Editor’s note: Al Lesar worked at the “South Bend Tribune” for 32 years. While there he covered Notre Dame football and basketball as well as any other sport in Michiana. He retired in 2017, got rid of his snowblower, and moved to the Knoxville, Tenn. area. He still keeps a pulse on the area from afar.
It was at the time, and still is, the hardest I’ve ever seen a baseball hit.
Legend has it, in some alternate universe, that baseball is still bouncing.
It was a perfect spring night in May, 1992. Anyone who has lived through more than a couple springs in South Bend knows that perfect nights are hard to come by.
Coveleski Stadium was packed. More than 5,000 people were there to see future Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk play in his one-game injury rehab for the South Bend White Sox. When a Big Leaguer is hurt, it’s common practice for the parent club — in this case, the Chicago White Sox — to send him to a Minor League affiliate to make sure he’s recovered and ready to get back to the grind.
The South Bend White Sox, Chicago’s Class A affiliate at the time, was a logical spot for the catcher who was at the tail end of his career. 90 miles down the Toll Road was a convenient venue for Fisk’s brief appearance.
It was a mid-week game, but I can’t remember the day. Fisk batted three times in a South Bend uniform — a walk, an obscure out, and possibly the most massive blast ever hit in the stadium’s 37-year history.
Fisk launched a shot that seemed to be still rising as it sailed over the left field fence. It completely cleared the synagogue/team store several yards beyond the fence, and there aren’t any eye witnesses to say the ball actually did land somewhere.
Again, another legend.
That’s one of the best stories I’ve had from many, many years of attending games as a fan and a reporter at Coveleski Stadium (with Four Winds Field now added to its name). It has been an asset to the community for almost four decades.
Some might find it hard to think of South Bend without a Minor League Baseball affiliate, but, the truth is, there was “a meeting that never happened” that ultimately made the stadium possible.
Three years ago, Jack Colwell, a former colleague at the “South Bend Tribune” and one of the best political writers in Indiana, wrote about a book by former South Bend Mayor Roger O. Parent, who was credited with making the stadium a reality.
In 1986, a group known as Fair Tax Inc. was very vocal in its opposition to using public funds to build a stadium. The Republican-based group used several tactics, even going so far as spreading unfounded rumors about conflicts of interest, to thwart the plan of the Democrat Parent.
As it is now, Indiana was a Red State in ’86. Robert Orr, a Republican, was governor. He had appointed three tax commissioners, who would need to approve the project if the city went with a lease-purchase agreement with a financial institution.
The city hired an Indianapolis law firm that had close ties to Orr.
The law firm set up a meeting with Parent and civic leaders and Orr. The condition was that nobody was to know about the meeting. Orr brought along the three tax commissioners, which Parent took as a good sign.
After the civic group presented its case, Orr and the tax commissioners had some questions. When it wrapped up, Parent said the governor was succinct in his opinion.
“This appears to be a good project,” was all Orr said.
Days later, while Fair Tax Inc. was running victory laps without knowing of the meeting, the tax commissioners voted 2-1 in favor of the project.
Shortly thereafter, construction began and the history of Coveleski Stadium was cemented.
It’s amazing that a crown jewel of the city of South Bend came down to one vote and a meeting that never happened.