12-23-2004
Slugger's will cater to city's ballpark crowd
Stadium attracts new pizzeria to N. Queen St

By Patrick Burns
Intelligencer Journal
Published: Dec 23, 2004 9:51 AM EST

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Build it and we will open a business.
That's what a Lancaster couple said before buying the property at 701 N. Queen St., home of Slugger's Pizzeria.
Opened last month, the pizzeria is the first new business directly linked to the Barnstomers, Lancaster's new professional baseball team, and Clipper Magazine Stadium, the Barnstormers' home field, under construction a block from Slugger's.
Owners Chris and Tracey Ditzler said they initially had little desire to open a business in the city.
But that all changed. Now Chris Ditzler peers out the storefront windows, visualizing Clipper Stadium's outfield wall rising from North Prince Street above the rooftops along New Street.
"We always dreamed of opening a business with a sports theme; when news of the stadium broke, I was looking all over the northern section of town for property," Ditzler said.
"But without baseball, I doubt we would be in the city right now."
Slugger's puts a face on what elected officials estimate will be a nearly $500 million investment in the area around the ballpark.
That figure includes a $100 million investment by Lancaster General Hospital, which this month opened the $68 million Lancaster General Orthopedic Center and the recently completed $15 million expansion of its emergency department.
At least $8 million in private investment is under way to complement the $25 million investment in the 5,700-seat Clipper Stadium, scheduled to open in May.
Private projects under construction include Champion Center, a renovated warehouse that will be home to several restaurants and retail shops at Harrisburg Avenue and North Charlotte Street; and the Brickyard, a sports bar just north of the ballpark on North Prince Street.
Franklin & Marshall College plans to spend at least $50 million on a proposed $24 million life sciences building and other projects, and Lancaster Amtrak Station is getting an $8.5 million facelift.
Although Slugger's replaced an existing pizza parlor, and several other restaurants have come and gone at the site, Ditzler predicted the baseball-themed business will be a hit.
While there are no plans for home plate-shaped pizzas or baseball-sized meatball sandwiches, Ditzler said he's working on "Barnstormer specials."
"I want to make it special for people going to the games," he said.
Customers entering Slugger's are greeted by a framed 1982 yearbook of the Lancaster Lightning, which won the Continental Basketball Association championship in that inaugural season.
The Lightning initially averaged more than 900 fans a game, but when attendance dipped to about 600 fans per game, the team moved to Baltimore in 1985.

"I believe they were the last professional team Lancaster ever had," Ditzler said.
While Slugger's is the Ditzlers' first business venture, Chris is no stranger to the pizza business. He worked more than 11 years at Papa Dino's, owned by his uncle and cousins.
He and his wife worked for months to refine the pizza sauce at Slugger's.
"They say 70 percent of the pizza's taste comes from the sauce, so I wanted to get that right, as close to a New York-style sauce as you can get," Chris said.
"Who knows. With a little luck, the New York style might rub off on the team, and the Barnstormers can build a winning tradition like the Yankees."