An old baseball diamond on Belle Isle is getting a renovation, thanks in part to two of the Detroit area's largest companies: Ford Motor Co. and Carhartt.
The diamond, now named the Ford Community Field, opened on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at an opening ceremony with food trucks, inflatable baseballs, batting practices and seven pickup trucks parked in center field. The launch of the renovation coincided with the release of the new Carhartt special edition Ford F-150, which you can read about here.
According to Todd Eckert, the group manager of Ford's truck marketing, and Andi Donovan, senior vice president at Carhartt, restoring the old baseball diamond is a way to enhance the fabric of Americana upon which Ford and Carhartt have etched their names.
To them, trucks, baseball and double-knee pants go hand in hand, or, hand in pocket. A Ford spokesman wouldn't say how much the project cost the two companies.
It's not the two brands' only baseball-related collaboration, either; Ford recently became Major League Baseball's official automotive partner, and Comerica Park is draped in Carhartt logos, where Carhartt is the outfitter of the grounds crew.
"(Ford and Carhartt) both have a shared customer," said Donovan. "That hard-working customer that needs their truck to haul their gear to the job site, and we provide the clothing and the gear for that customer that works on the job."
For Ford and Carhartt both, the partnership is meant to serve the community and build the hardworking, blue-collar image for the two Dearborn-based brands.
The field is used by a variety of youth sports organizations, company softball leagues and even the varsity baseball team at Cass Technical High School. According to Eckert, about 11,000 players in 12 different leagues use the field on Belle Isle. All those who play ball, Eckert said, will benefit from new dugouts, electronic scoreboards, greener grass, a reinforced outfield fence, a new backstop and four new sets of bleachers for fans to populate.
And, Eckert said, "if you look closely, the benches are actually made of F-150 tailgates."
You need not look closely to know it was Ford and Carhartt who did the work; the fences around the field are painted in Ford blue and logos abound on signs along the right- and left-field lines, as well as on the dugouts and scoreboard.
To complete the work, Ford sent roughly 100 of their own employees to work out there during their shifts, including Eckert himself, who contributed to some general maintenance needs on the field.
The renovation is a marketing play to increase interest in the new F-150, but Eckert said the renovation "really is about kind of lifting up the community, because quite frankly, whether that sells a car, sells a truck, or it sells Carhartt jackets or gear, really, it is about getting back to the community."
And hopefully, it gives back to Detroit, said an optimistic Eckert.
"Maybe the next, you know, big star from Detroit, the next Willie Horton comes out of our work," Eckert said. "Which would be even better."
Liam Rappleye covers the automotive industry for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him: LRappleye@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ford and Carhartt renovate old baseball field on Belle Isle
