SPRINGFIELD, Mo–She’s been neglected for too long.
But soon Meador Park will be getting a makeover, big time.
Drury in partnership with the Springfield Park Board is putting $1.5 million dollars worth of renovations into Meador Park.
The Panthers baseball team will return to Meador Park for the 2024 season.
The facility will be known as Mark Worley Field at Meador Park.
Worley was a Springfield native who played his college baseball at Arizona.
Worley Field will have artificial turf including the basepaths and pitchers mound.
There will be a brand new 12-foot high outfield fence with new foul poles.
The dugouts and scoreboard will all be upgraded as well.
Donations and fund raising will pay for the renovations.
The Panthers played at Meador for ten years from 2006 through 2016.
“To have this for our community, alumni, our current players, fans, it’s really exciting for the city to have this park, that’s kind of a jewel of the city and bring back Meador Park which is one of the most historic fields in town. The main thing was full field turf. US ballpark, Sky Bacon Stadium it’s full turf so to go back to an all grass field would be a step down, So to have an all-field turf at our disposal allows us to play and practice there whenever we want. It allows for minimal maintenance in terms of mowing, clay, water, irrigation,” said Drury baseball coach Scott Nasby.
