The sod situation at the Blair County Ballpark hit a new low in mid-May when two games could not be played because of a wet infield.
It wasn't long afterward when Gov. Ed Rendell was at the ballpark for a game when it again started to rain. Altoona Curve President Chuck Greenberg took the opportunity to ask if there was state money available for a new playing surface, since the Pirates-affiliated franchise was experiencing problems with its decade-old turf.
The result was a $1.3 million grant, which Greenberg said State Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, and State Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, worked with Rendell in the spring to secure.
The paperwork for the state grant still was being signed Friday morning as a bulldozer from Sports Construction Group LLC of Cleveland began plowing the field into a massive pile of grass to be carried away.
The reconstruction should be completed by the third week of December, Greenberg said. By the Curve's 2009 home opener April 16, officials anticipate the ballpark should regain its status as the best professional baseball field in America, an award it received from the Sports Turf Managers Association in 2006.
Sports Construction Group has worked on numerous ballfields, including PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Progressive Field in Cleveland and Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. It also is constructing the playing surface at the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
Eichelberger called the field project ''a team effort.'' Geist placed it on the state capital budget, the necessary first step. Eichelberger worked with Altoona Blair County Development Corporation and the county's Industrial Development Authority to apply for the state funds and to provide the upfront loan to pay for the project.
Rendell and his staff met with Eichelberger and agreed to provide the funding from the governor's share of the state capital budget.
As far as Blair County Commissioner Terry Tomassetti and Greenberg are concerned, the funds came at a critical time. The county and Greenberg are negotiating a new lease for the ballpark, and both sides confirmed that the county has no money for the project.
Blair County Ballpark has been, as Geist said, ''the epicenter of our community ... a nightly block party.''
Greenberg said he remembers the Curve's first playoff game in 2003 when the team fell behind in the first inning, and then fought back to nearly tie the game.
During the comeback, he said, the crowd exploded and the stadium began to shake.
''The community bonded,'' he said, even though the Curve eventually lost.
Greenberg said the field has had drainage problems over the years, including flooding in the dugouts. The project will correct all those flaws, he said.
''Truly a great day for baseball,'' Greenberg said as construction began on a warm, sunny day.
Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.
