State Can't Pay DA's Salary But Rendell Buys Sod

Pa. taxpayers paying $1.3 million for ballpark field

State grant will fix drainage system, replace grass surface

By Phil Ray, pray@altoonamirror.com

The sod situation at the Blair County Ballpark hit a new low in mid-May when two games could not be played because of a wet infield.

It wasn't long afterward when Gov. Ed Rendell was at the ballpark for a game when it again started to rain. Altoona Curve President Chuck Greenberg took the opportunity to ask if there was state money available for a new playing surface, since the Pirates-affiliated franchise was experiencing problems with its decade-old turf.

The result was a $1.3 million grant, which Greenberg said State Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., R-Blair, and State Rep. Rick Geist, R-Altoona, worked with Rendell in the spring to secure.

The paperwork for the state grant still was being signed Friday morning as a bulldozer from Sports Construction Group LLC of Cleveland began plowing the field into a massive pile of grass to be carried away. More...