Dreams can come true at Classic Park

Field where Captains play is now available for renting to the public

Anyone who’s dreamt of playing on a professional baseball field now has the opportunity.

The Lake County Captains announced June 17 they are renting out the field at Classic Park while the Minor League Baseball season remains suspended due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Groups are able to rent out the facility to play on the Classic Park diamond. The park is also hosting games for travel clubs and Little League teams.

Groups that rent the field will be the only ones in the facility, and rentals last for a two-hour span.

The opportunity to play on the field is now extended to the general public. Groups who rent the facility will be required to follow state guidelines pertaining to COVID-19 prevention.

The Captains remain in a holding pattern while Major League Baseball’s owners and players association negotiate a possible start to the 2020 season.

Baseball was suspended in March as Lake County was scheduled to open the season on April 9 at South Bend. The Captains’ home-opener was slated for April 13.

The minor league season is contingent upon the major league’s restart. Reports indicate the 2020 minor league season may be cancelled outright, but consideration is being given to expanding the Arizona Fall League to provide minor-leaguers an opportunity to make up for lost development time.

Negotiations between ownership and the players association continue to make little headway. The most recent proposal, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, from the MLBPA featured a 70-game season beginning July 19, full prorated pay and expanded playoffs. Commissioner Rob Manfred rejected the proposal.

Per a report from Baseball America last week, all 30 MLB teams have been told to find a site for taxi squad workouts within 100 miles of the major league club’s home stadium.

Classic Park is the closest park to Progressive Field at

just 17 miles east of downtown Cleveland.

Rosters this season are expected to be expanded to 30 players with another 20 to 25 available on the taxi squad.

Taxi squads could become especially vital to maintaining major league rosters in the event MLB players test positive for COVID-19 if baseball resumes.

The other eligible sites

are Canal Park in Akron, 38 miles from Cleveland, or Eastwood Field — the home of the short-season Mahoning Valley Scrappers that’s 63 miles away in Niles.

While Lake County awaits the return of professional baseball, anyone who’s ever attended a game at Classic Park and wondered what it’d be like to play on the field now has the means to make those

dreams a reality.

Field rentals provide the Captains an added revenue stream to help compensate for ticket sales and other incomes lost by the season’s suspension.

Cost is dependent on multiple factors.

For more information, contact general manager Jen Yorko at 440-975-8085 or jyorko@captainsbaseball.com.

NEWS-HERALD FILE Classic Park, home of the Lake County Captains, appears ready for the start of the season now delayed by concerns over coronavirus.