BY SPENCER CAMPBELL
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. – It’s Hank Aaron’s fault. Ever since Tim Johnston watched Hammerin’ Hank chase down Babe Ruth, the Bristol native can’t help but nervously await the beginning of professional baseball in his hometown.
His patience paid off at 7:09 p.m. on Tuesday night, when the Bristol White Sox officially kicked off their 40th season of minor league baseball.
“The beginning of baseball season. Finally,” said Johnston, who has been coming to opening day festivities since the Bristol Tigers were in town in the 1970s. “I’ve loved baseball all my life. All my life. There’s always something new to do, and I enjoy every minute of it.”
For Bristol residents, opening day means the return of professional baseball to a city that has supported it since 1911. With the closest big league club hours away, the Appalachian League represents the only live baseball many local residents will see all summer.
To Johnston, now working as the team’s promotions manager, it promises another season of rooting on Shaydron Buckridge, Steven Upchurch and the rest of his favorite BriSox players. But it also gives him an opportunity to share summer nights with his son, Caleb, who was a batboy and now handles the team’s musical accompaniments.
“Of course, this is a great father-son activity,” Johnston said. “This is something we can do together for the rest of our lives.”
David Roark, however, sees opening day as another coronation, another year as “Big Dave, King of the Hill.”
For almost 15 years the Bristol native has attended nearly every BriSox home game. With season tickets starting at $35 for 30 home games, Roark figured a better bargain could not be found.
But he won’t try to fool you. Roark loves being King David.
Every game finds Roark perched on top of the grassy hill that lines DeVault Stadium’s third-base line. From his lofty nest, Roark heaves his booming voice around the complex with ease, calling out blind umpires and harassing stadium official Judy Bellamy with buttery calls of, “Judy, Judy, Judy!”
“I love to come out here and aggravate people,” Roark said. “Stir up trouble. I do a lot of aggravating and cutting up. I just enjoy having fun. We’ve got like a little family up here on the hill. Judy calls us the ‘Hill People.’ ”
For 24 BriSox players, however, Tuesday’s opening day meant the beginning of a professional career – albeit a 6-2 loss to the Greeneville Astros in which Bristol went hitless into the seventh inning.
Still, for pitcher Chase Cooney, who worked a perfect ninth inning, the loss wasn’t enough to damper the beginning of his lifelong dream.
“When I first got up in the bullpen I was a little nervous,” Cooney said. “But when I got on the mound I just looked at it as another game. It’s a dream come true, for sure.”
scampbell@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2543
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