'Foundry Field' coming to South Bend's Southeast Side

 

SOUTH BEND, Ind.-- There’s a new push to revitalize part of Southeast South Bend, and it starts with a local park and the city's historic negro league baseball team known as the Foundry Giants.

Ground will be broken on the new "Foundry Field" at Southeast Park next month. It will be a tribute to South Bend’s largely Black baseball team of the 1920s, the Foundry Giants.  

But with the right funding, the space will go beyond baseball to incorporate local art and history, open to the whole community.  

“It’s really neat to see history pave the way for what we’re doing in the future,” said Aaron Perri, executive director of Venues, Parks and Arts for the City of South Bend. “This isn’t just about baseball, too. It’s about the life lessons, the social equity, the neighborhood development that comes alongside a project like this.”

The space is a public/private initiative, broken up into phases, the first being the ballpark. The roughly $150,000 investment has already been made by donors, and work begins next month.  

“There’s a really incredible group of volunteers, committed adult baseball league players that have had this concept in mind,” Perri said. “They’ve been fundraising. From what I understand, they’ve hit their goal and construction going to start later this year.”  

The project is spearheaded by the Sappy Moffit Field Foundation.  

“Sports is in the fabric of our community,” said Nick Kleva, director of sports development for Visit South Bend Mishawaka.

As we approach the beginning of phase one, fundraising is underway to add art, history, and community to the space.  

And neighborhood projects like these bolster the economic development of the city.  

“When those visitors come in, they want to see those unique attractions for the community, and I think this one’s going to be on the top of the list,” Kleva said.

The ballpark groundbreaking is May 12.  

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