If you build it, they will come. Or, in the case of the Reverchon Park Baseball Field, if you save it from private interests and renovate the park from top to bottom, then you will have the past, present, and future come and enjoy what is undoubtedly one of the true gems of the Dallas park system.
“This is just like it was,” said Joe Harrison, a member of the 1965 W. W. Samuell High School Spartans baseball team. “We thought we had died and gone to heaven.”
The Spartans are the only baseball team in Dallas ISD history to ever win a city and a state baseball championship. While the state championship was won in Austin, the city championship was won at Reverchon Park Baseball Field.
“It was fantastic” stepping back onto the field, said Richard Holt, a member of the ‘65 championship team. “This is the first time I’ve been back [to Reverchon] in 60 years.”
“Anything we can do to keep the youth out here playing baseball is worth the money,” Holt said. Reverchon Park Baseball Field is the home field for the North Dallas High School Bulldogs.
Reverchon Park Baseball Field Renovation Was a Team Effort
When it came to funding the $5.5 million renovation, it was most definitely a case of teamwork making the dream work.
“It’s been the city, the school district, and private donors who have made it all possible,” said Jon Dahlander, chief of partnership and intergovernmental relations for Dallas ISD. “It’s a model” for how to fund a project that will benefit both the City of Dallas and Dallas ISD. “People support what they help create.”
This day almost didn’t happen if not for the wrangling of then-Mayor Pro Tem Adam Medrano, then-Dallas Park & Recreation Board Member Jesse Moreno, and the Uptown neighborhood where the park sits.
In 2018 the original plan was to convert the park to a professional venue where events could be booked 300 out of 365 days of the year, Moreno said. So it was not just Reverchon Park Baseball Field that was preserved, but the quality of life for its neighbors.
“Preservation kept fighting” to save the baseball field, Moreno said. “This is the City of Dallas baseball cathedral. Today is a celebration of all the work.”
Renovation Is an Investment in Future Generations
Recognized numerous times by dignitaries who spoke at the dedication, members of the championship baseball team understand all too well what Reverchon Park Baseball Field means to the many young people who will walk onto it in the future.
“We learned a lot about competition,” said Bo Wayne Weaver, another championship team member. “We all had successful lives.” He attributes his time on Reverchon Park Baseball Field as a big factor in that success.
“I’m going to try to walk around the bases before I leave,” Weaver said. “I sure can’t run around them anymore.” Of the original 22-member team, only 10 members are left. “We can still see our younger selves on the field. This was our major league park.”
With Jesse Moreno Sr. throwing the first pitch, the North Dallas High School Bulldogs took their home field as the umpire yelled “Play ball!”
