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Big League Stew

Fri Mar 04 08:32pm EST

Ballpark dryer lives up to nickname in early morning fire

By Mark Townsend

A large clothes dryer located under the right field stands at Goodyear Ballpark — spring home of the Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians — caught fire on Friday and some ballpark workers were not surprised.

Bud Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explains:

Turns out that the dryer that caught fire at 6 a.m. MT today at Goodyear Ballpark was moved from Winter Haven, Fla., site of the Indians former spring training home, to Goodyear when the team moved to the desert three years ago.

The big dryer was nicknamed "The Burner' because it ran hot.

Appliances are far from my area of expertise, but I probably would have gone ahead and replaced the old dryer when I made my move across the country, or at least at the point when it started showing signs of becoming a potential fire hazard. 

Thankfully the fire was said to be relatively small in nature, and easily extinguished by the Goodyear Fire Department upon their arrival. There were no injuries reported.

From SB Nation Cleveland:

“The sprinkler systems worked effectively and contained the fire to limit the damage,” said Bart Swain, the Indians’ director of media relations. “Fortunately, no one was hurt and we plan on playing today’s game as scheduled.”

Indeed the game was played as scheduled, although pregame routines were slightly altered to accommodate a cleanup of the right field warning track after the stadium's suppression (sprinkler) system was initiated.

Because of this the Colorado Rockies were forced to take batting practice back at their facility in Scottsdale before making the short drive.

The Tribe went on the win the game 6-2 behind a solid effort from staff ace Fausto Carmona(notes), closer Chris Perez(notes), and a handful of impressive minor league arms.

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