Ticket sales won't be a problem.

It was standing room only at Monday night's sold-out village board meeting where a largely graying group of residents showed up to voice support for a proposal that would bring music legends Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson together for a concert at Doubleday Field in August.

Tim Wiles was one of the first to speak and it was obvious that his point of view of the concert was a natural - it fit like a glove.

For almost ten years Wiles, 39, has been the director of research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum library. He has edited a book of baseball poetry and each year he does his impeccable performance of "Casey at the Bat" during the Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. He is all about baseball.

And he has seen Bob Dylan 25 times.

"It doesn't get any better for me personally," he said Tuesday morning. "I would be glad to see him without doing anything other than walking out my front door and over to the field."

Wiles has been going to Dylan concerts since 1983 or '84 and most recently he attended a show in Washington D.C. after being in Baltimore for the Orioles' opening day.

Dylan has improved his live show immensely in the last ten years, he said, and the show two weeks ago was the best ever.

Lately his concerts have included more of the fabled songwriter's greatest hits.

"He has such a catalogue of great material. You never know which song will come next," Wiles said.

The Hall of Fame library has clipping files on baseball players and subjects and also those representing cultural figures, including Dylan. There are only seven or eight articles in Dylan's file, but Wiles said he has always been intrigued by one in which Dylan remarks about going to his son's Little League games. The image of Bob Dylan sitting in the back of the bleachers cheering for his son has stuck with Wiles.

The baseball researcher was also the first in a long line of residents who volunteered to help with the concert.

There will be lots to do, he said, and one of the most important will be cleaning up afterwards - a job he thinks the community can rally around.

"If you believe in the show, you ought to be willing to pitch in to help," Wiles said. He pointed to the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony and game as examples of how volunteers from the community help to staff local events.

"That's the kind of community we have," Wiles said.

Besides, he added, tickets may be hard to get and some shows sell out in less than half and hour.

Many others joined in his support of the concert.

CCS principal David Pearlman said he had heard poor arguments against the concert, including the crowd it will attract.

"Most of them will have gray or no hair," he said.

He also asked what kind of message it would send if Dylan and Nelson want to kick off their tour of minor league baseball stadiums in Cooperstown and the village told them no.

"I think the Dylan concert would be wonderful. I think it would be great for the community overall," said Fair Street resident and former trustee Stephen Mahlum.

But Lucia Colone, who lives right behind the field on Elm Street, was not as enthusiastic.

"I love Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, but I don't want them in my backyard," she said.

Colone said she was worried about the number of people who would be in town and what it would mean to her and her neighbors.

When she moved to her home 17 years ago, there were only a few games on the field, but now there are games almost every day all summer long. There is a village-owned piece of property between hers and the outfield wall and on Hall of Fame game days and she has had problems with people congregating in the area. "We haven't complained, but the concert is a whole different thing," she said.

Colone, who said she wasn't out to rain on anyone's parade, received assurances from mayor Carol Waller and Doubleday Field committee chairman Stu Taugher that the village would address the problem and would have sooner if it had been aware of the situation.

Less than a week ago, Taugher expressed concerns about the concert and its impact on the field, saying, "We're dealing with a national shrine here and I don't want it ruined on my watch."

But by Monday night's meeting, he was much more receptive.

Taugher said he had spoken with Don Sullivan, a talent buyer with concert promoter JAM Productions, who told him they would be willing to cover the field to protect the turf if it was necessary. According to Taugher, Sullivan said both performers want to be closer to the audience than they would be if seating on the outfield grass was prohibited.

Other trustees voiced the opinion that the concert would be good for the village.

Waller said she had confidence it the village staff and its "ability to plan and perform to their best if we decide tonight to go forward with Willie Nelson and Bob Dylan.

The mayor presented a motion to allow the village to enter into contract negotiations with the promoter that was approved unanimously.

"We're very thrilled. It's a key piece of our puzzle," Sullivan said Tuesday afternoon. "We're excited to be starting in Cooperstown."

Sullivan cautioned that he and the village had to negotiate terms, but said that he assumed they would be able to reach an agreement. Right now there are 22 potential dates on the tour of minor league ball parks.

The exact format of the concert has not been settled on, but Sullivan said he expects both performers would do a set and maybe play some songs together. When Dylan toured with the Greateful Dead last summer he joined the band for three songs. There may also be an as yet unnamed opening act, but that remains to be determined, he said.

Doubleday Field head groundskeeper Joe Harris said he welcomes the new challenge the concert will provide and that he believes they will be able to meet the needs of the performers and still address concerns about the turf.

"I do hope the people who are out on the field respect it for what it is," he said Tuesday. "I hope.they value the field enough so they won't damage it."

Asked what song he like most to hear, Wiles said, " I Believe in You," from Dylan's born-again Christian era in the late 70s.