[Eugene Church]

AROUND THE TOWN IN THE IPA

VOLUSIA VIGILANTES

Owner: Tierra Wools Consolidated

President/GM: Joaquin De la Hoya
Manager: Tubby Tarkanian

Volusia is a town of 99,000 on the banks of the Silver River in the rugged foothills of the Silver Mountains in west central Ruthlandia. In the early years Volusia was a gold and silver mining community. It was first settled by Portuguese and English emigres, who after the gold ran out, became sheepherders and farmers. Now the area is known for fine woolen clothing and textiles. Timber and paper products are also produced.

The Portuguese settlers were some of the earliest baseball enthusiasts in Ruthlandia and they organized the third amateur team in the country. Marston was the first, followed by La Grange. Because of the cultural tradition of "siestas", the Spanish played their games during this time of day, usually from 3 pm to 7 pm. Commerce and business would shut down. This custom and practice soon spread to the rest of the Ruthlandian townships and eventually to Tycobbia. The "siesta" in the Islands has come to mean quality time with family... and baseball fits this perfectly.

Many Volusians are bilingual, speaking Portuguese and English. About 30% of the population have a Portuguese heritage. Volusia is a member of the IPA's Ruthlandian Union and plays in the North Division. It is the home of the Vigilantes, so named for the citizen-lawmen, who brought law and order to the lawless wild, wild west in the Gold Rush days. Officially the Vigilantes play at Silver River Stadium, overlooking the beautiful Silver River, but it is often referred to as "The Jailhouse" by the locals. Part of the old terracotta-colored jail can be seen in right field. The inmates get a good view of the V's games and "cheap" season tickets, too. The team is affectionately called "The Jailhouse Gang".

The lovely old ballpark, constructed in 1919, is located right across the street from the police station, which wraps around the stadium on one side. The massive live oak trees that still dominate the city park landscape were used many times in Volusia's early history for vigilante frontier justice. Over the beautiful brick arches and center field wall, the fans get a great view of the Silver River and the downtown area, just across the river from the stadium.

A wonderful Tex-Mex band provides great music during the games. The V's fans bring their sombreros and during the seventh inning stretch, they do a Mexican hat dance. Concessions are unique, too. Tantalizing tacos, fantastic flans (custard) and scruptious fried ice cream are among the culinary delicacies at Silver River Stadium. Frozen daiquiries and margaritas are house specialities. Hot dogs, cokes and beer are available, too.

The Volusia Vigilantes are owned by Tierra Wools, a farm cooperative for sheep owners, weavers and spinners to market their products. Joaquin De la Hoya is the president and general manager of the club with Tubby Tarkanian as the field manager. Tarkanian was a good defensive catcher and modest hitter... he played 16 seasons with the V's, retired in '54 and was made skipper in '55... Tarkanian batted .262 in his career with 166 roundtrippers and 800 RBIs

Volusia won the inaugural IPA Pro Cup in 2001, sweeping the Ginza Ninjas of the Tycobbian Union in four games. The Vigilantes had finished second in the regular season to the Far Mountain Redhawks in the Ruthlandian North Division... in the early years the Islandian Pro Alliance had wild card teams in the postseason... in 2007 they cut it back to just division winners in the Pro Cup playoffs. Too many wild cards were winning the title. Many felt that the fairest way was to reward a division champion that had proven themselves in the regular season.

Silver River Stadium (1919)

Capacity: 10,250

Left Field Line - 325
Left Field - 375
Left Center - 410
Center Field - 400
Right Center - 410
Right Field - 375
Right Field Line - 325