Wildwood Plan Pitched
Posted: May 5, 2008
The baseball season doesn’t begin for the Sheboygan A’s until May 27, but the people who run the organization are already throwing pitches.
Their target is area businesses and donors in hopes of generating $400,000 for renovations to Wildwood Baseball Park’s Mary Testwuide Knauf Field.
Sheboygan Athletic Club president Scott Stangel and general manager Denny Moyer hosted a group of local residents and entrepreneurs last week to sell their plan.
The renovations include: upgrades of screening and fencing, increased parking along Wildwood Ave., replacing dugouts, a scoreboard with a message center and advertising boards, fan decks down the left and right-field lines, additional concession area, improvements to the press and sky box and installing energy efficient lights.
“The project is necessary to preserve the safety of fans and to improve things cosmetically,” Stangel said. “We want it to be the best amateur baseball park in the state.”
The park improvement project is the first at Wildwood since 1997, when a $500,000 upgrade included additional bleachers, box seating and an improved press box and sky box. The Sheboygan Athletic Club was able to raise $400,000 for that project through private donations, and financed the rest of the total.
Persons and business interested in donating can find more information how at www.sheboyganbaseball.org or call the A’s at (920) 458-4377.
The club studied a number of smaller community stadiums around the state for ideas. A number of the upgrades are reminiscent of parks in Fond du Lac (Marian College) and Eau Claire.
Moyer said work has already begun on the netting and fencing projects. Work on the dugouts is planned to begin in late September.
The A’s have played at Wildwood Park since 1981, moving there when Legion Park was torn down.
The Sheboygan Athletic Club also supports the city’s high school programs, the Post 83 American Legion teams, and the Diamonds, a youth baseball club that fields select teams in the Wisconsin State Youth Baseball League.
Moyer said the community provided tremendous support for the program in 1997, and he’s hopeful the same thing will happen as word spreads.
“The community came through (in 1997) and put us over the top,” Moyer said.
By Dave Lubach
Sheboygan Press staff
Reach Dave Lubach at dlubach@sheboygan-press.com
The Sheboygan A's are members of the Wisconsin State League and Northeastern Wisconsin Baseball League. The A's have helped develop more than 43 players that have reached professional baseball, including 2002 World Series Champion Jarrod Washburn (Anaheim Angels). All Sheboygan A's home games are played at Wildwood Baseball Park in Sheboygan. Connect with the A's on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
