League 42 youth baseball outgrowing space at McAdams Park

After nearly doubling its participants to 400 this year, League 42 is outgrowing the two baseball fields at McAdams Park, organizers say.

The league – named in honor of baseball legend Jackie Robinson – is a youth baseball program for ages 5 to 14.

In response to the league’s rapid growth, the Wichita City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to add a third baseball field to the park.

League 42 had 29 teams this year, said Bob Lutz, chairman and founder of League 42, and sports columnist for The Eagle.

“In order to grow – and we feel like League 42 is going to grow – we need to improve and increase our facilities,” Lutz said.

League 42 has a $60,000 to $80,000 yearly operating budget, Lutz said, and the organization keeps participation affordable by capping the amount paid by families.

“These kids weren’t getting a chance to play. It’s a costly sport, so we’ve made it as affordable as we can at $30 per child or family of children, and we provide all the equipment and uniforms,” Lutz said.

“We hope we’re doing some small part to improve their lives and our intention is to give them a level of support, follow them academically and we hope their involvement helps them make the right choices as they get older.”

The league is asking for the new field to be made of artificial turf since that requires less maintenance, Lutz said.

“Eventually we’d like to have all the fields have some aspect of artificial turf, either the whole field or the infield,” Lutz said.

The artificial turf would reduce weather delays, and the new field would allow more teams to play simultaneously, according to city documents.

The city’s capital improvement program includes $500,000 in 2016 for McAdams field improvements. The project would be funded through general obligation bonds.

The league is also raising funds and asking for in-kind donations to help with the additions, Lutz said.

After the city completes the field, it will evaluate funding to see about additional fields and a new restroom and concessions building, said Troy Houtman, park and recreation director.

The current restroom and concessions building is more than 30 years old and in need of renovations, according to city documents.

The city hopes to begin work on the first new field in December to have it ready for the spring baseball season, Houtman said.

“It just makes sense that we would want to make the improvements,” Houtman said.

Eventually, the league would like to see a fourth field at McAdams.

“We feel like that would sustain us for awhile,” Lutz said.

This story was originally published October 5, 2015 at 5:29 PM with the headline "League 42 youth baseball outgrowing space at McAdams Park."