Gully, the team mascot, welcomes fans to Wednesday night's Newport Gulls game at Cardines Field.

Journal photo / Kris Craig

 NEWPORT – It was a late-arriving crowd, which probably wasn’t surprising.

 After all, it was early evening on what had been a sunny day, and on warm, sunny days in Newport there’s a lot to do –– like lay on a beach or sail a boat.

 So, some of the fans at Monday night’s Newport Gulls baseball game didn’t see the game’s first pitch. By the time the Gulls came to bat in the bottom of the first inning, however, most of the 3,000 or so spots on the Cardines Field wooden grandstands were filled.

 Even the sun, sand, surf and the solitude of sailing can’t keep Newporters – and a lot of other Rhode Islanders – from flocking to the Gulls these days.

 This is the ninth year that the Gulls, a team of college baseball players from around the country, have been in Newport. Like most great love affairs, Newport’s passion for the Gulls has steadily heated up over the years.

 “I think when we started out the first year we averaged 680 a game, then the next year was about 820, the next year was 1,020. Now it’s up to 2,200 a game,” Gulls general manager Chuck Paiva said.

 “What happens is in June when school is going on the crowds are a little lower. But this time of the year, with the good weather, we pack this place. They say the capacity is 3,000, but it’s like church, when it starts filling up you ask people to move to the middle and we can squeeze a few more than 3,000 in here”

 They play in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, a 12-team circuit with teams from cities and towns like Manchester and Keene, N.H.; Lowell, Pittsfield and New Bedford, Mass.; Danbury Conn; Sanford, Maine and one team representing the state of Vermont.

 The NECBL doesn’t have the reputation of the longer-established Cape Cod Summer College League, but it’s filled with collegiate players whose dream is to take their baseball talents to the professional level.

 All they need to do is look at the Gulls alumni roster to see that it’s possible. A total of 70 former Gulls players are either playing or have played in the professional baseball ranks, including Chris Iannetta, the former St. Raphael High All-State catcher from Providence who now is the starting catcher for the Colorado Rockies.

 And while the teams may be from New England cities and towns, most of the players spend the academic year at colleges throughout the country.

 On the 25-player Newport roster, there are four players from the University of Washington and two from Washington State, plus players from schools such as Vanderbilt, Virginia, Hawaii, Wake Forest, South Carolina, Ohio State, Oregan, Long Beach State and the University of Kansas.

 Dave Palms, the former Hendricken star, who was one of the top pitchers in the Ivy League this spring while pitching for Princeton, and Dylan Stone, the former Portsmouth High star who now plays for Bryant University, are the only Rhode Island natives on the team.

 They’re all college undergraduates with at least one year of college eligibility remaining and most have a couple of years remaining in their college careers. A few were late-round Major League draft choices when they came out of high school a few years ago but opted to go to college. Under Major League rules that means they cannot be drafted again until the end of their junior collegiate seasons.

 So they play 60-70 game college seasons then come to Newport to continue improving their game and hope the people rating Major League prospects take notice.

 It all means the quality of baseball is good, but Newport’s love affair with the Gulls is about more than just college kids playing baseball games.

 It’s a blend of history, good baseball and family fun. Plus, there’s the ambiance of a Newport summer night with the sun setting over Newport Harbor only a few hundred yards behind home plate.

 The games are played on one of the country’s oldest baseball fields. Walk up to Cardines Field and, if you didn’t know better, you would think Steven Spielberg is back in town and has set up a Hollywood-type set for the making of a 1930s baseball movie.

 The stone and wooden façade faces America’s Cup Avenue, with the little ticket window that hasn’t changed since it was built in the 30s. Inside are a dozen or so rows of wooden grandstand benches that run from third base to first base, covered by a wooden roof in a couple of areas.

 There’s nothing comfortable about watching baseball at Cardines, but it’s a classic baseball experience.

 There’s only about 15 feet behind home plate to the wooden wall that runs in front of the grandstands and it’s even closer down the third baseline, meaning the third base coach is literally standing against the wall as he waves home runners.

 Baseball at Cardines is up close and personal for both the players and the fans.

 Ironically, back in the 1980s there was talk about leveling the facility and turning it into a parking lot to accommodate the summer tourist trade. Fortunately, a historically enlightened gentleman named Ron MacDonald, who also was a big baseball fan, led an effort that convinced city officials that wouldn’t be a good move.

 So today Cardines serves as the home of not only the Gulls, but also the century-old Newport Sunset Amateur Baseball League, a Newport American Legion team and the local Babe Ruth League.

 And while it certainly doesn’t come close to rivaling the Bellevue Avenue mansions or the Cliff Walk as a Newport tourist attraction, it has become one more “must-see” site the city’s tourist commission can put in its brochure.

 “Last week a family from some place out-of-town was here and when they returned home they send me an e-mail saying it was the best baseball experience they ever had,” said Paiva. “We had people who are touring the Major League parks and stop here for some reason and say it was one of their best baseball experiences. I think it’s the history of the field, the fans packed in here right up on the field, the quality of the baseball and the family entertainment aspect.”

 But while there are always some out-of-towners in the stands, there’s no question the majority of the fan base is local.

 That’s exactly the way Paiva and the ownership team of him and four other local self-proclaimed “baseball guys” wanted when they took over the team in 2003.

 The first thing they did was set up the Gulls as a nonprofit organization so in essence the team belongs to the community.

 “We have never taken one cent out of this team. Everything goes back to the community. We have been fortunate to be able to give back about $50,000 a season to other area nonprofits,” said Paiva. “This is all about the community. The players all stay with host families in the area and their summer jobs are working with the kids at baseball camps that we run at Little League facilities around the area.”

 A night with the Gulls certainly is affordable, which makes it even more attractive these days. Game tickets are $4 for any seat in the house. Children between 13 and 18 pay $2 and children 12 and under are $1. There’s even a $2 senior rate.

 And how old do you have to be to get the senior rate? Paiva was asked

 “Have gray hair,” he said with a laugh. “If somebody says they’re a senior we’re not going to argue. This isn’t about ticket prices. It’s about giving people a chance to enjoy good baseball and have fun with their family.”

 So game nights are an intermingling of baseball and on-field fan participation, usually involving the young fans.

 It’s all handled smoothly without interrupting the flow of the game. Monday night they played nine innings of baseball, scored a total of 16 runs (a 13-3 Newport victory) and ran, among other on-field activities, the YMCA-song dance contest and the flip-flop and bath robe relay race – all in a little over two hours.

 Major League baseball doesn’t play too many games in that time span and they don’t have a flip-flop-bath-robe relay.

 And on the field the players certainly are giving the local fans their money’s worth – and a lot more.

 Going into a Wednesday’s night game, the Gulls were leading the six-team Eastern Division of the NECBL by 2 ½ games with a league-best 18-8 record.

 “The level of baseball here is just amazing, said Palms. “All of these players definitely have an opportunity to play at the next level and want to play at the next level. They have dedicated their summers to traveling here from across the country to play baseball. The people of Newport know the Gulls and they come to the games. It’s amazing here with fans packed in, right up near the field.”

 Even, if it is a late-arriving crowd.

jgillool@projo.com