AMARILLO, Texas — What you see here is a pile of rubble that was too long in the making, but which — I hope — will be gone in short order.
It is what is left of what they used to call Potter County Memorial Stadium, aka the Dilla Villa.
It sat on the corner of the Tri-State Fairgrounds in Amarillo. It has been knocked down and will be cleared away soon (I will presume) to make room for more functional uses on the property owned by Potter County.
The former Dilla Villa was a rathole. A dump. An eyesore.
The Dillas once were an independent baseball team that played ball in Amarillo. They were among a lengthy string of teams that once called this place a “home field.” The Dillas eventually gave way to another organization, but the management couldn’t even play all their home games in this dump. It was that unsuitable. They split their “home games” with a stadium in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
It was a sad turn of events.
Now, to be clear, you may spare me the crocodile tears about the stadium being the source of so many memories, going back deeply into the 20th century. The county simply didn’t perform upkeep on the place to keep it suitable for athletic events.
Instead, this one-time sports venue gave way to the modern park that emerged in downtown Amarillo, where the Sod Poodles play AA minor league baseball under the guidance of the National League’s Arizona Diamondbacks baseball franchise.
They recently set a home-field attendance record at Hodgetown. Fans are flocking to the still-shiny ballpark. The Soddies, moreover, are playing some good hardball downtown.
So, is the demise of the Potter County ballpark a reason for tears? Hardly. To this former Amarillo resident’s eyes, it’s reason for cheering.
Thanks for the memories, Dilla Villa, but your time has been up for a long while.