FORT BRAGG, N.C. — There was a sense of wonderment from every perspective Sunday when Major League Baseball staged the first regular-season professional game on an active military base.
The unlikely convergence of efforts that brought the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves together on this field that rose from a ramshackle abandoned golf course in less than four months crystallized when the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade flew four giant military helicopters out of the clouds and over Fort Bragg Field as the national anthem was winding to conclusion.
The Marlins won the game, 5-2, but it was the unique event that was the highlight Sunday night. It was announced during the eighth inning that interest in the event had made the game the No. 1 trending top on Twitter.
The players, accustomed to being the featured attraction, were as awe-struck as anyone as they took the field against a backdrop of emblems of the various units of the 54,000 troops stationed at Fort Bragg lining the outfield fence.
“Both teams are experiencing the same thing. We’re like a kid again,” said Marlins closer A.J. Ramos. “You always did this in the front yard, on Fourth of July when the fireworks were going off. You were always practicing hitting a home run when the fireworks are going off. But we’re actually doing it here as professionals. It feels like we’re out in the backyard playing, and it’s a good feeling.”
That they were doing it in a game that counted in front of a national television audience created an energy that enlivened players and spectators alike.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Lance Ludwig, 21, a Coral Springs, Fla., native who serves in field artillery and described his job as “we shoot rockets.”
The game capped a busy day for players and Major League Baseball officials long before the Braves and Marlins began play on a field that didn’t even exist roughly four months earlier, when MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred promised “a unique event” in honor of the military for the Fourth of July holiday weekend.
By Sunday evening, it looked the part, with soldiers mingling with players around the edge of the field during batting practice. While Marlins star Giancarlo Stanton autographed a couple of baseballs, Marlins hitting coach Barry Bonds stood a few feet away near the dugout shaking hands and posing for photos with soldiers.
As the first pitch drew near, soldiers unfurled a giant American flag in the outfield for the singing of the national anthem. That was punctuated by four Army helicopters staging a low diamond-formation flyover from beyond the center field wall to the newly constructed press box to roars from the crowd filling the temporary bleachers around the field.
“They brought baseball to these soldiers,” said Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the commander of the sprawling U.S. Army post in the sandhills of North Carolina.
Bragg and MLB officials had worked since March to build the stadium on the site of an abandoned former golf course. The $5 million project was financed by MLB and the players’ association to create a ballpark with temporary seating holding 12,500, with a reported attendance Sunday night of 12,582.
Tickets were distributed to all of the units stationed here in proportion to their size. They ended up going predominantly to Braves fans. Miami native Randolph Delapena wore a cap from their 1997 World Series championship and vowed to “make enough noise for the Marlins.”
Delapena, a command sergeant major, said when he heard about the game, “I was enthralled. I just got home two days ago from Germany from a training event. To make it back home to get to the game is pretty awesome.”
Players from the teams had an opportunity to participate in various activities during the day, including a visit to a parachute packing facility. Some got a primer in special ops training while others met with patients and doctors at the Womack Army Medical Center and dined at a mess hall.
“I saw the gun ranges were really cool, how far they have to hit the target,” Stanton said. “They have one of them where the target pops up and you’ve got to find it in a certain time and hit it. If you don’t pass — hit something like 32 out of 40 — you’ve got to go back down to different training. So that’s pretty cool.”
Kind of the military’s version of getting sent down to the minors.
But the players had a clear appreciation for the distinction between what they do and the work of those who serve here.
“They’re telling us how thankful they are that we’re here,” said Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich, whose younger brother is in the U.S. Marines. “We’re thankful that they allowed us to be here. It’s the other way around. We appreciate everything they do for us to allow us to play baseball. To do this in honor of them is going to be special for everybody.”
It took a major excavation to create a major league-caliber field out of an overgrown, unused area.
U.S. Army Special Ops Staff Sgt. Dillon Heyliger, who spent time in Iraq, marveled at the transformation as he surveyed the field a few hours before the game. “When they were digging it out they found hives of honey bees. They had to relocate them,” Heyliger said. “It was totally untouched and unused for a long time. People would just jog and walk through this area, and I guess it was the spot to dig up and build this.”
Marlins second baseman Derek Dietrich said the qualify of the infield measured up with any park in the majors.
“I think it’s a great thing we’re doing, and I think we’ll probably see more of it,” Dietrich said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
