EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Major League Baseball wants to come to Evansville.
It has intentions to schedule a regular-season game at historic Bosse Field, the third-oldest ballpark still in regular use for professional baseball, surpassed only by Fenway Park and Wrigley Field. It would be the first MLB game ever played in Indiana.
The catch? It will take at least another year to become a reality.
“We’re really excited that Major League Baseball is considering Evansville for a special event game,” Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said. “We’ve been working towards a date – we thought we had one for 2023 – but in the last week, based on MLB’s changing schedules, that date is not going to happen.
“The good news is MLB is still very interested in Evansville. They love Bosse Field and they are really trying to figure out how to work us into their special event schedule.”
Winnecke met Wednesday morning with the Courier & Press along with Evansville School Corp. Superintendent David Smith and Evansville Otters owner Bill Bussing.
MLB representatives have visited twice in the past year since the city first made its pitch with a written letter last August. There was hope for a regular-season game next summer, but MLB has too many international commitments to make it work. Next year is the World Baseball Classic while two other games are scheduled out of the country.
“To me, this isn’t pressing pause. This is giving us some breathing space so things are not so jam-packed,” Smith said.
They noted that they were provided a date in May for a game next summer — it was long-rumored to be between the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins, a fitting matchup given its address at 23 Don Mattingly Way. But that ultimately was scrapped.
The concept for coming to Evansville stems from MLB’s Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa, which will host a second game near the iconic movie site in as many years later this month. Evansville is one of a handful of communities under consideration for these types of games in the future.
Bosse Field, of course, is where “A League of Their Own” was filmed in the early 1990s when stars such as Tom Hanks and Madonna spent a summer in town. The city believes a game focused around the movie would be a rousing success because it could serve as an opportunity to honor women in baseball. It even compiled a presentation called, “Why Evansville?” because that’s a question MLB was having internally.
“It’s the rarest of rare opportunities,” Winnecke said. “There are people involved in discussions who have said this would have been among the largest events the city has ever hosted. That could be up for debate, but certainly, the prospect of profiling Evansville and our region for a nationally televised event is priceless.”
MLB will require a number of changes to the ballpark for this one-off game to meet its standards. The playing surface will need to be completely resurfaced and dugouts will be restructured so they’re further away from home plate. Those renovations are estimated to cost $2.2 million, but Winnecke said they would be privately funded through the local corporate community.
“We won’t have any trouble raising the necessary funds to get this done,” he said.
Many of the 5,100 permanent seats will also be replaced this offseason, another million-dollar expense. MLB didn’t require that change but local officials deemed it would enhance the overall fan experience considering they were installed in the 1950s. The ballpark has already undergone $5 million in renovations in the past three years.
Meanwhile, MLB would provide additional lighting, seating, and makeshift clubhouses, most notably. It will cover the costs of any temporary fixes to the park and the surrounding area. There’s hope to have as many as 7,000 fans at a special game if temporary seats are added in the outfield.
There are plans to enhance Garvin Park and the North Main Street area to make it fan-friendly for what’s expected to be mostly an out-of-town crowd. MLB was also impressed with the new Deaconess Aquatic Center that could serve as an area for media and VIP spectators.
Winnecke is scheduled for another call with MLB’s Chief Strategy and Operating Officer next week to discuss the subsequent steps. There’s optimism a game could be scheduled for 2024 amid what’s been “a full-court press” to make sure the city remains on their radar. MLB officials visited in November and again in March.
“We’ve sort of equated this to our Super Bowl,” Winnecke said. “But unlike most cities when you get a Super Bowl, you know three, four, five years in advance and we were going to have a matter of months to get a lot of stuff done. This gives us a little time to step back, catch our breath and do things in a more deliberate way.”
Bussing believes this game would have a long-term impact for both the park and the Otters, who play in the Frontier League, which recently became an MLB partner despite remaining unaffiliated from organizations.
“The Evansville fan, long after those 18-wheel monstrosities roll away with FOX broadcast equipment, will experience that for decades to come,” Bussing said. “From the baseball side of it, we’re committed to winning baseball and I can’t imagine this won’t help (the Otters) recruit players.”
Bosse Field is an unknown gem nationally. Opened in 1915, it was the first municipally owned sports stadium in the world. It has a rich tradition, from the filming of “A League of Their Own” to hosting Triple-A baseball and later the Otters for the past 27 years. Numerous National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees came through town early in their careers.
Current MLB All-Stars could someday join that history.
“It’s been said by some that Evansville tends to think of itself with an inferiority complex,” Smith said. “I hope people understand that Major League Baseball, which can choose to go anywhere it wants to go, has selected Evansville.
“It is a tremendous honor to be considered, but when you’re actually selected, it’s truly special.”
Chad Lindskog is the sports editor of the Courier & Press. You can contact him by email, [email protected], or on Twitter: @chadlindskog.