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November 28, 2004Ballpark's foundations laidMore than 450 season ticket requests submittedByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - Foundations are being laid for the clubhouse and batting cage buildings at Wuerfel Park, future home of the Traverse City Beach Bums minor league baseball team. The Blair Township ballpark complex will be made up of 25 acres in the Chum's Village business/industrial park west of U.S. 31, just north of Chum's Corner. The Beach Bums plan to begin playing in the independent Frontier League in May of 2006. Wuerfel Park is expected to seat 4,500 fans. "We've been moving a lot of dirt. We wanted to get as much done as we could before the ground was frozen," said Leslye Wuerfel, who is a managing member of the team along with other members of the Wuerfel family. "The foundation for the clubhouse was important so we can continue to work on it throughout the winter." Wuerfel said foundation work on the clubhouse began on Friday and is expected to be finished this week. She said the first floor of the clubhouse building will contain locker rooms and player lounges, coaches offices, a weight room and laundry facilities. It will be connected to a building that contains two pitching and hitting cages. The second floor of the clubhouse will house business offices for the Beach Bums and Wuerfel Sports Management, LLC. Wuerfel said the "bowl area" of the stadium is now visible. Five feet of dirt has been excavated and turned into a five-foot high berm, leaving the playing surface 10 feet below the park's entrance level. Wuerfel said a maintenance and groundskeeping building was completed last week that will house "tarps, mowers and everything else that's needed to run a baseball stadium." Wuerfel said that although the structure is the smallest of those planned at the complex, there was a sense of accomplishment in seeing it finished. "We're excited about how things are going," she said. Blair Township planning commissioners gave unanimous approval to the baseball stadium just over two months ago. Wuerfel said that while the family has tried to concentrate on the building project, interest has been so high in the team that the Beach Bums are now offering T-shirts and sweatshirts on the team Web site at www.traversecitybeachbums.com. "It's snowballing," Wuerfel said. "Everywhere we go, people are so enthusiastic. It's exciting." Wuerfel said the team has received more than 450 season ticket requests. "Certainly some of those people will drop out after ticket prices are set, but we're optimistic," she said. "We'd like to see 1,000 season ticket holders (during) our first season. The league tells us that's pretty optimistic, but we really feel it's doable." Wuerfel said tickets in chair-back seats will likely sell between $8 and $9 per game, with lawn seats set at about $4. Private boxes will also be available. The Frontier League season is 96 games long and runs from late May through August. Each team plays 48 home contests. Wuerfel said construction of the actual playing area is expected to begin in May 2005 and will be completed before the snow flies - about one year from now.
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