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Photo by Jon Anderson.
Workers in the early stages of renovation work on the field at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium Jan. 10, after all the sod had been stripped off the field. Photo by Jon Anderson.
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Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Additional baseball and softball fields being built behind the Finley Center. The main field will open in May and the others in August.
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Photos by Sarah Finnegan.
Additional baseball and softball fields being built behind the Finley Center. The main field will open in May and the others in August.
The Hoover Parks and Recreation Department and Brasfield & Gorrie construction and engineering company are coming close to finishing $885,000 worth of renovations at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium.
Since December, workers have been busy replacing the playing surface, repairing and upgrading the drainage system, expanding the dugouts and upgrading the stadium’s information technology capabilities.
Hoover Parks and Recreation Director Craig Moss said a lot of sports stadiums redo their playing surface every year, but he thinks it has been about 18 years since the field at the Hoover Met has been fully replaced.
The Southeastern Conference wanted the turf replacement for the SEC Baseball Tournament, but it was past time to do it anyway, Moss said. The Hoover Parks and Recreation Board has requested money for the work in its budget for several years and finally got it approved in the 2018 budget, he said.
Over the years, grass clippings get down into the root system and can clog up the drainage system, Moss said. Also, over time, drainage pipes and the sprinkler system can get brittle and start deteriorating, he said.
Tim Westhoven, Hoover’s chief operations officer, said workers stripped all the old sod and root zone out of the stadium, replaced field drains that were not working properly and added six to eight new drains in problem drainage areas.
Workers also revamped some water valves to improve efficiency in the irrigation system, and they moved some of the valves to an area off the field, behind the outfield fence, so maintenance work can be done on valves while play continues on the field, Westhoven said.
New Bermuda sod grown specifically for the Hoover Met was ordered from Georgia in the fall, he said. Workers also brought in new dirt for the infield, pitcher’s mound, home plate area and warning track around the exterior of the field, creating an entirely new playing surface, Moss said.
The SEC also requested modifications to the dugouts. In the past, steps leading into the dugouts have stretched across the entire front of the dugouts, limiting the amount of walking area inside, Westhoven said. City workers removed most of the stairs, adding 4 to 5 feet of walking room, he said.
They also lowered the rails across the front of the dugouts so players can still lean against them to watch the game, he said. Workers repainted the dugouts, replaced the flooring and put in new bat and hat racks, he said.
The dugouts had to be finished by May 4, and the sod needed to be in place a full month before use, Moss said. The first game scheduled for the field is May 9 between Troy and Mississippi State. The SEC Baseball Tournament is not until May 22-27.
Moss said he is impressed with how the field is taking shape. “It looks really great. I was very pleased with it and was kind of shocked at how nice it already is,” he said in early April. “It’s already almost seamless.”
Right next to the stadium, Brasfield & Gorrie also has been racing the clock to complete the natural turf field that is part of a new five-field baseball/softball complex under construction. Hoover promised the SEC the natural turf field would be ready in time to serve as a batting practice area for the SEC Baseball Tournament.
Again, the turf needed about a month of growing time before use, and as of early April was “running right on schedule,” Westhoven said. Good progress also is being made on the four artificial turf fields, which are due for completion in August, he said.
