Roger Dean Stadium was 'a field of dreams come to life' | D'Angelo

JUPITER — The gators and snakes that had overtaken the land surrounding the practice fields are gone ... well, for the most part.

The mud fans had to trek through on rainy days to purchase tickets in the makeshift trailers ... that's where a hotel and restaurants and a town center sit.

What were once tomato and strawberry fields sandwiched between I-95 and Military Trail just north of Donald Ross Road now is a thriving mixed-use community. And what got it started, the centerpiece to a 2,000-plus acre tract that has sprouted residential areas, a golf club, businesses, schools and a research facility, is a stadium that opened its doors 25 years ago this spring and had the fortune of luring the Major League Baseball team with the most passionate fan base in the country as a spring training tenant.

"It was build it and they will come," said Rob Rabenecker, the original general manager of Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium. "We were it. There was nothing out there. There was one entry off Donald Ross.

"It was a Field of Dreams come to life."

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Snakes on a diamond

At 1:06 p.m. on Feb. 28, 1998, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Cliff Politte threw the first pitch to Montreal's Mark Grudzielanek at Roger Dean Stadium, signaling the start of a new era in Palm Beach County.

A dream that started about a decade prior and overcame a late mad rush that saw a certificate of occupancy granted a few days before that first game and the sod laid just a few weeks earlier.

The Cardinals and Expos would continue the county's spring training tradition with St. Louis replacing the Atlanta Braves, who were lured by Disney, and a state-of-the-art facility replacing the out-of-date venue on 755 Hank Aaron Drive in West Palm Beach. Municipal Stadium had seen its better days and was shuttered a year earlier before being demolished in 2002.

"There was nothing out here," said Brian Bartow, the longtime director of communication for the Cardinals who made the move with the team from St. Petersburg to a sleepy town in northeast Palm Beach County.

Nothing, except strawberry and tomato fields and those reptiles who call Florida home. Lurking in the weeds beyond the fences were alligators and snakes among other native creatures.

"If you hit a ball over out there you weren't going after it," Bartow said.

Everyone was scrambling to get the facility ready for an elaborate opening day celebration. The stadium hosted a chamber of commerce event about one month prior to the first game and when the attendees looked at the field they saw a huge patch of dirt surrounded by about 7,000 seats.

At that point, that field of dreams was more like a nightmare for some.

"There was no sod on the field," Rabenecker said. "But we were not concerned. We knew it was going to happen but they were looking at it and saying, 'There's no way you're going to play on this field in four weeks.'"

The days leading up to the game were hectic. Hanging wires needed to be secured, concession stands weren't completed, the souvenir shop wasn't set up, programs had to be stuffed.

"There was a lot of work that had to be done," Rabenecker said. "Stuff you don't do feel comfortable doing the night before."

Mark McGwire christens stadium

Rebenecker's staff pulled it off with help from both teams who provided all the support he needed.

"The teams gave me everything I needed to get the job done," he said.

"They gave me money to promote. They gave me money to advertise. They gave me money to hire people. We hired way more game staff than we needed."

That first game started with a ribbon cutting attended by then-National League President Leonard Coleman, former Brooklyn Dodger great Joe Black, Hall of Famer Frank Robinson and Cardinals legend Ozzie Smith among others.

A helicopter flew in the ball for the ceremonial first pitch, which was thrown by Roger Dean's son-in-law, Park Miller. Samantha Marro of Palm Beach Gardens sang the Canadian and U.S. national anthems.

A seat in the party deck with an unlimited buffet cost $25. Today, that seat costs $53. Box seats have risen from $15 to $34.

The stadium biggest draw at the time was Cardinals' slugger Mark McGwire, who was about start a season in which he would hit a then-record 70 home runs. McGwire drove in the first run in RDS history with a first-inning single and three innings later hit the stadium's first home run, reaching the Expos offices that sat more than 400 feet away from home plate beyond the left field fence.

That ball was given to Rabenecker who stuck it in a desk drawer in his office. Later that year, after McGwire became the biggest name in sports, Rabenecker informed the Cardinals he had the first home run ball of McGwire's historic season. The ball was sent to St. Louis and now is believed to be displayed in the team's hall of fame.

Among those who witnessed the first of many McGwire home runs at Roger Dean Stadium were the owners of 90 season ticket accounts who, 25 years later, continue to come back spring after spring. They all will receive a pin, mug and specialty ticket for their 25 years of service and have the option of being recognized before the first pitch of one of four games between the Cardinals and Miami Marlins. The Marlins replaced the Expos as a stadium tenant in 2003.

Ron and Tina Lantz of North Palm Beach were recognized Tuesday for their 25 years as season ticket holders. Ron grew up in St. Louis and remembers navigating the plywood that covered the mud so fans could reach the trailers to purchase their tickets without having to invest in new shoes.

"Judges know that I don't practice in March," said Ron, an attorney.

"We raised our kids here," Tina said. "They came as babies and then they brought their friends and then we started giving them the tickets when they were old enough."

Mark and Cheryl Melville have been coming from St. Louis since purchasing a pair of season tickets 25 years ago.

"There was a lot of excitement," Mark said about the opening of a brand new stadium in a part of the state Cardinals fans knew little about.

Cheryl cherished the up-close-and-personal feel of the stadium.

"The close proximity we had to the players," she said. "My son would take a baseball and throw it out on the field and they'd sign it for him."

Their son shared not just the same first name as his favorite player, Mark McGwire, but the same birthday. One day McGwire signed a jersey for young Mark and punctuated it with "10/1/97."

"Mark McGwire was one of our favorite players because he would take the time and sign everything," Mark Melville said.

On Saturday, Patty Dean and her husband, Park Miller, who throw out that first pitch 25 years ago, will be given a commemorative home plate and Roger Dean Chevrolet will be honored for holding the naming rights from the start, something current general manager Mike Bauer says is "unheard of in today's era."

Cardinals fans flock to Jupiter

After moving their spring training site 22 times starting in 1901, the Cardinals settled on St. Petersburg in 1946. Rick Hummel, the longtime beat writer/columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch who has covered more than 40 spring trainings, believed Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt was eager to leave the area when Tampa Bay was granted a franchise.

"I think Bill DeWitt was concerned, perhaps wrongfully so, if the Cardinals stayed in St. Pete the Rays would take some of the thunder away from the Cardinals," Hummel said. "That was not the case at all. But he didn't know."

Hummel, a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, was not as eager at DeWitt to spend his springs on the East Coast.

"I went kicking and screaming," Hummel said. "I loved St. Pete. I didn't think I would like it but I do like it a lot. The fans, it didn't make any different to them. They're everywhere in Florida. They'll come."

More like flock ... in droves. Rabenecker acknowledges how fortunate Roger Dean Stadium has been to be the spring home of the Cardinals for 25 years. Attend any game at Roger Dean, whether it was when the Expos shared the facility or the Marlins moved their spring home to what now is just 82 miles from their home park, and it you'll be engulfed in a sea of Cardinal red. Jerseys with the iconic bird on a bat on the front and many with names like Musial, Brock, Gibson, Smith, Pujols, Rolen, Wainwright or Molina on the back.

"The Cardinals made me a marketing genius." Rabenecker said. "All I had to do was make sure I had enough merchandise."

And food and beer and programs and — oh yeah — sod on Day 1. But since then, it's been all downhill from there.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Mark McGwire christened Jupiter's Roger Dean Stadium 25 years ago