It also provides direction for outdoor facilities, including enclosed hitting and pitching tunnels and new guidelines for stadium batter's eyes, walls and tarps. The city also made available, through backup materials, a 13-page document titled "PDL Facility Standards." While it does not say where it was created, the document is marked as confidential and contains a laundry list of minimum and recommended requirements for player lockers, training rooms, eating areas and other indoor spaces. Included in that are $1.1 million in player-specific additions, including a new weight room facility and clubhouse renovations that would increase space and create access for female players, staff and umpires. The city, and its 90-year old stadium, Modern Woodmen Park, will make $5 million in changes for fans, players and officials. While little information has been made public at individual sites, the city of Davenport, Iowa, could provide a clue about what's in store for affiliated clubs in the coming years. Subscriber exclusive: Pod seating, cashless concessions: Fayetteville Woodpeckers games will look much different in 2021 With improvement comes cost and a chance to make radical change. Populous, which has worked on stadiums and arenas around the world, even put a sponsored article on respected baseball website before MLB's announcement, touting its credentials for future projects. These improvements expect to increase pay, reduce travel and provide improved facilities and opportunities for improvement. In February, MLB unveiled its list of affiliated teams, as well announced their agreement to be Professional Development League members. Stadium improvements across Minor League Baseball are one section of a significant upgrade to the sport below the Major League Baseball level. What sort of improvements must be made to MiLB stadiums? SRP Park opened in 2018 and was voted Ballpark Digest's Ballpark of the Year that season. together at this point."Įven newer ballparks, like SRP Park in North Augusta, S.C., home of the Augusta GreenJackets, need upgrades. "We just received these a few months ago so we are in the process or getting quotes, plans, etc. "Currently, the city of Kinston hasn’t made any improvements to meet the new requirements (for the ballpark)," he said. Kinston's Grainger Stadium is also one of the oldest ballparks in the minors as it enters its 73rd year this year.ĭown East Wood Ducks Vice President Wade Howell said his club must also make adjustments and is working to meet them before next season. Kinston's Grainger Stadium also needs improvements It was completely rebuilt in 1993 for approximately $3 million and, prior to the 2015 season, stadium seats were installed throughout the ballpark for a price of approximately $250,000, DeWine said. The field has seen plenty of changes in its 97 years. "It is a sliding timeline but most (of those improvements) must be completed by Opening Day 2023," he said. The female staff accommodations and player amenities are required by Major League Baseball, DeWine said. MiLB: Minor League Baseball forced to find new revenue streams amid COVID-19 pandemic We will continue to work with the City of Asheville to ensure that Minor League Baseball continues in Asheville for another 100 years.” “This will include adding female staff accommodations, modernizing player amenities and upgrading fan amenities. All parties involved understand it will need significant upgrades to meet the new Major League Baseball standards,” DeWine said. “We were thrilled to receive the invitation from the Houston Astros and Major League Baseball to continue Minor League Baseball in Asheville. He said he and his staff are ready for the challenge. Tourists President Brian DeWine said to keep the team in Asheville, he knows more improvements will be needed at the old ballpark, which received its last major renovation in 2015. Asheville Tourists' stadium will need upgrades Major League Baseball announced it was cutting its number of Minor League affiliates from 162 to 119.Īsheville made the cut. Thirty-two years after that fictional event, there was a chance that the Asheville Tourists ballclub also could’ve been hung up.ĭue to the coronavirus pandemic, there was no 2020 season, and there was big news across the Minor-League landscape in December. “I hit my dinger and I hung ‘em up,” Davis, played by Kevin Costner, told Susan Sarandon's Annie Savoy. 247 in the 12th year of his Minor League career in Asheville, he was done. He needed just one more dinger to break the all-time Minor League record of 246, and after he hit No. Asheville’s McCormick Field will be forever remembered for a historic home run by the fictional character Crash Davis in the 1988 film “Bull Durham.”
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