Miner Stadium

Late Drawings Cause Extra Innings for Ballpark

by Steve Kaelble

The spring's first pitch is, for countless American baseball fans, a cause to shout with joy.

In the Southern Illinois community of Marion, the call to "play ball!" is bringing not just joy, but sighs of relief because a minor league baseball stadium project was in flux while it was determined what kind of baseball team would be playing at the stadium and in which league.

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But today, a new professional baseball team called the Southern Illinois Miners has taken the field with a 96-game schedule in the Frontier League.

Half of those games are scheduled at Miner Stadium, an approximately 4,000-seat facility in Marion.

Getting Fans Involved

The fan experience is key at the $18 million Miner Stadium, says John Eyler, principal at 360 Architecture in Kansas City, Mo.

"It's a simple, timeless, modern facility," he says. "We wanted to put quality back into the fan amenities."

Perhaps the most important fan amenities are intimacy and comfort. No one seated in the main seating bowl is more than 16 rows from the field. At the same time, no one is forced to sit uncomfortably close to another fan-"the rows are 39 in. deep from front to back," Eyler says. "They're not tight."

Surrounding the concourse area behind the seats are warm gray, split-face and ground-face block buildings housing four large concession areas, restrooms, ticket counters and related activities. Rising above the main seating area on an exposed steel structure is an upper level featuring 14 corporate suites, a press box and a shelled-in area that later will be finished into a year-round banquet space.

The upper level is glassed on the field side and clad on the outside in wheat-colored cementitious siding. Suites are enclosed and climate-controlled, with additional seating outside the glass. Extending from the upper level is a roof structure intended to provide shade over much of the seating area.

Eyler says some fans may opt to watch games from one of two picnic areas.

One in center field offers lawn seating, while the other, down the first-base line, is intended for groups and features terraced seating and a bar. Across the field, down the third-base line, a kids' fun zone includes lawn seating and a variety of inflatable activities.

Nine lighting poles surround the field for night games. A large steel structure in the outfield holds the scoreboard, video screen and advertising panels.

The field measures 335 ft down the right-field line, 375 ft to right center, 400 ft to center field, 392 ft to the left-field power alley and 320 ft down the left-field line, Eyler says.

Late Final Drawings

Though initial sitework and some seating-area concrete construction began about two years ago, the biggest part of the job had to wait until final drawings became available in December, says Mike Marchal, director of construction operations for Holland Construction Services, the Swansea, Ill.-based contractor.

The owners were exploring the possibility of placing the Miners in a minor league affiliated with Major League Baseball, allowing the team to serve as a farm club for one of the major league teams. They were seeking to purchase an existing MLB-affiliated minor league team and move it to southern Illinois but were not able to do so because of proximity to other minor league teams.

As plans evolved further, it became clear that the Miners would be a "non-affiliated" team-not linked to an MLB franchise-and would play in the Frontier League.

The Miners' ownership is led by Jane Simmons, whose husband John Simmons is owner and president of the Savannah Sand Gnats, a single-A affiliate of the New York Mets.

The Frontier League includes a dozen teams in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois and Missouri.

"It's a development league, with a goal of getting players signed by major league affiliates," says Erik Haag, vice president of the Miners. About 200 players have made the move to MLB organizations during the league's 14 seasons, with more than a dozen working their way into the big leagues, he adds.

Once Holland Construction got the drawings and the green light in December, the race was on to complete the stadium in time for the May 29 home opener.

"Working overtime has helped, along with the cooperation of subcontractors," Marchal says. Crews worked sunrise to sunset, putting in 10- to 12-hour days, and also Saturdays and Sundays. The addition of a night shift was planned for the final month of construction.

Weather turned out to be a problem. Though December and January were generally warmer than normal, winter finally arrived with a vengeance in February. "There was about a three-week span in February when things were pretty much shut down," though some steel fabrication work was able to take place inside a temporary, heated shelter, Marchal says.

The other significant issue involved site preparation.

"The site was an old strip mine," Marchal adds. "There were boulders all over, some as big as a pickup truck and a couple as big as our office trailer."

Workers broke up the rocks and hauled them off, a task that required hundreds of truckloads. Once the field area was leveled to the appropriate grade, an artificial-turf contractor was called in to install a Sportexe turf system and rainwater drainage systems. The turf is composed of synthetic fibers with infill material, including ground rubber, and the advantages include good traction, drainage, cushioning and play characteristics similar to natural turf.

Other than the boulders, the company encountered no significant obstacles in preparing the site, Marchal says. The site naturally drains to a nearby lake, so there was no need for additional water detention, he adds.

"We wanted to make it a fan-friendly place where people will want to go and hang out," Haag says of the stadium. That's the reason behind the wide-open concourse, "where people can congregate, watch the game and talk to friends."

He adds that the ballpark sports an old-time miner theme and decor, reflecting the area's strong history in coal mining.

Haag says the community has responded to the new team enthusiastically.

"The suites are sold out, and season tickets have been selling well," he says.

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