Out of the park
Lees step up to the plate for Lamar Porter Field rejuvenation
“Let’s see a show of hands,” Jay Rogers said. “Who’s played ball, or had a son or a brother who’s played ball, at Lamar Porter Field?”
Cliff Lee’s hand was one of the first to go up, and the highest. He and his wife, Kristen, had invited a couple hundred folks to their house for a backyard party catered by chef Stephen Burrow and the staff at 42. A $5.6 million upgrade to the baseball field is planned, and once complete, it would become the Lamar Porter Complex with locker rooms, enclosed offices and concessions — picture a city ball field crossed with Dickey-Stephens Park.
Lee’s arm went up, but was he raising his hand or calling his shot? A few minutes later he and Kristen took the microphone to thank everyone for coming out and offer a few sweet sentiments. Then they brought the heat: The Lees were going to match funds raised that night and beyond. (They haven’t set a cap, but Kristen Lee felt comfortable the next day calling it a six-figure deal.)
Holy cow! Harry Carey might have said.
Go crazy, folks, go crazy! Jack Buck might have said.
“Anybody who knows Cliff knows he doesn’t get excited about much,” Kristen Lee said, but this is something both Lees are excited to get behind, and yeah, the Lees’ kids go to Episcopal Collegiate School, which, along with Catholic High School, uses Lamar Porter as its home field. But “inner-city youth are a big part of this for us, too — kids who can’t afford or aren’t good enough to play somewhere else can come here.”
“Now that Ray Winder’s gone, this is the last remaining historic ballpark in Little Rock,” project architect John Greer said. There are “memories that have to be saved.”