A’s Home Getting A Face Lift
November 26, 2010
Several infrastructure components at Wildwood Baseball Park, home of the Sheboygan A's, are in the process of being replaced.
Several infrastructure components at Wildwood Baseball Park, built in 1981, are in the process of being replaced. Three years ago, the Sheboygan Athletic Club launched Wildwood Rally, a drive to raise funds for the needed work.
Due to uncooperative economic times, fund raising was slow and the project had to be delayed.
Club officials ended the delay. The first two parts of the project – the replacement of the dugouts and the protective screen and netting – have begun and are nearly complete.
In the future, the scoreboard and lights will be replaced, additional parking will be secured and deck areas for fans will be constructed.
The total project will come to more than $500.000. The current project (dugouts and netting) will come to $200,000.
The club is in the process of raising money for the project and is asking baseball fans to contribute. Tax deductible contributions can be sent to Sheboygan Athletic Club, PO Box 32, Sheboygan, WI 53082-0032.
“Our decision to begin construction at this time may have been an emotional one,” A’s general manager Denny Moyer admitted. “We have had a tough year. We lost four people who were pillars of our organization – Stan Gehr, Chuck Zeichert, Snipe Van Veghel and most recently and completely unexpectedly, Arlyn Wiesman. Arlyn was the spearhead on this project, putting everything together. We are not going to let Arlyn down. For him, for Gates, Chuck and Snipe, we are going to do this.”
Wiesman died of a heart attack in August at age 58.
Wildwood Park’s first season was 1981. It was built to replace old Legion Memorial Park. The A’s contributed more than $30,000 to the initial construction. Then a major improvement took place in the winter of 1997-98, when the new grandstand was constructed along with the added restrooms, the press box, sky box and expanded concessions stand. The A’s, between contributions and borrowing, paid $505,000 for that project.
To view a photo gallery of the construction progress, visit the Sheboygan A’s Facebook page.
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