I can still see the image of Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig shrugging his hands and shoulders at the 2002 All-Star game, publicly gesturing his unpopular decision to end the game as a 7-7 tie after the 11th inning.  Likewise, Selig has seemingly shrugged his shoulders at steroid use for over five years.

Today I can picture him with those shoulders still shrugging, only this time his hands are held high in surrender.

In one hand he has the steroid issue, a drug that some players have used to seemingly enhance their on-field performance, knowingly against the rules.  In the other hand he has Viagra, a highly visible, legal medication and profitable corporate sponsor of MLB, which extols the virtues of also being a so-called performance-enhancing drug.

While Major League Baseball reaps the benefits on the one hand, can it really take a stand on the other?

Selig needs to publicly discuss the dangers of steroid use, and families of youngsters involved in sports need to make it a topic of discussion.

Likewise, the commissioner should think about how many families watch baseball games on television and read sports magazines about America's favorite pastime and then have to give anatomy lessons to those same youngsters because of a lucrative corporate sponsorship.

I believe our young athletes are hearing conflicting messages.

--Skip Nipper, Letters to the Editor, The Tennessean, March 17, 2005

It is exciting for Nashville professional baseball and Nashville's fans that Mayor Bill Purcell is supporting the construction of a new stadium for the Nashville Sounds.   

And the Thermal Plant site is just fine if that's where the Sounds think it should be.  In fact, it seems to be the perfect place.  Even though Sulphur Dell would have been a historic venue for the Sounds, professional baseball in any location is more important than attempts to bring back the personality, the memories, and the smell of 'the Dell'.

What we remember is from an earlier time, when folks visited the park every Sunday for a doubleheader on the trolley, by bus, by car, or even by carriage.

We can never reproduce the 'dump', with those line drives banging off of the lowest part of the right field fence for the second baseman to handle.

The deep center field flagpole with the flower garden and 'VOLS' laid out in stone beneath are fond memories, as is the Atlantic Ice house beyond the right field fence on Fourth Avenue.

It was a place where Carl Sawatski and Les Fleming punished opposing pitchers with lethal home runs.

It was a place where Tom Rogers pitched a perfect game in 1916.  It was a place where Larry Gilbert led his charges to Southern Association and Dixie Playoff championships.

It was a place where local favorite Buster Boguskie almost collected 7 consecutive hits.

It was a place where popular managers Dick Sisler and Jim Turner became vital cogs in the community to attempt to successfully revitalize the Vols when attendance was lacking.

With all of that history, many have wondered why the old Sulphur Dell site was not considered as a primary location for new stadium construction.

It was.

In early plans, the Sounds' Glenn Yaeger considered the location and tradition of the old ballpark as a prime spot, but developing the area would not have been feasible.  Yaeger knew the history of Sulphur Springs Bottoms (the area was named Sulphur Dell by Grantland Rice in the early 1900's), yet constructing a ballpark there was not beneficial to developmental support.

Holding on to hope that new life could be breathed into old memories by revitalizing Sulphur Dell is admirable, but let's give the Sounds and Glenn Yaeger their due.

We can still hold on to our memories.

It will be great to go a game and see the home team play in another ballpark that we can be proud of, and in 40 years some of us will be remembering Greer Stadium and how much fun it was to see a game, much like many of us are remembering Sulphur Dell today.  The support of the Sounds, Mayor Purcell, Glenn Yaeger, and the future hall of famers that may be playing in our city is essential if we want to keep baseball thriving in Nashville.

We can visit www.sulphurdell.com to share and relive those thoughts and recollections.

Congratulations, Glenn!  Congratulations, Mayor!  Congratulations, Nashville baseball fans!  Let's root, root, root for the home team!

--Skip Nipper, December 14, 2004

For more information, please visit www.nashvillesounds.com