In the News

Last year, Joshua Frometa hit a home run when playing in front of the Walker Memorial Grandstand. This year, his team, the Westfield Starfires, returns to the field where there is now a fence that he can hit a second homer over.

On Monday, city officials joined with the collegiate Westfield Starfires in Forest Park to celebrate the $4 million rebuilding of the 1946 field and grandstand that includes a new roof, new masonry, new handicap accessible restrooms, new dugouts and the fence.

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal and Mayor Domenic J. Sarno each called the field iconic, talking about how they played there as children. Christopher Thompson, Starfires owner, called it a treasure.

Frometa, now a graduate student at American International College in Springfield, mainly grew up in Holyoke and played baseball at Chicopee High School. He said he played one game at Walker Grandstand in high school but spent plenty of time in the park.

“It looks awesome,” he said, adding he is excited to return to play a game there Sunday.

This is the third time the Westfield Starfires will play the field at the Walker Grandstand. The 4 p.m. Sunday game against the Worcester Bravehearts is free to the public, and there is a youth clinic at 2:30 p.m., thanks to the sponsorship of Wellpoint Group insurance.

“The event itself is great, and seeing so many people come out to watch the game is great,” Frometa said.

The city was able to go from the patchwork of repairs to a complete renovation because of a $3 million federal earmark from a 2022 U.S. Housing and Urban Development omnibus package.

“What a great tribute this is to the people of Springfield,” Neal said.

He called the renovations tasteful and said they celebrate the future, while remembering the players and events of the past, such the American Legion baseball team from Springfield that withdrew from a national tournament in protest when their Black teammate was not allowed to play in segregated Gastonia, North Carolina.

The earmark for the renovation was based upon a request from, and done in consultation with, the city, he said. The city funded the remaining $1 million to complete the project, Sarno said.

“Green spaces are invaluable, especially in urban spaces,” Sarno said. “Youth sports, that really builds camaraderie, mutual respect, life-long relationships.”

Despite its long history, the Walker Stadium had fallen into disrepair, and was even condemned and slated for demolition in the 1990s. Since then, a series of patchwork repairs have been made to keep it going, said Peter Garvey, senior project manager for the city’s capital projects division.

“It didn’t come too early. This place really needed the work that was done,” he said.

The work started in October, and there was a big push to get it finished for spring baseball season. When the Starfires play on Sunday, the only thing that will not be completed is the restrooms, which will need a little extra time, Garvey said.

Also, the grandstand roof leaked and flooded the dugouts every time it rained. Because of the flooding, the masonry needed repairs, said Thomas Ashe, director of parks, buildings and recreation management.

The renovated grandstand is now fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and one of the pluses is the fence. There was never a fence in the field, so home runs were measured in the eyes of the players. It also separates the field from the rest of the playing fields in the large grassy expanse in the middle of the park, Ashe said.

The scoreboard for the field also will bear the name of longtime local sports writer Garry Brown, who continued to write a column at The Republican until he died in 2022 at the age of 90, Sarno said.

Sarno said he had originally proposed naming a dugout for Brown, who he said treated everyone the same, whether it was a professional pitcher or a high school catcher, but those two already bore the names of Springfield sandlot greats of Tuck Sullivan and Charlie Suse. Then someone suggested the scoreboard instead.