Power Coaches on Appalachian Park

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New ballpark a big change from Watt Powell days

By Mike Whiteford

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

 

In its 56-year existence, Watt Powell Park offered a picturesque setting, the occasional Baseball Hall of Fame prospect and the trains and their accompanying whistles that lent a Norman Rockwell touch.

The new Appalachian Power Park, by contrast, has gained a quirky distinction for the 90-year-old warehouse architecture that rises above the outfield fences, not to mention the ballpark's ability to attract fans in record-setting numbers.

Another, more baseball-oriented difference between the two parks has emerged in recent years. Unlike Watt Powell, three-year-old Appalachian Power Park lends itself to home runs, gives outfielders less room to roam and, in baseball parlance, is a hitter's park.

On most evenings, soft breezes waft toward left field, facilitating the flight of fly balls. In right field, atmospheric forces generally work in favor of anything lofted skyward.

Those conditions, combined with the ballpark's modest dimensions, have contributed to a goodly number of batted balls bouncing on Smith and Morris streets in the past three years. Last year, West Virginia Power hitters ranked second in the 16-team South Atlantic League with 128 homers, and other statistics corroborate the park's reputation for offense.

Meanwhile, the subject of Charleston's current ballpark occasionally has come up for discussion recently in Maryvale, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb where the Power is conducting spring training. The Power's first-year manager, Jeff Isom, is unfamiliar with APP and is relying on his coaches, John Curtis and Jim Lett, for information about his summer home.

"The pitching coach,'' said Isom, referring to Curtis, "says it's a small park.''

It certainly favors offense, says Curtis. "It's very much a hitter's park,'' Curtis said by phone this week from Maryvale. "Balls fly out of there, especially early in the year. Mistakes are going to be hit, and they're gonna go. Our ballpark is not very forgiving.''

In our Watt Powell years, each new Charleston manager began the season by acknowledging the park's reputation as a power hitter's graveyard, an expansive place where heavy air and Mission Hollow breezes worked to the pitcher's advantage.

At the start of each new season, the managers would try to rationalize by saying their hitters favored line drives and were fleet of foot and, thus, perfectly suited to taking advantage of Watt Powell's vast outfield gaps. Forget the home runs, the managers would say. Our guys will hit lots of doubles and triples.

Back then, we media folks suspected that our Major League parent organizations, knowing of Watt Powell's reputation, were reluctant to send their promising power hitters to Charleston, lest they lose confidence and swing too hard in such a challenging yard. As a result, we suspected, our teams generally lacked a real home run threat.

Isom, an upbeat Indiana native, managed last season at Helena, Mont., Milwaukee's short-season Class A of the Pioneer League, and won a division championship with a 48-28 record. Many of the Helena players have been assigned to Charleston and are, of course, familiar to Isom.

Like any good manager, Isom is full of spring optimism and, citing offensive numbers compiled by his players last year, expects his team to take advantage of Appalachian Power Park's friendly confines.

"From what I understand, it's going to play perfectly for the hitters we have,'' he said from Maryvale. "I wouldn't say they have monster power, but we have guys who last year at Helena had a lot of doubles. I would think that some of those doubles would end up being a few more home runs.''

He's also realistic. "But it's going to be a first full season for a lot of the players,'' he added, "and it takes time to learn how to play a full season. It's going to be an adjustment for them.''

Curtis, a baseball lifer who pitched 15 seasons in the majors, knows all about the differences between Watt Powell and Appalachian Power Park. As a Red Sox prospect in the 1970s, he pitched against the Charlies and remembers Dave Parker, Richie Zisk, Charlie Howard, Rimp Lanier, John Jeter and others.

In those days, Watt Powell played host to Class AAA baseball, where the hitters were older, stronger and more physically mature. Even then, said Curtis, it was a pitcher's park.

"Everything stayed in the park there,'' he recalled. "I remember Watt Powell very well. Dave Parker was about the only one who made it look small.''