Archbishop Curley High gets new baseball field

A grant from Major League baseball and the players' union helped pay for a new field at Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School.

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BY SARAH SENFELD

SSENFELD@MIAMIHERALD.COM

Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School has completed a new baseball field thanks to an $85,000 grant from the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, a joint initiative between Major League Baseball and the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Curley is the first South Florida school to receive a grant from the fund, although it has paid for fields at public parks and community groups.

The new field is more accessible and closer to the school's facilities and parking lot.

Batters on the new field will face east instead of west, so the setting sun will no longer be a problem in late afternoon games.

``I am thankful to all those that contributed to the completion of the field project,'' said the school's baseball coach, Jerry Yeash.

The Baseball Tomorrow Fund also has provided 35 grants for Florida fields, including eight in Miami-Dade: Two for Boys and Girls Clubs of Miami, and on each for the city of Miami Beach, city of Miami, Family Christian Association of America, Miami Chiefs Baseball, Parks Foundation of Miami-Dade, and South Florida After School All-Stars.

The Baseball Tomorrow Fund, which celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2009, is open to every school and organization nationally, and averages in 40 grants per year totaling more than $1.5 million. The fund is designed to encourage the development of youth baseball by awarding grants to support field renovation, construction projects, equipment and uniform purchases, among other expenses.

``Any school is allowed to apply for the fund,'' said the school's principal, Brother Patrick Sean Moffett. ``They like to make sure baseball is a future in our country, since it's our pastime.''

Archbishop Curley's baseball team was created in 1958 and has had an exciting history since. In 1970, three of Curley's hitters ranked in the county's top ten: Bill Frohbose, Rolando de Armas, and John Bush. In recent news, team player Joseph Pagan was drafted by the San Diego Padres in the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft.

``Archbishop Curley Notre Dame High School has a historic role in Miami, it's been a very solid college preparatory school since 1953 and it is the first integrated secondary school in Florida, also the first school to accept Pedro Pan children,'' said Moffett.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was scheduled for this weekend at the new field, 4949 NE Second Ave. in Little Haiti.

``Our present team is very excited and the players are looking forward to [our first game],'' said Yeash.

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