Vintage Boosters

June 16, 2002 12:00 am • By BRIAN LIOU Register Sports Writer(0) Comments They don't serve garlic fries here. There are no luxury-box seats. The only reporters covering the games here fall into the small-town variety. This isn't Pac Bell Park or Camden Yards; this isn't even the Oakland Coliseum. What you do have is your regular old-fashioned, run-of-the-mill sandlot upgrade, replete with seating capacity of 500 and a clever array of water-mist sprinklers hanging down from the rafters above the seats. Here there is a spectacular view of the grapevines dotting a Domaine Chandon hill that dwarfs the centerfield ivy wall. Here, laughing old men and women pack together for memories in reverie, girlfriends hope for that promised big hit and families root sons on with heartfelt passion. Quite importantly, there is beer. Although this isn't Safeco Field, Fenway Park or Yankee Stadium, to every baseball-minded Napan and Veterans Home resident, Cleve Borman Field is a simple slice of baseball heaven. Baseball like it is supposed to be. "I love it here," said Dave Strong, a World War II veteran and Vets Home resident. "It's really nice here and I love to watch the kids play." And to think Napa's finest baseball park was once a dirt heap filled with rocks and shards of glass. Who's Cleve Borman? Situated at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville, Borman Field bears the name of Ernest Cleveland Borman, an engineer and 47-year employee at the Vets Home who died in 1980 at the age of 94. An amateur baseball player for a Yountville team in his teens, Borman began construction of the ballpark in the early 1900's after his fellow teammates complained of taking shots to the face from baseballs bounding from the rock-infested ground. "When they first started it was all dirt in the entire field," said Strong, who played on the Borman-managed Veterans Home Team during the late '40s and '50s. "It had rocks in it and it had pieces of glass. And it had a slope out in right field where if you were standing at home plate and looking out into right field, it looked like he was standing on his knees." After several weeks of trudging buckets and buckets of rocks from the field to a nearby creek, Borman and his teammates played the field's first game in 1906. In 1929, Borman installed a grandstand constructed from the salvaged materials of demolished barracks. In 1962, the Vets Home erected the present grandstand and dedicated the field in honor of Borman, then 76. "Mr. Borman was responsible for renovating the whole thing to what it looks like today," added Strong. Back in the day During the Vets Home team heydays, Borman's squad of primarily Bay Area scrubs faced most of the Bay Area universities, including St. Mary's, Santa Clara and Cal-Berkeley. On one particular afternoon, the Vets Home team faced a remarkably young and talented American Legion team, according to Strong. "One time we had to play the American Legion national champs," said Strong. "There were several high schoolers on the team who would become major leaguers, including Frank Robinson and Tommy Harper. We beat them 3-1. We had a helluva game with them and Frank Robinson hit their only run in with a solo shot right over the top of the oak trees outside the ballpark." Today, the field hosts Napa's American Legion and Joe DiMaggio baseball games, as well as the two leagues' annual state tournaments. During the '80s, the ballclubs of Napa High, Vintage, Justin-Siena and St. Helena played their home games at Borman Field. Trinity Prep and Napa Valley College have also used the facility. A veteran's getaway Apart from hosting prep baseball games galore, Borman Field has also created a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere to its most important spectators — the veterans. Tom Williams, a Vietnam vet and a Vets Home resident for the past eight years, absolutely lives for the summer when Borman Field bustles with activity. But as much as the fans and friends around him cry in complaint against an umpire's call or cheer a player's exploits, not a peep or squeek can be heard from Williams. A victim of larynx cancer, Williams' only method of communication is through scribbling on a notebook, which he carries wherever he goes in his back pocket. And, according to Williams, the games at Borman Field give him the solace and joy he used to find as a teen. "The games give me a good feeling," wrote Williams with expressive, wide eyes. "I used to play American Legion baseball … I wish I was young again." For Strong, the same longing races through his veins as well. "There's a little nostalgia here," said Strong. "It's fun watching the kids play and I enjoy it, but I would love to play here again." Brian Liou can be reached at 256-2269 or bliou@napanews.com