By: Samuel Gordon
John Anderson fought back tears as he stood before Gophers players, alumni, faculty and donors at the new Siebert Field on Tuesday.
These people helped make Anderson’s dream — a baseball stadium on the University of Minnesota campus — a reality.
“This is my 37th year connected with the Golden Gopher baseball family,” Anderson said, “and this may be the proudest day in my 37-year history.”
Anderson, the head Gophers baseball coach since 1981, had been campaigning for a new Siebert Field for more than a decade.
Anderson, with assistance from University President Eric Kaler, Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Paul Molitor and several others, officially unveiled the new facility to the public Tuesday.
Siebert Field will host its first games this weekend when the Gophers play Ohio State in a three-game series.
Dozens of supporters, including Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad and several former Gophers players, braved freezing temperatures to take part in a roughly 45-minute grand opening event.
The new field cost approximately $7.5 million, and $2 million was donated by the Pohlad family.
Longtime baseball public address announcer Dick Jonckowski emceed the proceedings and said afterward that the facility is “like a dream come true” for Anderson.
“It’s something he always wanted,” Jonckowski said.
Anderson and Molitor, a former Gophers player, were at the center of fundraising efforts for a new facility, which broke ground last June.
Minnesota played just a handful of games at the old, decrepit field in recent years, when the Metrodome served as its primary facility.
The Gophers said goodbye to the old Siebert Field last May with a 9-2 victory over St. Thomas.
The new stadium was completed in time for fall practice, and Gophers outfielder Andy Henkemeyer said the team practiced there about 20 times.
The team’s Tuesday practice, the first of the spring at Siebert Field, was open to the public.
Anderson and Molitor both spoke at the ceremony, thanking donors, former players and coaches for helping bring baseball back to campus.
“Any time people have a vision of something that needs to be done, and then you go through the process … and finally having a day where ‘here it is.’ It’s special,” said Molitor, the honorary chair of the Siebert Field Legacy Campaign.
“The Metrodome served its purpose,” Molitor added. “It helped this club, but I’m really, really glad the University baseball team has a place to call its own.”
The entire playing surface, sans the batter’s boxes and the pitcher’s mound, is made of synthetic turf.
“So far it’s been nice. It played a little slow in the fall, but I think the snow will help pack it down a little bit,” Henkemeyer said.
Anderson said the decision to install turf was partially influenced by Minnesota’s cold-winter climate.
“If we had natural grass, there’d still be frost on the ground,” he said. “We knew we’d be able to get on it earlier and have a better playing surface.”
The ballpark will seat 1,400, and other amenities include an underground drainage system, a revamped concession stand and a $500,000 video scoreboard that sits above the right-field fence.
But the facility is far from complete.
Anderson and Molitor both said the field, as it currently stands, is finished with “phase one” of its completion.
There are plans for a “phase two” expansion that will include lights and a hitting and pitching area outside the stadium.
The groundwork is already complete for the lights, Anderson said, and they’ll go up when there’s money for them.
Future expansions are slated to include a clubhouse, suites and additional concession stands.
“I just showed [the blueprints] to a donor recently, and it was pretty exciting,” Anderson said. “They were amazed as to what it’s going to look like when it’s all done.”