www.newrivervalley.com

Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Marty Gordon (center), director of baseball operations for the Pulaski Mariners, introduces the players at Calfee Park in Pulaski on Monday. The Pulaski Mariners hold their season opener at the park this evening against the Danville Braves.

PULASKI -- It's going to be a good season for the Pulaski Mariners.

A white cat walked the length of the outfield fence at Calfee Park in Pulaski on Sunday night. It jumped on the concrete wall at one end, walked along the outfield fence and made it around the entire field before hopping off on the other side.

Or so went the story told at Monday's team welcome luncheon, held by the Pulaski Chamber of Commerce.

"The Red Sox have the bad-luck curse; we have white-cat good luck," said Marty Gordon, director of baseball operations for the Mariners.

Tonight is the home opener for the Seattle Mariners rookie team, based at Calfee Park in Pulaski. The Mariners play the Danville Braves at 7 p.m.

This is the second year at Calfee Park for the Mariners, who lost to Elizabethton last year for the Appalachian League champsionhip after winning the Eastern Division.

Before that, the town was without a baseball team for a year after the Toronto Blue Jays affiliate left in 2007 after four seasons at the park.

"Baseball has been a part of Pulaski culture and life almost since the town was founded," said John White, economic development director for the town of Pulaski. "That's part of what makes it part of the town."

Years ago, textile mill workers in industrial towns such as Pulaski would form teams and play against other mill teams, White said.

In its early years, Calfee Park, built in 1935, was also used for horse shows and was the home football field for Pulaski High School.

"It was a multipurpose place for the community to come," White said.

It also provides a neutral site for an annual baseball game between Emory and Henry and Ferrum colleges, and was previously home to Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers affiliates.

From an economic standpoint, the team brings visitors to Pulaski from surrounding areas, White said. Those visitors, in turn, help the town's economy by buying gas, food and other merchandise.

It also helps get the town some good press, because scores are published in newspapers in Virginia and beyond, White said.

The park draws about 1,034 people per game, said Tom Compton, general manager and partner of the Pulaski Mariners.

"I can't think of anything else that has brought that many people here," Compton said.

Only about 40 percent of visitors to the park come from Pulaski on a given night, Gordon said. Many come from Wytheville, Galax and Hillsville, he said. Very few, however, come from Montgomery or Roanoke counties, he said, which the team is trying to change this year with promotions and games.

"We want to make this a regional team," Gordon said. "We're trying to pull people in from all over."

Promotions for the upcoming season include a used-car giveaway, a $10,000 giveaway and a "Love Stinks" night, complete with sessions from divorce lawyers, gold and diamond appraisers and a shredder for marriage licenses, Gordon said.

There will also be a free baseball game -- complete with beach music -- at 4 p.m. July 4. The remaining games on the 34-game home schedule each start at 7 p.m.

"The hope is people, even ones who have been laid off or worried about the bad economic times, will come into these walls and have a ball," Gordon said.

A new hitting building was also unveiled Monday. The building will be used for practice in inclement weather, Compton said.

The building would normally cost about $85,000, but because of volunteer labor and donated materials, the cost was closer to $40,000, Compton said.