Check the stat sheet for The Ripken Experience-Myrtle Beach this year, and there's one number general manager Bobby Holland just doesn't like to see.
One hundred thirty. That's the number of teams of 13-year-olds and older that couldn't play in one of the complex's tournaments because there weren't enough fields.
That's about to change.
Work to add a third field for players ages 13 and older - the complex's eighth field overall - started this week. That $1 million investment will allow between 100 and 140 more teams the chance to play at The Ripken Experience next year, Holland said.
"It is going to have a tremendous impact on business," he said, walking through what will become the diamond's infield. "We had just been having to turn teams away. We just couldn't get them in because we only had two fields [for that age group]."
Business at The Ripken Experience, a partnership between Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. and Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc., has been brisk since the 50-acre complex opened off Mr. Joe White Avenue in Myrtle Beach in 2006, Holland said. Teams from across the country and overseas come to compete in tournaments on the AstroTurf fields and learn lessons of the game infused into the program by the Hall of Famer.
Like other tourism businesses along the Grand Strand, The Ripken Experience had a solid summer. More than 400 teams played during the 10 weeks of summer tournaments, with business up 26 percent from summer 2009, Holland said. Players came from as far away as Canada and Kuwait, he said. Some of the tournaments for next summer already are sold out.
The complex is a component in the Grand Strand's push to increase sports tourism, with the Ripken name luring visitors who might never have come to Myrtle Beach otherwise but are likely to return once they see what the area offers, said Brad Dean, president of the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.
"It's a hook to get many first-time visitors here," he said. "They are very likely to return for a family vacation, golf vacation, weekend getaway."
To handle the overflow in the older age groups, the complex often has rented fields at Coastal Carolina University, BB&T Coastal Field and the Myrtle Beach and Carolina Forest high schools. Business has been so good that finding a parking space for opening ceremonies of the summer tournaments has been a challenge for all the players and proud parents.
By the end of the tournaments in October, 750 teams had played there this year, Holland said. Play has stopped for the winter - which has prompted a flurry of maintenance as well as construction of the new field - and will resume in February with high school and college spring training. The new field will be ready by the time the teams suit up next year, Holland said.
"Everything is going very well there," B&C spokeswoman Lei Gainer said. "Its programs are growing, and 2010 has been a banner year for the baseball complex."
The Exeter Cardinals from Pennsylvania have played in a summer tournament at Ripken every year since the complex opened, but nearly missed the chance during the summer after ending up on the waiting list. A team dropped out at the last minute, opening a spot for the Cardinals, but it was too close a call for coach Jay Waldman to risk again. He already booked the Cardinals for a July 2011 tournament.
"I don't even have my team picked yet," he said, adding that he picks the players ages 14 to 16 in January.
Waldman is thrilled that a new field will allow more teams of 13-year-olds and older to play. The competition and chance to play at least a half dozen games against good teams across the country are what make Waldman's team come back every year, he said. The team spent $16,000 on airfare, two rental cars and the tournament fee, which includes lodging at B&C's Myrtlewood Villas that can range from about $550 to $705 a person for a week's stay and play.
"This is the highlight of our year," he said. "I want my players to get a sense of what's out there."
The new field will allow The Ripken Experience to accommodate older players better, Cal Ripken Jr. said through a spokesman.
"The Ripken Experience has been a wonderful baseball destination for young ballplayers, and now and with the addition of the Ebbets Field 90-foot diamond, we will be able to grow and accommodate the older ballplayers more effectively. ... We are confident that this will enhance our operation and drive even more people to Myrtle Beach for baseball and vacation," Ripken said through his spokesman.
All the fields are patterned after old major league parks, including the Polo Grounds in New York and Griffith Stadium, which once was home to the Washington Senators in D.C. The new field will be modeled after Ebbets Field, the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers in New York.
Though heavy work didn't start until this week, the lights for the new 90-foot diamond already are in place - installed when the complex was built. The field was supposed to be included in that first phase of development but was benched after construction costs ran too high, Holland said.
"This is something we've been waiting to happen for five years," he said. "It was time to go ahead and do it."
The area had been blocked off, used as a place to store coquina to replenish all the paths through the complex and other maintenance items. It stuck out amid the meticulously manicured AstroTurf fields.
"It will be nice to see a baseball field instead of an eyesore," Holland said.
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