The Newark Bears played their first home opener in the Den, their new 6,200-seat stadium off Route 21 in Newark, on the hot night of July 16, 1999. Six thousand fans packed the stadium that night.
I visited the park on July 1, 2005, six years after that opener. The heat was still stifling as the temperature reached 85 degrees. The stadium felt brand new, unused and well maintained that day. It was clean and undisturbed by trash or clutter found at major league stadiums. I even saw an attendant wipe a seat clean before a fan sat down.
In 1999, the Ledger reported the stadium missing a decorative red-bricked facade and a novelty shop still under construction. Today the facade is in place and the novelty store packed with Newark Bears memorabilia.
I made my way to the media room on the second floor behind home plate to speak with Jared Greenberg, media relations assistant for the Bears.
I looked out onto this oasis of green encapsulated by the impressive red-bricked stadium, which is surrounded by concrete, metal and some of America’s meanest and ugliest streets. There were empty seats all over the stadium, in fact far more empty seats than full ones. I asked Greenberg about the attendance at the park, and he admitted that it fluctuated from its height in 2001, but he assured me an average game attracts 2,500 to 3,500 each night.
The Bears finished second in the Northern Division after the first half of the season in the two-division, eight-team independent Atlantic League. They admit to having their struggles in the early part of the season. But there is more to the Bears than winning their division in the 140-game season, split 70/70 at the all-star break. They are about providing affordable entertainment and are seen as the vanguard for the resurgence of Newark, a much-maligned city. Under new ownership (former Yankee Rick Cerone sold the team to Flemington Auto Truck owner Steve Kalfer and Marc Bensen in 2001) comes a new logo (a menacing grizzly climbing over the letter N), a new blood-red color scheme and a new commitment to the city of Newark.
“Focus on grass roots, the fans,” Greenberg said. “Minor league baseball is baseball with a show. We take kids down in between innings for contests. It’s very affordable. For a family of four it’s more cost effective than going to the movies, and you get more value,” Greenberg said.
I asked Cesar Cuervera, a 19-year-old from Jersey City, who was watching the game what he liked most about the Bears. “Value for money,” he said. This was his first time attending a Bears game. He admitted his father got two free tickets at work. Nelson from Bellville and his 13-year-old son Jose, two admitted Bears fans, said they come to see the Bears play three times a month because of the proximity of the park to their home. Bellville is about a 10-minute drive. “We also like the competition,” Nelson said.
The delighted screams of children were drowned out by “The Star Spangled Banner.” “Some of our best attendance days are in the months of May and June when we play Wednesday afternoon games, called ‘School Days.’ Kids from surrounding schools come to the stadium. Those days are extremely successful,” Greenberg said.
The smell of cotton candy and hotdogs wafted through the air as Rupert, the Newark Bears’ muscular mascot, licked his wounds after losing his umpteenth footrace around the bases to Christiana, an ecstatic 5-year-old. “Minor league baseball is all about interaction with players. They sign autographs for birthday parties. Every Sunday, we have family fun day before the game, when anybody can come down. Kids can run the bases. After the game, players are always signing autographs. It is very interactive,” Greenberg said.
In the stands sat Chuck Robertson, a graphic designer from Crawford, with his wife and two children, Andrew, 6 years old, and Megan, his 3-year-old sister. Andrew with his Newark Bears No. 1 finger balanced precariously in his right hand called the Bears “really cool and really good.” He especially liked the mascot, Rupert. Just as Andrew was about to explore his opinion, he noticed the green radish hotdog overtake the yellow mustard hotdog as they rounded third base and left behind the red ketchup hotdog as he floundered on the ground trying to regain his feet. Andrew ran toward the edge of the field for a closer look.
I asked Stephen Crampton, the baby-faced 24-year-old pitcher for the Bears and Player of the Year last year, what he liked most about playing for the Bears. “It’s home for me. I was born in Paterson. The organization really takes care of their players,” he said. Crampton is the only full-time pitcher and firefighter in the Atlantic League.
Newark baseball dates back to 1902. In 1931, the New York Yankees’ owner Colonel Jacob Ruppert bought the class-AAA Newark Indians. Legendary Yankee catcher Yogi Berra played for the renamed Newark Bears in 1946 at Ruppert Stadium. That same year the Newark Eagles, a co-tenant of the Bears at the stadium, won the Black World Series Championship with hall of famers like Larry Doby, Leon Day, Monte Irvine.
The original Bears was a farm team for the Yankees until 1949, when the Bears moved to Chicago. There had been no baseball since in Newark until 1998 when the Newark Bears formed.
Charles Lamont is a Rutgers-New Brunswick student. Posted August 2005.
