No longer flooding the zone
A batch of improvements made several years ago at Perdue Stadium have paid dividends.
I’m going to apologize in advance for a somewhat hyperlocal post, although I seem to recall other minor league ballparks have become islands thanks to adjacent rivers.
The biggest story around Salisbury in the last week has been some major flooding that has severed one of the city’s main arterial streets - Business Route 13 (known locally as North Salisbury Boulevard) has been blocked off because of the flooding of a local waterway known as Peggy Branch. While there is a reasonable-sized pond at the upstream side of the bridge, this brook drains a rapidly-developing area of the city and has flooded over the roadway several days in the last year. It’s a problem for me getting to work since I have to cross that bridge daily, and I pray it doesn’t wash away somehow.
This latest incident, though, got me to thinking about the bad old days of pre-renovation Perdue Stadium, and an event I attended that wasn’t even a ball game.
During one long-ago season, the South Atlantic League scheduled the Shorebirds away during the Independence Day holiday. As I recall, this was also prior to restoring fireworks in the city of Salisbury, so those who owned the team at the time came up with the idea of having fireworks at the park - they just needed an attraction, and decided a concert featuring Lynard Skynard would do the trick.
That year, July 4th was hot and humid, as it often is around here - just the right weather for thunderstorms. And it was a thunderstorm we got, just as the opening act - a local band called Great Train Robbery - closed their set. I had actually purchased tickets for a buffet that night, so we were eating when suddenly the buckets came down. It was a gullywasher to be sure.
Basically the stage was abandoned, and I don’t think Lynard Skynard ever left their trailer. But what amazed me was how rapidly the warning tracks turned into rivers, and how they were leading to the lowest points in the stadium and bypassing the storm drains, which must have been plugged up with dirt. Suddenly the dugouts were full of water, and that’s a problem when the storm water comingles with the water in the dugout toilets (although they weren’t being used at the time.)
It also pointed out an issue with the facility that used to cost them one or two home dates a year - a decent rainstorm, even several hours before gametime, would force a postponement or cancellation because the field would still be too wet. Umpires sloshing around in a saturated outfield aren’t that entertaining.
While Perdue Stadium has had pretty much a full facelift since I started going there in 2005, perhaps the biggest change was the offseason when they took the field down beyond bare dirt and rebuilt the drainage system. Since then we’ve had rainouts, but they come from downpours shortly prior to or during the game. It’s made a difference.
So it makes me wonder what steps the state needs to take to redo the drainage of Peggy Branch. The rumor is that a downstream culvert at the railroad track is the culprit, but my thinking is that at some point the bridge at Peggy Branch needs to be raised 2 to 3 feet so a larger culvert can be installed there. It may also involve some eminent domain to create a large retention pond downstream.
But I won’t ever forget those dugout ponds. And Lynard Skynard, I believe you still owe us a concert.
Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.