The Church of Baseball

 This year will mark the 15th season of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chase Field, formerly known as BOB, Bank One Ball Park. If you follow baseball you may remember back when the new stadium opened in 1998. At the time it was deemed the most state-of-the-art facility in the country and sported a retractable roof, million-dollar electronic displays and a pool opposite the mound which today can be rented at a cost of $6500 per game.

Yet, when it opened on that first day, it was a decidedly low-tech feature which caught people’s eye and stopped them in their tracks. Thirty two back-lit display cases which had been built into the massive columns of the mezzanine level brought baseball history to eye level and close enough to almost touch. The cases included old gloves and uniforms, colorful pennants and faded photographs, catchers masks and gate tickets, newspaper accounts and signed autographs. It was reported that “crowds stood three deep” around the cases, and even the designer who had worked on every aspect of the new ballpark acknowledged that the cases might prove a better return on their investment than the flashier digital timeline which had been installed to display clips of baseball history to TV monitors strategically placed around the mezzanine.

“ I believe in the Church of Baseball. I tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I’ve worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. WHen I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance.” 

Ron Shelton, Bull Durham, 1988

“One day a guy walked into my store and says,’ I’ll take your three best gloves.’ So I got to talking to him and found out his company had been awarded the design contract for uniforms to be worn by Arizona’s new major league expansion team.  The gloves were to be thank-you gifts to Jerry Colangelo, Rich Dozier and Joe Garagiola. So I offered to pull 30 of my best gloves and bring them down to their offices and let them select the ones they wanted,” says Bengtson. The next day the company selected a late 1930’s catcher’s mitt for Joe Garagiola and two early 1900’s players gloves for Colangelo and Dozier.

That got him thinking that the new ballpark might want to use some of his other inventory as displays and he contacted Bank One Ballpark and talked to Ramon Plaza, the marketing specialist for the new stadium. Plaza politely turned him down explaining  they already had plans and wouldn’t be interested. A month went by and Bengtson called him again. And again was told the ballpark had other plans.

Yet, Bengtson couldn’t get the idea out of his mind that his inventory would be a great fit for the new ballpark, so he decided to change his tactics. This time when he called he started out by asking Plaza if he’d had been in Jerry Colangelo’s office or Ray Graziers and seen the gloves on display.

“Sure, “Plaza replied. “Jerry loves his glove!”

He paused and then said, with new interest as if talking to Bengtson for the first time. “Those are your gloves? That’s the kind of stuff you have? “ “Yeah, that’s right. Antique baseball stuff. That’s what I’ve got.” Bengtson replied.

Shortly afterwards, Plaza visited Nifties Antiques and asked him to put together a display case of what he had in mind.  Within a week Bengtson had fabricated a custom 2’ x4’ oak cabinet, designed a mock locker door using expanded metal and included some vintage balls, gloves, a uniform and cap and wheeled it up to the 8th floor of the Arizona Center where the Diamondbacks had their offices. He says he knew it was going to be a good day when he walked into the lobby and found some of the original old benches from . Sitting in the lobby were some of the original old benches from Comiskey Park home to the Chicago White Sox and Jerry Colangelo.

The next phone call from Plaza began what would become Bengtson’s full time occupation for the next 6 months.  It was Plaza asking him to take a drive over to the construction site for a walk-around.  As the two walked into the mezzanine area, Plaza pointed out 2 massive concrete support pillars and asked him what he thought of having displays built into the pillars.  “I was thinking how nice those two displays would look in the new ballpark, when Plaza went on to point out that there were 32 pillars located around the mezzanine.

“Do you have enough (merchandise) to do all 32? “

Well, if two display cases of your baseball memorabilia is cool. Then 32 is exponentially cool. Bengtson went to work, and temporarily shut the doors of his shop while he concentrated on outfitting 32 cases before the Park opened. His agreement with Plaza was that he would be paid for his time in designing each display and would initially outfit the cases with mostly his own collection until the Diamondbacks could create enough of their own history to fill the cases. Although he was not paid for the inventory he used in the cases, Plaza agreed to let him put the name of his store and a pager number in each display.

As the ballpark progressed, Plaza found more projects requiring Bengtsons expertise. He worked on a display of all the team uniforms and a large display space behind the concession stands which were to feature how a baseball, bat and glove are made. For that display, Rawlings, the sporting goods manufactured, provided all the materials and it was Bengtson’s job to assemble the pieces in a way that told the story of how each was made. He also worked on a large panorama measuring approximately 8ft by 40ft of starting first baseman, Travis Lee hitting the first home in the new stadium on March 31st in a game against the Colorado Rockies.

 

 

Bengtson, who had been raised by a father who often quoted Walt Disney when he would say,

“ While I strive for perfection, I will settle for excellence,” lived those words.

He began as an apprentice to his father who was a trim carpenter and master craftsman for Entz-White in Scottsdale. Both father and son put in nearly 20 years with the company and worked for some of the most demanding clientle throughout Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. Excellence was hardwired into their DNA. Fred Entz, when he finally retired and closed the business told Randy that he had been the best carpenter he’d ever had.

And, Bengtson says, of all the work he’d done at the ballpark up to that point, the four rosewood pieces represented perfection.

It wasn’t much later, that Bengtson got another visit from a gentleman who was scouting baseball memorabilia for a project honoring the 50th anniversary of sports broadcasting legend Vin Scully. The scout liked what he saw at Nifties Antiques, so Bengtson invited him to take a drive over to Bank One Ballpark and look at the work he’d done over there. The tour eventually led to the conference room where the four rosewood pieces still sat on loan.

 

The scout loved them the minute he saw the display and offered to buy them when he found out they were still officially ‘on loan’ and not purchased.  Bengtson thought he should give the home team another chance to purchase the set before they went to Dodger stadium but Plaza’s decision in the end was that the money might better be spent on public areas.

When the set of four art pieces were shipped off to Dodger stadium, Bengtson followed, having been hired now to go through the Dodger’s archives and design displays for a retrospective look at Dodger history which was to be on display for the 1999 season.

Bengtson was given access to history which hadn’t seen the light since it was put in storage and told he could pull anything he wanted for the displays. Working largely with Dodger memorabilia, he would still fill in with his own if a display needed a bat from the 40’s or a glove from the 20’s to give it the full effect. He spent nearly two weeks in LA and his last day was also the day the Diamondbacks had come to play the Dodgers for their opening day. His ‘bosses’ told him to take the day off and go enjoy the game.

Shortly after completing the displays for Dodger stadium, Bengtson decided to downsize his life and business and moved to Globe where he now maintains a booth at the Hill Street Mall and is building a house. He has no desire to run a full-scale antique shop like he did in Glendale.  Today, people buy and sell on Ebay and the business is just not the same. He maintains a booth at Hill Street Mall where he displays an old scoreboard from Coronado highschool and a pared-down inventory of baseball memorabilia and other collectibles.

He says he reserves his best pieces for occasions where he can present the merchandise in person and talk about it’s history.

Baseball memorabilia afterall is about the backstory.

Bengtson says he is content with his work now, but adds “ I wouldn’t mind doing another stadium if the offer came along.”