• Highlight: Mike Moustakas homers for the eighth time in eight games
• Attendance: 23,795
• Quote: "This old ballpark will soon no longer be. They can tear it down, but they can't tear down our memories.''
— Rosenblatt superintendent Jesse Cuevas
Jesse Cuevas stood near home plate Thursday afternoon, long before the gates at Rosenblatt Stadium opened for a final time for a baseball game.
What do you see, someone asked the stadium's longtime superintendent.
“I see ghosts,'' he said. “Ghosts of players, people and events. That got to me a little bit.''
Thursday was a day that Cuevas and everyone who loves Omaha's stadium on the hill knew was coming. Some of us dreaded it as it marked the last of the thousands of baseball games that had been played at Rosenblatt since the gates swung open for the first time on a chilly October afternoon in 1948.
Rosenblatt will remain operational for a couple of more months, serving as home to the Omaha Nighthawks football team in their first season of play. Omaha Central and Creighton Prep also plan to play a football game at the stadium.
But when Omaha Royals left-hander Tim Collins unleashed the final pitch of a 6-2 victory at 9:42 p.m. Thursday, it marked an end of an era.
“It got me in the gut a little bit when I saw that last out being caught out there in center field,'' said Steve Rosenblatt, son of the former mayor who was so instrumental in getting the place built. “Because that was it.''
Johnny Rosenblatt brought his son to the stadium on opening day in 1948, when a team of professional players defeated a local sandlot team 11-3 in an exhibition game.
Countless other fathers over the years have brought their sons, or daughters, to Rosenblatt to treat them to a first baseball game at the stadium where Bob Gibson, Willie Mays and George Brett played.
“I've been coming to this place since I was 4 years old,'' Ryan Jaber said. “First game I ever saw was the Omaha Royals.''
Jaber and friend Mike Covin were among those arriving early Thursday. They came to tailgate, showing up around 2 in the afternoon dressed in dark suits, white shirts and ties.
“We're coming to a funeral,'' said Covin, 25 and, like his buddy, a staunch Royals fan. “I guess everything has to come to an end. I'm sad to see it go because the atmosphere of baseball around here is really going to change.''
For the most part, though, it was a funeral without tears. The night was more celebration than melancholy. The Royals management did it best to keep things on a high note. The fans — the attendance was announced at 23,795 although it seemed more like a crowd of about 16,000 — were set on making it a night to remember.
“It was a great night,'' Royals General Manager Martie Cordaro said, “and this facility deserved it.''
The stadium, built in the late 1940s at a cost of a million dollars, has served Omaha's baseball community well. It had become best known as home of the College World Series since 1950 but had been constructed to bring professional baseball back to the city and served as home to teams from three organizations — the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Kansas City Royals.
Most of the crowd stayed around for the postgame festivities, which opened with a video tribute to the stadium. Then Cuevas, who first started working at the stadium as a ballboy in 1969, addressed the crowd.
He has had difficulty hiding his displeasure with the decisions that will send the CWS to Omaha's new downtown stadium next season and the Royals to the suburbs. Speaking on behalf of those who have worked at Rosenblatt throughout the years, he wished the crowd well in his final farewell.
“Vaya con dios,'' said Cuevas, always proud of his Mexican heritage. “This old ballpark will soon no longer be. They can tear it down, but they can't tear down our memories.''
He then drew perhaps the night's loudest ovation when he turned toward the left-field stands.
“Viva la Rosenblatt,'' he shouted, repeating the phrase twice more to fans seated in the center of the grandstands and right field.
Members of Cuevas' crew then removed home plate, which will be sent to Cooperstown, N.Y., to the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The night closed with Steve Rosenblatt hitting a final pitch delivered by Tom Kelly, grandson of the pitcher of the same name who threw the first pitch at the stadium in 1948. After a fireworks display, it was time to say goodbye.
An hour after that final out, the stadium had pretty much cleared of spectators. Work crews soon will begin preparing the field and the stadium for the Nighthawks' first game later this month. It will be then, Cuevas said, that what happened Thursday night will really hit him.
“In a couple of days, you'll walk up that ramp and you won't recognize this place,'' he said. “It won't look like the ballpark we grew up in. So take a long look at it tonight.''
Before leaving Thursday night, I did. For the last time.
Contact the writer:
679-2298, steve.pivovar@owh.com
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• Video: See highlights from the Royals' last night at Rosenblatt:
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