MUNCIE, Ind. – Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. came to McCulloch Park in Muncie on Tuesday morning to add another renovated pitch to the list of 110 developed by his late father’s foundation to promote the youth baseball in cities across the country. .
The occasion included an announcement by the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation that the diamond renovation would be extended to the distressed outfield, which should be ready to play in the 2023 season, according to the foundation’s senior vice president, Chuck. Brady.
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The exterior work will be in addition to the completed $1.5 million upgrade to the interior court, including artificial turf and renovated dugouts and stands, which was dedicated Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Ripken. Muncie Mayor Dan Ridenour had said the city would apply for various grants to pay for outfield improvements. This is now provided by the foundation with the help of board member Dan Towriss, CEO and president of Group 1001, an Indianapolis-based financial services firm. Towriss grew up in Muncie.
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Ripken, who earned the moniker “Iron Man” for the Baltimore Orioles by playing in 2,632 consecutive Major League games, more than any player, told fans and park officials on Tuesday of the staff’s passion of the foundation to help children and provide places for them to belong, develop and learn lessons through baseball.
“Baseball is a magical, magical game,” Ripken said.
Townriss would attest to that. The last time he left the McCulloch Park baseball diamond was in 1990. He had just pitched a game to win a state championship for Muncie’s American Legion Post 19. He returned for the dedication of the field, which now bears the name of one of his company ventures, Gainbridge Field.
The executive, who now lives in Zionsville and Florida, said the lessons he learned playing baseball and working with coaches like the late Bobby Graves, who coached the Post 19 Muncie Chiefs for 19 years. Towriss said he was able to apply what he learned on the job in business.
“It’s determination,” he said.
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According to Ridenour, the businessman donated “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to redo the land in his hometown.
Towriss said soon-to-be-added improvements to the outfield, which has been left bare in places this summer, will include new grass and possibly new infield lights.
Ball State University President Geoffrey S. Mearns was present at Tuesday’s ceremony and told Towriss about the needs of Muncie’s beleaguered field. Mearns even started describing where the pitch was before the former Muncie Chiefs pitcher told him he was very aware of the facility but didn’t realize it had fallen into disrepair. This was the genesis of the effort to redo the land.
Towriss had worked to develop 10 other community baseball fields through the foundation before helping rebuild the field where he used to play in his hometown. The name Gainbridge Field replaces Francis Lafferty Field, named after the longtime educator and coach who did much to maintain the facility over the years.
Officials greeted Lafferty at the ceremony with a round of applause. The renovated field has a plaque in his honor.
Gainbridge Field has a lot of history to draw on. The Muncie Fruit Jars began playing at McCulloch Park in 1906 and were the first professional baseball team in Muncie. Mid-century in 1943, the Pittsburgh Pirates used Muncie Ground for spring training due to the effort to reduce travel costs during World War II. Hall of Famers Frank Frisch and Honus Wagner led the Pirates at the time and spent their springs in Muncie. After the war, the Cincinnati Reds developed a minor league relationship with Muncie and used the diamond in the park. Major League pitcher Joe Nuxhall and star outfielder Wally Post both played for the Reds’ branch in Muncie.
Current Muncie Chiefs appeared for the ceremony and met Ripken, who signed a jersey and baseballs and spoke to the gathered fans.
Ridenour shared his own memories and told Ripken that he grew up an Oriole fan because his father was a Baltimore fan. He told Ripken that he only raised two men in retirement: Ripken and Indiana Pacer basketball star Reggie Miller.
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Despite concerns, expressed by MLB executives, that the game is too slow and losing its appeal, Steve Salem, president and CEO of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, said baseball is a game in which even a little guy can thrive, especially in youth.
Unlike other sports, he says, the smallest child can compete or even excel. And baseball is still doing well.
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