Other articles by Jim Fisher:

South on Craycroft: Life at D-M by Jim Fisher : A final word: Soccer players teach a lesson in courage South on Craycroft: Life at D-M by Jim Fisher : Death of a soldier a tidal wave of pain South on Craycroft: Life at D-M Jim Fisher : Deployments take toll on spouses tending home fires South on Craycroft: Life at D-M by Jim Fisher : Military life is indeed one of duty, but it's more about values, purpose South on Craycroft: Life at D-M by Jim Fisher : Military voters take keen interest in race South on Craycroft: Life at D-M by Jim Fisher : Military moves easy; goodbyes difficult South on Craycroft: Life at D-M Jim Fisher : 5th anniversary of Iraq war just another day of service South on Craycroft: Life at D-M Jim Fisher : Flight program uplifting for UA's first couple South on Craycroft: Life at D-M Jim Fisher : Rescue-group commander hit right note on departure South on Craycroft: Life at D-M Jim Fisher : With the baby who walks, Dad is pooped at meeting

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Losing baseball teams has practically morphed from history into folklore in some communities.

The most famous of all examples may be Brooklyn, N.Y., where the Dodgers packed up in 1958 (along with the Giants) and headed to California.

The lamentations from that community have made their way into books, movies, music, maybe even the national consciousness.

The film footage of Ebbets Field being hit with the wrecking ball can be counted on to evoke a deeply sentimental sadness in anyone subjected to watching it.

As storied and sometimes glorious as the Dodgers of the '40s and '50s were, however, there were many nights where sparse crowds watched them play. Even before big money, the designated hitter and performance-enhancing drugs (all bad things, by the way) came along, baseball was a business.

Tucson has been confronting this reality with the impending departures of the White Sox and Sidewinders.

As more than 1,000 military fans in attendance at Hi Corbett on Wednesday showed, baseball is also important to people stationed at Davis- Monthan. We are not thrilled about the departure of the Sox, the Sidewinders and possibly pro sports in general from this community.

Now I don't want to compare Tucson's losing of these teams with what happened in Brooklyn, but I will make some connections on a smaller scale.

I grew up in Sacramento, Calif., where our Pacific Coast League team, the Solons, left when I was 7.

That city didn't get another professional baseball team until I was 30 and living in Anchorage, Alaska.

I also lived in the AAA cities of Albuquerque, Honolulu and Omaha, Neb. Two of these cities lost their teams.

Though not on the level of the Dodgers, the lamentations on the part of fans, even years after the team had left, were still very heartfelt, very real.

The absence of Sox and 'Winders will make the same kind of impact in Tucson.

Maybe we don't care enough about this issue. AAA teams go in cycles of popularity and apathy anyway. People love a night at the ballpark, but AAA baseball is about development more than competition, and it can be incredibly boring.

Cities begin to take their teams for granted and attendance slips, and pretty soon, a baseball-hungry town comes along and steals them away.

Sacramento ended up doing this to Vancouver, B.C., in 1999. It lured the PCL's Canadians away the way Reno lured the Sidewinders.

The Sacramento club, the River Cats (if you attend Sidewinders games and didn't know the names of these franchises, you're not there for the competition), has led the minor leagues in attendance every year since.

Maybe people in my hometown learned a good lesson. Maybe they got tired of driving two hours (sound familiar?) to the Bay Area to have a day at the ballpark.

With the departure of these two teams, we are in danger of having to drive two hours up the freeway (after 20 minutes across town even to get to the freeway) to watch professional baseball.

This was all on my mind Wednesday, as I joined the large military crowd at Hi Corbett. I became more worried as I discussed the issues with Ben Buehler-Garcia from Bases Loaded Tucson.  

Buehler-Garcia's group is a collection of volunteers interested in preserving spring training and professional baseball in general in Tucson, for civic and business reasons.

"We like baseball," he said. "But this is more of a quality of life issue. Spring training is one of the reasons it's great to be an airman stationed in Tucson."

He's 100 percent correct. Spring training is one of the first things brought up as a pro (the heat would be the first con) when airmen find out they are being assigned to Arizona.

According to Bases Loaded Tucson, it's also a main attraction for young professionals looking to relocate or stay here.

The group wanted to use the last Cactus League game at Hi Corbett this season as a way to show how important the issue is to Tucson. Local organizations bought up all the tickets they could, but the 1 p.m. Wednesday start time meant they would have some no-shows, so they invited D-M airmen to use some of the tickets. Because any issue that's important to Tucson is also important to the base, D-M Vice Commander Col. Bruce McClintock was on hand.

It all went very well, and I stood talking about the future to Buehler-Garcia long after the game had ended, as we watched the Rockies pack up and leave for Denver. There was a hint of the wrecking-ball-evoking sentiment present in the scene.

We need to support Bases Loaded and make every effort to retain and expand spring training and get another professional team to replace the 'Winders. If we don't, the Rockies (and the D-Backs) will soon be packing up for the last time.