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Renovations To McAdams Baseball Complex Nearing Completion

League 42
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Renovations to two ball diamonds at McAdams Park in Wichita are nearly complete.

The youth baseball season begins Monday for League 42 in Wichita.

The non-profit baseball organization is based out of McAdams Park near downtown, but some games are moving to Linwood Park while crews finish field renovations at McAdams.

Construction delays due to high winds and cold weather forced organizers to push back opening ceremonies to next Monday.

Bob Lutz, the executive director of League 42, says renovation work at two ball diamonds is nearly complete.

“They are going to look absolutely fantastic," Lutz says. "They have new fencing, new backstops, new netting, new scoreboards, new dugouts — everything is new.”

Credit League 42
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League 42

A new turf field and a restroom/concession facility were added to the McAdams baseball complex over the past few years.

The city of Wichita paid about $1.5 million for the facility upgrades as part of its Capital Improvement Program.

“We were able to advance our facilities because of that donation, and then create a vision where we can, as a nonprofit, go out and raise more money to build a fourth field, to add to parking at McAdams and ultimately to have an indoor practice facility that we will also use as a learning center/computer lab for kids to go to after school and get tutoring or instruction or whatever they need,” Lutz says.

League 42, named after baseball legend Jackie Robinson, started in 2013. The league has 575 players this season from 5 to 14 years old.

The league offers an affordable registration ($30 per family, not per player) and provides each player with a full uniform (jersey, pants, belt and hat), a baseball glove and additional playing equipment such as catcher's gear, bats and balls.

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Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar.

To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.