Mark Lane: New lease on life for the minor’s oldest ballpark

The Daytona Beach City Commission’s recent unanimous vote on the future of Jackie Robinson Ballpark and the enthusiasm for the project voiced by Mayor Derrick Henry has made the whole deal sound easier than it really was.

Getting the 37-page lease hammered out "was basically a four-year process," said Bob Fregolle, Tortugas' co-owner and operating partner. "I felt the weight of 100-plus years of baseball on my shoulders."

Almost forgotten now is how close Daytona Beach came to losing its minor league baseball team. The Tortugas were among the teams MLB had slated for elimination when early drafts of its dramatic reorganization of farm teams became public in 2019.

The reasons? The team is distant from the other Florida State League teams, forcing more travel. But mainly because Jackie Robinson Ballpark, the oldest ballpark in use by Minor League Baseball, while charming, old-school and historic, was viewed by sports business types as outdated and not up to spec.

But the team and the ballpark received an outpouring of support from the city and community. Baseball buffs and traditionalists from all over felt it would be a sacrilege to let the ballpark where Jackie Robinson in a Montreal Royals uniform played the first racially integrated pro baseball game in 1946, a spring training exhibition match, go dark.

Forty-two teams were cut loose when the final reorganization plan was announced in 2021, two from the Florida State League. But the Tortugas did not turn turtle. And now the city has OK’d a 20-year ballpark lease, with provision for 10 more years of extensions after that ― a solid guarantee for the long-term future of Daytona Beach baseball.

This came with a price. MLB laid out conditions and set deadlines for major improvements.

The facilities are in need of some upgrading. Yes, the team had already invested in a new artificial turf field in 2019 with better drainage. But a lot more is necessary to satisfy MLB. A lot more.

Under the new agreement, the city will spend $17 million on upgrades to Jackie Robinson Ballpark over the next two years or so. Phase two will cost $11.6 million.

More: Grand slam: Daytona Tortugas to call Jackie Robinson Ballpark home for next 20 years

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Next season ― less than six months away ― should see new LED field lights for a brighter field. (Last year, games were delayed more than once because of lighting problems.) Also, a new batter's eye (the solid-colored area above center field meant to make balls visible to batters) and new foul-line poles.

But far bigger changes are ahead. New team clubhouses, workout areas and offices will be built where tennis courts are now. An enclosed multipurpose room above where the current home team clubhouse is. New concession and plaza areas where fans can hang out and eat.

Under the redesign, the ballpark should be a more visible part of downtown. Even the statue of Robinson will be better displayed. "We're going to bring Jackie out," Fregolle said.

Which, he says, is in keeping with the general plan for the next several years. "We're going to keep the old and blend in the new," he said. And yes, the old-school numbers-on-hooks scoreboard will stay up.

For more than a century Daytona Beach has been a baseball town. The Daytona Beach Islanders, the Daytona Beach Dodgers, the Daytona Beach Astros, the Daytona Admirals, the Daytona Cubs, and the Daytona Tortugas kept the ballpark alive. Other professional sports have come and gone ― remember the Daytona Beach Thunder indoor football and Daytona Sun Devils hockey? ― but baseball has been a constant.

A constant since a field was first laid out on the island in 1914. Florida State League play started in 1920. There were gaps in the 1920s and during the Great Depression, the suspension of FSL play during World War II, and those grim, empty-field summers of 1967, 1974-1976, and 1988-1992. Every time local baseball bounced back.

And now, after the near-death experiences of minor league reorganization and a season lost to COVID-19, baseball in Daytona Beach is entering a new phase. A new era that coincides with the completion of the Riverfront Esplanade by the river and new commercial and residential activity across downtown. It has all the makings of a comeback.

Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Mark Lane: New lease on life for the minor’s oldest ballpark