By DON O'BRIEN

Herald-Whig Sports Editor

HANNIBAL, Mo. — Hannibal Cavemen general manager Mark Sanders sat in his office at Clemens Field on Monday morning, bluetooth device in one ear and his office phone stuck in the other.

That's a sign of the times as Sanders tries to get everything in order for the team's Prospect League debut Thursday against DuPage at Clemens Field.

"It's insanely busy," Thomas said. "There are so many little details."

Sanders took a brief respite from the bee hive of activity inside the Cavemen's office to soak in the sun Monday morning as the Cavemen went through their first drills under manager Jay Hemond. Nearly everything is in place for the Cavemen's 54-game Prospect League schedule, which will feature 27 dates at the refurbished Clemens Field.

The project has meet with overwhelming support from baseball fans and businesses in America's Hometown.

"Ticket sales have been crazy," Sanders said. "The great thing is people come buy every day. I can't tell you how many people have told me things like 'I grew up and lived at this place.' Or 'My dad played baseball here.'"

Clemens will look a bit different for those fans making a trek back to where they once played. The Cavemen ownership group has installed luxury suites down the left-field line. Four of those five suites have been sold for the season. Chair-back seats have been installed in the grandstand and several party decks have been installed with chair-back seating.

The outfield features a manual scoreboard — which will be run by someone wearing a Tom Sawyer outfit — with riverboat flutes that will billow smoke.

"It's come together good," said Cavemen co-owner Larry Owens, who was in charge of the renovation, which cost approximately $3.7 million. "It was on schedule the entire time. There was a lot of skepticism, but I kept telling people I was running a week and a half ahead of schedule.

"You really have to see the whole picture. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. You get the edge pieces in there and then you get some of the other pieces and before long every piece is in and the picture comes to life."

Sanders said he envisions Clemens being a lively place on most every night the Cavemen take the field.

"Ay the beginning, we thought if could get 1,000 or 1,200 during the week and maybe 2,000 on the weekend that would be fantastic," Sanders said.

"I think we'll do that and then some."

Sanders said Clemens' capacity is around 2,500.. He said the team is likely to sell out some games.

"If there's a seat available and we can find it, we'll get you in it," Sanders said.

— dobrien@whig.com/221-3365