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Cal Ripken Jr. to kick off construction of youth baseball fields in Fredericksburg Date published: 8/7/2010
BY EMILY BATTLE Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. will be in town Monday to mark the start of construction on a project he first pitched to Fredericksburg back in 2006. The Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, which Ripken junior and his brother, Billy, founded to honor their father, will break ground on the first phase of what is to be a three-field youth baseball complex in Fredericksburg's Bragg Hill neighborhood. Ripken will be on hand at a 10:30 a.m. ceremony at the field site, on city-owned land at the end of Wicklow Drive off Fall Hill Avenue. The foundation recently completed a $2.25 million fundraising drive for the first phase of the youth field complex, which consists of one turf field, an educational programming building and other support elements. Foundation officials hope to get full-blown construction--beginning with grading the site--under way by the end of August, and hope to have the field ready to open by next spring. In the meantime, fundraising has already begun on the project's second and third phases, which consist of two additional turf fields, expected to cost $400,000 apiece. One field will be designated as an "ability field," specially designed to provide a safe place for children with physical and mental disabilities to play ball. The field will have more rubberized turf to make it more accessible to wheelchairs and crutches; larger, on-grade dugouts; and adjustable fence posts, to make it adaptable for all kinds of youth baseball and softball games. Foundation board member Mike Adams said children with disabilities currently playing in a local Challenger Division league--an affiliate of Little League--must play on standard dirt fields, leading to safety problems for the kids and maintenance problems for the fields. "We're providing space for them to play safely," Adams said. "We don't have any type of place for these kids to play in the entire region." Fundraising for the first phase got a major boost a few years ago from local philanthropist Doris Buffett, who offered a $1 million challenge grant to the project. The field complex will be named Sunshine Ballpark after Buffett's Sunshine Lady Foundation. The project is also a partnership between the foundation and the city. Fredericksburg entered into an agreement with the foundation last fall to allow the use of 48 acres of city land for the fields. The city is also contributing $400,000 in capital money to the project, on a reimbursement basis, for extending Wicklow Drive to the site, grading it and bringing utilities to the property. The fields will eventually become city property, and will be operated and maintained by the city's Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Department. Emily Battle: 540/374-5413
Is the ceremony open to the public?
wrong neighborhood.
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