Three Up, Three Down
While lounging in the bowels of Petco Park on a leather easy chair — the home of the San Diego Padres is so well-appointed that even its bowels feature fine accoutrements — I noticed an old pal exchange a pleasant greeting with a baseball legend near the elevator to the press box.
“Hello, Jerry.”
“Hiya, Tim.”
It was Jerry Coleman, the 85-year-old Padres broadcaster, and Tim Neverett, the former voice of the Las Vegas 51s and Thunder hockey who after 85 years of trying — or so it seemed — has finally landed his big league play-by-play job, with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“That’s when you feel like you’ve arrived, when they walk up and slap you on the arm and call you by name. I had that happen last night (with Dick Enberg),” says Neverett, 44, who had become so disillusioned by the odds stacked against someone like him — someone who had never played in the big leagues — getting a job in the booth that he interviewed for a position in the gaming industry with Harrah’s.
He finally got the Pirates’ post from a field of nearly 300 who applied.
“For once, the roulette wheel landed on my number,” he said.
Neverett is the fourth former Las Vegas baseball announcer to get the call-up, joining Paul Olden (Rays, Indians, Angels), Ken Korach (White Sox, Athletics) and Rich Waltz (Marlins).
“It’s been unbelievable. As much as I enjoyed Triple-A ball, the (major league) season goes by so much faster,” said Neverett, who bought a home north of Pittsburgh, in Gibsonia, Pa., where he, wife Barbara and three sons share a backyard “with about a million deer.”
“You get the third deck in stadiums, and the lights are a little brighter,” he said. “It’s all I ever wanted.”
Well that, and $91 per diem, in a little envelope handed out by the traveling secretary.
With that, Tim Neverett pressed the button for the elevator.
It was going “Up.”
THREE UP
■ Western Metal Supply building: Not only is the inveterate brick warehouse rising above the left-field line the most distinctive feature of Petco Park — and a brilliant example of adaptive reuse — its balcony is a wonderful spot to watch a ballgame. During the seventh inning Thursday, I overheard a guy from Pittsburgh now making his home in Henderson telling his pals that it was all but a done deal that an NBA franchise would be moving into a new bazillion-dollar arena on the Strip. Naturally, I set him straight and asked the bartender in the Hall of Fame Bar & Grill to cease serving him Pacifico Clara in giant 32-ounce cups.
■ SAN DIEGO DOWNTOWN WATERFRONT SUPER CHARGERS: One of the proposals for a new Chargers football stadium calls for building a 96-acre deck on top of a marine cargo terminal, an engineering feat that could cost as much as $800 million. Upon further review, better make it another round of Pacificos in giant 32-ounce cups.
■ MIGHTY SAILING MEN: We were tripping around San Diego Bay, marveling at sea lions and rich guys entertaining secretaries on 90-foot super sloops off Shelter Island near Point Loma when Capt. Hornblower came over the loudspeaker to say the public can now go sailing on “Stars and Stripes,” the yacht on which Dennis Conner got boat-raced in the 1983 America’s Cup (and won four others). Capt. Hornblower also mentioned a “nominal fee,” after which he snickered like Popeye.
THREE DOWN
■ “SCOOP” VESSELS: On Wednesday afternoon, while cruising west on California State Route 76 near the small town of Bonsall in pursuit of a cool ocean breeze, I noticed a sign for a stallion farm owned by the former off-road racing champion, a Las Vegas favorite and one of the founders of NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. That night, on the 11 o’clock news, they said 57-year-old Frank “Scoop” Vessels had been killed when the small plane he was piloting crashed in Oregon on Wednesday morning. How eerie is that?
■ DEL MAR DAILY DALLIANCE: It was surf meets turf meets bumper meets another bumper on Pacific Coast Highway after the Real Good Deal Stakes at Del Mar Race Track on Wednesday. On Sept. 4, it’ll be surf meets turf meets dark sunglasses meets beards meets black leather jackets meets guitars. ZZ Top is playing a free concert at Del Mar that night. Bet Billy Gibbons across the board and plan on spending the night in Solana Beach.
■ JUNIOR-FREE ZONE: I spent the better part of two days walking the scenic Embarcadero on San Diego’s downtown waterfront without seeing one Dale Earnhardt Jr. T-shirt. It was mostly Save the Whales down there, two for 15 bucks, at least until you made your way to Seaport Village, where it was Save the Whales and a lot of wind chimes that seemed overpriced.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.