Collegiate baseball is coming to Springfield, Massachusetts for a day this summer.
The Westfield Starfires of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League will play their “Summer Classic” against the Pittsfield Suns on Sunday, July 30th at the Walker Grandstand baseball field in Forest Park.
It will be a free event starting at noon with music, food, drink, and a youth baseball clinic leading up to the game at 4 p.m.
“It’s just going to be great baseball and family fun,” said Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno.
He made the announcement Tuesday at Forest Park joined by Starfires owner Chris Thompson.
“The goal for the Starfires from the very beginning our mission was to be connected to the community and this is just another example of us partnering with the City of Springfield and bringing baseball back to Forest Park,” Thompson said.
Thompson said he approached the city administration about holding the Summer Classic in Forest Park to showcase to a larger audience the team that had two players drafted last year by Major League Baseball teams including one in the first round.
In an interview, he said the Starfires, which he’s owned for five years, are not looking to leave Westfield, where they have five years left on their lease to play at Billy Bullens field.
“The goal for us is to renew that lease beyond the initial 10-years while the goal of the Starfires’ Summer Classic is an annual event – one game a year that we play outside Billy Bullens field in Westfield that we open to the community east of the (Connecticut) river to grow our fan base,” Thompson said.
Next year, Walker Grandstand, built in 1941, is slated to undergo an extensive renovation that will include a new roof, new backstop and dugouts, and repairs to the masonry. A $3 million federal budget earmark secured by Congressman Richard Neal is paying for it.
Sarno said it would not be practical to have a collegiate league team, which plays a 56-game summer schedule, use the baseball field at Forest Park on a full-time basis.
“This is such a beautiful park and you don’t want to take away from everybody who utilize the park for recreational purposes,” Sarno said.
MGM Springfield is underwriting the July 30th event.
