Ducks, Ems begin dance over Civic responsibility.

Byline: Ron Bellamy The Register-Guard

A soft summer Monday evening at Civic Stadium. The Eugene Emeralds in contention in the Northwest League's West Division, playing Vancouver to end a homestand. Shadows drifting across the infield, toward shortstop and left field. A breeze rustling the flags, and the trees beyond the right field fence as you look toward the south hills and Spencer Butte.

It's a scene that's classic Eugene, and you could understand, again, why some people feel so passionately about Civic Stadium, even though the building, which has endured since 1938 - only eight other minor league ballparks in the country have more seniority - is showing its age, to be polite.

Outside the stadium, as they do most game nights, Jim Crabbe and Dennis Hebert were soliciting signatures on a petition to save the old place, which they fear is endangered - unloved by its owner, the Eugene School District, and apparently unwanted by the University of Oregon, which is bringing back baseball and needs a place to play.

Crabbe said he collected 400 signatures last year, another 900 so far this season. "Basically, most people, if they're not in a hurry, they want to stop and save this place," he said. "The support is overwhelming. People love this place."

When Oregon announced the reinstatement of baseball last week, effective with the 2009 season, director of athletics Pat Kilkenny didn't seem inclined to entertain Civic as a long-term potential home for the reborn Ducks.

"We were hoping the UO was going to be a partner in saving this place," Crabbe said. "It's silly that they don't want to partner with the Ems. It would save them a lot of money, it would be a way to fix this place up. It seems like the best solution for everybody. It's the perfect solution."

It is certainly that in the view of Bob Beban, the Ems' president and general manager.

"This is what I really want," Beban said. "I've never heard someone say, to me here in the ballpark, that we need a new stadium. They always say we need to make improvements to what we have, (but) don't leave Civic. It's just a great place to watch a game. It's loud, it's comfortable as far as the weather because of all the shade (from the roof that covers the grandstands), it's got a great view.

"It's got a lot already, but it needs a major facelift."

Last week, Kilkenny talked in terms of Oregon building a new baseball stadium - site undetermined, at least publicly - at a cost of $5 million to $10 million. He talked of the potential for a partnership of some sort with the Emeralds.

But are their interests as mutual as one might assume?

"I don't think you can get much for $5 million to $10 million in a new facility," Beban said. "Maybe you can, because for a college facility, you really don't have to spend much more than that for a 1,500- to 2,000-seat facility. Something that small, you could probably build something very nice for $5 million or $10 million, but I don't think that would interest the Ems, a facility that small."

Oregon wouldn't need something much larger, though.

Oregon State, in 2004, the year before it reached the College World Series, averaged 1,142 fans per game; this past season, the Beavers averaged 2,005 including two postseason games, 1,888 for the regular season.

By contrast, the Ems, averaging 3,615 per game through Sunday, would need the kind of place that can accommodate the sellout 7,288 they drew on the Fourth of July - eighth-largest in team history - or the three straight crowds of more than 4,100 they drew Friday through Sunday. (Friday's crowd pushed the all-time attendance for the Ems, dating to their days at Bethel Park, to more than 5 million, including more than 4.2 million since they began playing in Civic Stadium in 1969.)

And yet, how long can the Ems keep playing in Civic? The team's lease runs through 2008; the Eugene School District has won a court ruling that the 10-acre site - the stadium and land are valued at almost $5 million, Beban said - need not only be used for recreation. It means the school district could sell the valuable property for development.

"My hope has always been that the city of Eugene can somehow acquire the ballpark and property from the school district and then something can be done between the three entities - the university, the Ems and the city - to make significant improvements and keep this here for another 50 years," Beban said.

And those improvements would have to be significant indeed, because Civic Stadium, if folks look with their eyes rather than only their hearts, is beyond band-aids, a grimy place that needs a major overhaul.

Beban said Civic needs to be replumbed, and rewired. Needs new restrooms, new concession areas, new locker rooms, new lights, a new roof, a new foundation for permanent box seats, new siding, a new scoreboard and, considering the way the field slopes toward the third base line, a new field itself, with proper drainage.

"Five million to $10 million could make Civic something we could all be proud of," Beban said, envisioning even a "park at the park" play area for kids in the area between the left field fence and Amazon Parkway, now an eyesore.

Both Beban and Kilkenny are businessmen who won't show all their cards too soon, won't ignore a mutually beneficial deal, and won't sign off on something that doesn't make sense for their organization. On his side, Beban has the history and tradition of Civic Stadium, an icon to many in Eugene, but until the school district makes a decision about what it wants, he's twisting in the wind.

So we'll see. A couple of weeks ago, on vacation, my family saw major league games at two wonderful stadiums, in San Francisco and San Diego, and the experience reminded us that in baseball, especially, the venue is vital to the experience.

Neither Oregon nor the Ems can afford a mistake when it comes to venue; that might bring the two parties together, and then again, maybe it won't.

Meanwhile, in front of Civic Stadium, Crabbe and Hebert will maintain their vigil.

"Baseball is a traditional sport," Crabbe said. "You've got a traditional ballpark here. It's frustrating that it sounds like they (Oregon) are not going to be on board with it, but to us, it doesn't matter. It's a great place for the city of Eugene to have. It's an historical piece of Eugene that we need to keep around."