TULSA, Okla — Seven years ago, the O’Brien baseball fields were inundated with water as floods hit Oklahoma.
2 News Oklahoma spoke to community leaders who said they’re making sure that never happens again.
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O'Brien Park Making Comeback After May Flood
Early last year, they announced renovations to the fields that had been damaged in the floods.
Dave Walker is a retired police officer who loves baseball. He said the opening of the renovated O’Brien Park baseball fields brings only positive changes to north Tulsa, especially for children.
“I did actually coach out here a long, long time ago, when they were grass before the floods, because our kids played out here," said Walker. “It's a lot better to chase them in the field and teach them and yell at them on the field than it is in the street when they're doing something that is just going to be life-ending and life-changing.”
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Former professional baseball player talks importance of O'Brien Park renovations
While the field may look like real sod, if you look closely, it’s actually artificial turf that’s made to drain water, so that what happened in 2019 doesn’t happen again.
Tulsa County Commissioner Stan Sallee said they spent about $3.5 million to renovate eight baseball fields at O’Brien, using ARPA and emergency pandemic funds.
“They want to make sure, when it's raining, that they can still get their game in," he said. "With traditional dirt fields, a lot of times, that's just impossible. With a lot of rain, these fields can drain in five minutes on a two-inch hard rain.”
He said he hopes the new fields bring more people to north Tulsa for future tournaments and competitions, and drives up economic development as well as community connection.
“For the kids, the families that are going to get to use this and to keep this legacy alive, it means so much," he said.
“There's going to be families and kids and hot dogs and little kids running around and chasing foul balls," said Walker. "That's just American baseball.”
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