Dedeaux Field gets facelift

Construction: Baseball stadium renovations come with $4-million price tag

By PETER ANTHONYRASMUSSEN
Staff Writer
"Home sweet home" will take on a whole new meaning when the USC baseball team arrives at Dedeaux Field in March 2002.
The Trojans will not play at home for the first two months of the season because Dedeaux Field is under going renovations, which includes a state-of -the art USC baseball Hall of Fame, additional seating, a new clubhouse and a new locker room.
Upon their return, the Trojans will notice the changes with a price tag of $4 million. No longer will the team set up camp in the third-base dugout, as it will be moved to the first base side.
"It's not really weird because we are just going to see the baseball field in a whole new way," sophomore pitcher Alfred Benavente said. "It's kind of cool because we are going against the ethics of baseball."
USC Coach Mike Gillespie said that he does not like the change but realizes that along the first base line there was room for changes that will benefit the program.
Another major change will be a new locker room and clubhouse below the first base dugout.
There will be an expansion of USC's baseball Hall of Fame and team offices. The old Hall of Fame was just a trophy room and lacked the luster that a team with a lot of history such as USC deserves, officials say.
"I trust that we will have enough imagination and creativity among us that we can make (the Hall of Fame) what it should be, which is a mini Cooperstown," Gillespie said. "If we manage to capture the history of USC baseball and with a variety of things you can do with pictures, trophies and plaques to recognize individuals and certain teams it can be like no other."
New seats will be added along the first-base line, bringing capacity to an estimated 2,500.
The improvements to Dedeaux Field bring an added bonus to USC's recruiting. USC can use the lure of the newly remodeled stadium to attract potential players.
"I think everything we will end up doing here will enhance the facility but also our recruiting effort," Gillespie said.
The team will christen the remodeled facility on March 23 against Pacific-10 Conference rival Stanford. There will be a double header on that day with the concluding game of the series on Sunday March 24.
Until then the team faces the task of playing 19 of 22 games on the road.
"I don't think I am overly concerned about playing on the road but it's going to be a good feeling to finally return home," junior catcher Alberto Concepcion said. "It gives us a chance to prove that we are the caliber team I think we are."
Junior pitcher Anthony Reyes said, "I don't think it will be a problem because it's just a baseball field and it doesn't matter where we play."
The Trojans only home series in the first 22 games will be against Baylor for a weekend series beginning on Feb. 15 at Dodger Stadium.
"I'm going to love (playing at Dodger Stadium) and it's going to be awesome," Reyes said.
Another thorn in the side of USC due to the renovations is having to play all six games against rival UCLA at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The first weekend series between the Trojans and Bruins will be a non-conference meeting beginning Feb. 22. The Trojans will return to UCLA for the final series of the season on May 24.
The players have not been kept in the dark because of the Dedeaux Field reconstruction.
They were made aware of all the traveling at the beginning of the season and have been told all along that the reconstruction would be done in March, Benavente said.
The team continues to hold its practices at Dedeaux Field since most of the reconstruction is concentrated along the first-base line.
"It'll be tiring because we have to travel so much but I don't think it will be that bad and I'm looking forward to it," Concepcion said.

Copyright 2001 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 144, No. 21 (Wednesday, September 26, 2001), beginning on page 16 and ending on page 14.