stadium, the Wizards, in conjunction with The Journal Gazette, have announced their all-time team. Sixty-eight players who have played in Fort Wayne eventually reached the majors. The list includes current White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski, Corey Koskie and current Royal Joakim Soria, who pitched in this year’s All-Star game.

You're going to have to follow that link to get the list.

What about top moments? Right here.

April 24, 1994: Alex Rodriguez, playing for the Appleton (Wis.) Foxes, smacks the first home run of his professional career.

Click for the rest.