Another piece of history went off into the sunset this weekend, as 500 seats from Ray Winder Field, the former home of the Arkansas Travelers (Class AA; Texas League), were given away to baseball fans waiting overnight in line.
Fans arrived on Friday night for the Saturday morning giveaway of the old-fashioned metal-and-iron folding chairs, as the city decided to give away 500 and destroy the rest, a move that mystifies us to a degree: there’s a market for used ballpark seats, especially historic old one like the wood-and-metal seats at Ray Winder Field. Bill Valentine, former Travs GM and the many synonymous with Travelers baseball for decades, was on hand to sign seats and other items snapped up by fans.
In the end, it was just the beginning of the dismantling of a great old ballpark.
RELATED STORIES: Ray Winder sale goes through; Proposal calls for imaginative preservation of Ray Winder Field; Ray Winder Field gets temporary reprieve; Four proposals submitted for Ray Winder Field
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