Men work non-stop on All Pro Freight Stadium for Crushers' home opener

In less than three months, umpires will shout, "Play Ball!" at the brand new All Pro Freight Stadium when the Lake Erie Crushers take on the Windy City Thunderbolts in their home opener on June 2.

Construction crews have been working non-stop on the project since the groundbreaking on July 1, 2008, and neither rain, wind nor snow has slowed them down.

"They had a great idea of building a bubble to close them in to protect them from the weather," Crushers Assistant General Manager Paul Siegwarth said. "You'd see guys walking around (during the winter) in sweatshirts and T-shirts. It helped immensely because it allowed the guys to work a little more freely. They got to work inside."

All Pro Freight Stadium is located off Interstate 90 at SR 611. The $10 million ballpark will seat 3,500 people inside and another 1,500 spectators beyond the outfield fence.

Construction crews still have not completed any one section of the ballpark; however, Siegwarth said construction at All Pro Freight Stadium is right on schedule.

"The clubhouse is close to completion," Siegwarth said. "They're winding down and starting to do some painting in that area. The third base concourse is coming along and they're finishing up the first base concourse. The suite level is also coming along. I see all the studs in the walls. They're working on the drainage system on the field because that's the first thing that goes. The structural steel that holds the scoreboard is in place and the $400,000 scoreboard itself was just delivered. On the outfield wall, they're putting in the fence posts."

The ballpark will feature 11 private suites, 2,600 box seats, four-person terrace tables, picnic and patio areas, concessions and a state-of-the-art sound system.

"There will be a play area behind the (outfiled) wall and it will have inflatables," Siegwarth said. "It will cost $1 to play on each inflatable. There's a big grassy field (past the outfield wall) where people can kick back, throw down a blanket, watch the game and let their kids run around. It's kind of like when you go to the movies, you have to be quiet. Here you can let the kids run around and have fun."

The design of All Pro Freight Stadium is inspired by Champion Window Field in Florence, Ky., home field of the Florence Freedom, another Frontier League team. The new Avon ballpark is bowl-shaped and is being fitted with artificial turf. Avon Mayor Jim Smith said in a previous interview that with artificial turf, the field can be used 120 days a year, but with real grass it can only be used half as much.

"For a little more (than a grass field), we got a turf field," Smith said. "When you have regular grass, you can use it about 60 to 70 times a year before the grass starts to burn out. This way, you get 100 to 120 uses without burning the grass out. It doubles the ability to use the field."

The new ballpark will be used for Crushers' home games, Avon residents and recreational baseball teams.

The Lake Erie Crushers will play 46 home games at All Pro Freight Stadium from June to September. According to Smith, team owner, National Sports Center based in Blaine, Minn., has signed a 15-year lease with the city, in which the ownership will pay the city $50,000 a month for five months each year but they agree to take care of the field's maintenance for the whole year.

Infinity, the project's builder, will work down to the wire, handing the stadium over to the team on June 1, just hours before the opener when the ballpark will have to be furnished and set up for the festivities the following day.

"Once Infinity finishes certain areas, we can have our contractor go in and start moving in furniture and stuff," Siegwarth said.

All Pro Freight Stadium is being built on a 122-acre site adjacent to a $13.5 million recreation center with soccer fields nearby. Avon voters passed a quarter percent income tax last November that generated $8 million to help pay for the project. The Cleveland YMCA is paying $5.5 million for the construction and operating costs.

Construction on the 65,000-square-foot French Creek YMCA of Avon is scheduled to be complete in December.

"With the Y, we're looking at (finishing) about a year from now, sometime after January 2010," Smith said. "With the baseball field, we have to be on time because timing is more critical. They have a starting date of June 2 so we have to get that done."

The new recreation center will feature two swimming pools, one for competitive swimming for the local schools, as well as two fully-equipped exercise areas, with one of the exercise areas overlooking the third base line on the baseball field.

"They're getting all the footers in right now and it should be coming out of the ground soon," Smith said.

The French Creek YMCA of Avon will serve all of Lorain County and, according to Glen Haley, president of the YMCA of Greater Cleveland and bring 85 new jobs to the area.

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