​Historic Wayne County Ballpark To Receive Nearly $500K Grant

WAYNE COUNTY, MI — Hamtramck Stadium, the historic ballpark where baseball Hall of Fame
members Turkey Stearnes, Josh Gibson and Satchel Paige and many other Negro League legends once played, will receive a nearly $500,000 face lift through a National Park Service grant approved Thursday by the Wayne County Commission.

The grant will go toward renovating the stadium, a 90-year-old facility that once served as home field for the Detroit Stars and is one of only five former Negro League ballparks still standing, the county said in a news release.

“This is wonderful news and I’m sure this project will bring lots of people to Hamtramck,” said Commissioner Martha G. Scott (D-Highland Park), whose district includes the stadium.

The $490,729 grant will be used to demolish some seats and handrails, clean and strip paint from the metal grandstand and repair and replace other stadium structures as needed, according to the news release.

The grant involves no county money and is provided through the park service’s African American Civil Rights of the 20th Century grant program.

Locates at 3201 Dan Street, the facility was initially known as Roesink Stadium, named for the ball club’s onetime owner. Though not currently in active use, the stadium is part of Hamtramck’s Veterans Park.

Detroit legend Stearnes, a hard-hitting outfielder, is among 17 players enshrined in the National Baseball of Fame to have played there.

The city took over the stadium’s ownership after the Stars folded in the 1940s. The stadium was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. A State of Michigan Historic Marker was added in 2014.

The Friends of Hamtramck Stadium, a local organization, has formed to help finance additional renovations at the site.