DALLAS -- “Legacy” is an accurate title for work that the Texas Rangers Baseball Foundation and Major League Baseball are currently doing in the Metroplex.
At the Texas Rangers Youth Academy in West Dallas on Wednesday, MLB and the Rangers announced more information about the 2024 All-Star Legacy initiative, which seeks to leave behind a meaningful impact in the greater Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington communities.
For this year’s Midsummer Classic, Major League Baseball, the Rangers and the club’s community partners will make a combined investment of nearly $7 million to the Legacy projects, which are aimed at providing access to baseball and softball for youth in underserved communities.
“Major League Baseball, together with the Rangers and their community partners will be creating and leaving a legacy that will live on far beyond this summer's All-Star Game,” said April Brown, the senior vice president of social responsibility at MLB. “Since its inception, our legacy program has contributed more than $110 million to communities across the country. And right here in the Metroplex, we are extending this legacy with the Texas Rangers.”
The 2024 All-Star Legacy initiative will include field renovations at both the Senter Park Field in Arlington and at the Texas Rangers Youth Academy itself.
The Legacy initiative will also include renovations to a local Boys & Girls Club in Fort Worth -- the oldest in the state of Texas -- and donations toward the Adaptive Training Foundation, which provides physical and mental rehabilitation for military veterans and other first responders in the North Texas area. Rangers pitcher Jon Gray has partnered with ATF over the last year.
The Boys & Girls Club renovation will include the resurfacing of the sports court, the reorganization of the STEAM workforce development area and the renovation of the music education area, with donations by country music star Kane Brown.
The new field installation at the Rangers Youth Academy will include field leveling and installing repurposed turf from Globe Life Field -- the turf used during the 2023 World Series. They will also add in new fencing, netting, scoreboards, shade structures over existing bleachers and brand new dugouts.
“I know that a lot of times, for a field project, it's an investment in a field and a field development project,” said Juan Leonel Garciga, the senior director of the Rangers Youth Academy. “This is not that. This is an investment in young people and the number of lives that are going to be impacted by the project that's taking place here.
“There's thousands of kids that will come through this facility that will be impacted by having a quality big league experience and a space that they can call a second home. We're just so excited to see how programs are going to be impacted, and more importantly, how lives are going to be impacted. Providing a big league experience has always been the mission of the Texas Rangers Youth Academy and Mercy Street.”
Rangers ace Jacob deGrom, and his wife Stacey, are supporting the new field renovation and were on hand for the announcement at the Youth Academy on Wednesday.
“It's a very cool opportunity to be able to give back to the community and help change the lives of young kids, and give them an opportunity to play the game that we love,” deGrom said. “We're fortunate enough to be able to play at the highest level and enjoy the best fields and then being a part of this to help renovate this field, the part that's really cool is the World Series turf is gonna be out on this field. So it's just a way of giving back. The Rangers have been great to me, especially the Rangers Foundation, and it's just a small thing we can do to help out.”