November 26, 2025 • 6 mins
The Community backed renovation efforts at Valley Field are rounding third and headed home! Paul Soltysiak joins us to discuss the last push to raise funds to finish the project.
More information can be found here: https://www.fansofvalleyfield.org/
More information can be found here: https://www.fansofvalleyfield.org/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And this is West Michigan's Morning News Steve, Kelly, Brett,
Bakita Schmidty. With a day off today as we get
ready for Thanksgiving, we'll get back to traffic and weather.
It's part of this winter storm as the winter storm
warnings and advisories are now underway. Let's talk a little
bit about construction and renovation that is underway too at
(00:21):
valley Field. Paulsl Tesiak is back with us, the co
founder and vice president of Fans of valley Field. Paul,
thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This organization is impressive. The renovation work and the way
that you've got the community behind this thing is kind
of the high barmark for how nonprofits should work. So
first of all, congratulations to all of you. Give us
a little rundown on the history of this place, which
(00:53):
is pretty important to West Michigan as well.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah sure, yeah, Actually, Steve, it's amazing how many people
who live in rapids aren't even aware of it, you know.
It's we're always amazed by that. They're like, I didn't
even know this was here, but yeah it was. The
ballpark was built opened anyway, in nineteen thirty seven. WPA
funds helped build it, and in nineteen ninety six it
was renamed Sullivan Field. Some people get confused by that,
(01:18):
but we we like to use both names because, you know,
the the old timers often still call it Valley, but
people who are new know it as Sullivan Field. But yeah,
so it fell kind of into disrepair over the years,
you know, back in like the eighties nineties when things
were really tight, you know, the city and the state
just didn't have any money, so it's deteriorated. So luckily
(01:43):
there was a tax millage passed five years ago. I
believe that steered money to all parks and Grand Rapids
because it's actually a city park. Yeah, and we heard
about that and we thought, well, man, rather than just
kind of fix it, let's try to take it to
the next level. Let's let's make it a really nice
bay s ball facility. And we sat down with a
city and we asked if we could do other events
(02:04):
there too, so it's become a true community gathering space.
And you know, you mentioned like you give us credit
for rallying the community, but I feel like we just
all we had to do is push a button. Because
there's so many people who love the place, and people
are rallying around it. It's really fun to see.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Kudos to you. Just like Steve said, because I grew
up watching baseball with my dad. He would take me
to Sullivan's games and Polynesian Pools and all the great
teams that would play there, and that was my first experience.
And then to see it kind of get older, it
was kind of cool because you'd see it like in movies,
you know, like I think League of their Own. I mean,
a lot of those fields look like what Valley Field
(02:44):
look like, right where the Ladies were playing. And so
now to renovate this and I was just looking at
your list of events that you've done this year. So
cool how you mix in baseball but everything else. I mean,
whether it's a chili cookoff and Easter egg hunt for
the kids, an MLB pitch, hit and run, you guys
have hosted everything, and that to me is the true
ess and stuff. It's like the Cooper's town on the
(03:06):
west side of Grand Rapids, if you will, I've ever
been to Cooperstown. They have a small kind of like
stadium that's a part of just down the road from
the Hall of Fame and they'll play some exhibition games
and stuff that that's what valley Field is to me,
with our heritage of baseball and Grand Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's it's been fun and we do
we try to tie in, you know, a baseball theme
to everything we're doing because that's what it's about. You know.
The reason, the whole reason we're doing all these events
and things is to draw attention to it. It's worked.
We've gotten a lot of good major sponsors because of
the love for the community stuff, and in turn that's
(03:44):
going to help make it a really really nice baseball facility.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And speaking of that, you brought in some old relics
and stuff. The museum side of this.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Right Yeah, part of the renovation is going to be
actually a museum that will honor baseball history and Grand
Rapids and there really isn't a place like that right now.
So people have been coming forward and giving us some
really really cool stuff. Like today we brought an old
brand's jersey from the forties and we actually have a
photo of guys wearing that jersey, so it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Oh cool.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And then that little individual trophy from nineteen thirty seven.
It was from the first league championship and Stubby Overmeyer
was on that team. Oh yeah, dutch Craft paints. He
looks like a batboy in the team photo and he
ended up being a major leaguer. So yeah, So and
in order to get us to the finish line here
with the fundraising that we're doing, we actually had hit
(04:34):
our goal. But then when the construction started and they
ran into quote unquote major structural issues, we had to pause.
An engineering firm looked at it and actually recommended tearing
it down. Luckily, the city let us get a second opinion.
We brought in an engineering firm that specializes in old buildings.
They came up with a plan to save it nice.
(04:54):
But of course that means more money, so the price
tag went up. So everything's again happen. The work has
actually been awarded, all the bids are in and Rockford
Construction has awarded the work, so it's gonna happen. But
now it's just a matter of depending on how much
money we end up with, we may have to cut
some things, like for example, we were gonna cut the
(05:15):
stage and pavilion and do that later.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, we want to do that. We want to raise
all the money we can Yeah, yeah, let's talk bricks.
Get them through the website.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, if fans of valley Field dot org gets front
and center, so when you click on that, you're going
to see it right away, and you'll be able to
see some other cool stuff too. You can volunteer, but yeah,
we want to challenge everybody. This is kind of your
last chance, you know, and don't wait and say, oh man,
I wish I would have done that, especially businesses you know,
on the West Side and beyond. We're challenging them. For
(05:47):
a thousand dollars, you can get your name on the
donor wall forever. So I think that's pretty cool. But
if you know, if individuals can't afford that, you can
do it for as little as one hundred and fifty dollars.
So yeah, that's it's our angels in the outfield push.
We just we need a few more angels in the
outfield to get us to home plate. Here.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
We will put the link in the podcast section where
this interview will live at Woodradio dot com. Co founder
and vice president Fans of Valleyfield Again, Fans of Valleyfield
dot Org, Paulsaltisiak, thanks for coming again today.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Hey, thanks so much for helping us tell the story.
And this is West Michigan's Morning News Steve, Kelly, Brett,
Bakita Schmidty. With a day off today as we get
ready for Thanksgiving, we'll get back to traffic and weather.
It's part of this winter storm as the winter storm
warnings and advisories are now underway. Let's talk a little
bit about construction and renovation that is underway too at
(00:21):
valley Field. Paulsl Tesiak is back with us, the co
founder and vice president of Fans of valley Field. Paul,
thanks for coming in today.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
This organization is impressive. The renovation work and the way
that you've got the community behind this thing is kind
of the high barmark for how nonprofits should work. So
first of all, congratulations to all of you. Give us
a little rundown on the history of this place, which
(00:53):
is pretty important to West Michigan as well.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Yeah sure, yeah, Actually, Steve, it's amazing how many people
who live in rapids aren't even aware of it, you know.
It's we're always amazed by that. They're like, I didn't
even know this was here, but yeah it was. The
ballpark was built opened anyway, in nineteen thirty seven. WPA
funds helped build it, and in nineteen ninety six it
was renamed Sullivan Field. Some people get confused by that,
(01:18):
but we we like to use both names because, you know,
the the old timers often still call it Valley, but
people who are new know it as Sullivan Field. But yeah,
so it fell kind of into disrepair over the years,
you know, back in like the eighties nineties when things
were really tight, you know, the city and the state
just didn't have any money, so it's deteriorated. So luckily
(01:43):
there was a tax millage passed five years ago. I
believe that steered money to all parks and Grand Rapids
because it's actually a city park. Yeah, and we heard
about that and we thought, well, man, rather than just
kind of fix it, let's try to take it to
the next level. Let's let's make it a really nice
bay s ball facility. And we sat down with a
city and we asked if we could do other events
(02:04):
there too, so it's become a true community gathering space.
And you know, you mentioned like you give us credit
for rallying the community, but I feel like we just
all we had to do is push a button. Because
there's so many people who love the place, and people
are rallying around it. It's really fun to see.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Kudos to you. Just like Steve said, because I grew
up watching baseball with my dad. He would take me
to Sullivan's games and Polynesian Pools and all the great
teams that would play there, and that was my first experience.
And then to see it kind of get older, it
was kind of cool because you'd see it like in movies,
you know, like I think League of their Own. I mean,
a lot of those fields look like what Valley Field
(02:44):
look like, right where the Ladies were playing. And so
now to renovate this and I was just looking at
your list of events that you've done this year. So
cool how you mix in baseball but everything else. I mean,
whether it's a chili cookoff and Easter egg hunt for
the kids, an MLB pitch, hit and run, you guys
have hosted everything, and that to me is the true
ess and stuff. It's like the Cooper's town on the
(03:06):
west side of Grand Rapids, if you will, I've ever
been to Cooperstown. They have a small kind of like
stadium that's a part of just down the road from
the Hall of Fame and they'll play some exhibition games
and stuff that that's what valley Field is to me,
with our heritage of baseball and Grand Rapids.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, absolutely, it's it's it's been fun and we do
we try to tie in, you know, a baseball theme
to everything we're doing because that's what it's about. You know.
The reason, the whole reason we're doing all these events
and things is to draw attention to it. It's worked.
We've gotten a lot of good major sponsors because of
the love for the community stuff, and in turn that's
(03:44):
going to help make it a really really nice baseball facility.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And speaking of that, you brought in some old relics
and stuff. The museum side of this.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Right Yeah, part of the renovation is going to be
actually a museum that will honor baseball history and Grand
Rapids and there really isn't a place like that right now.
So people have been coming forward and giving us some
really really cool stuff. Like today we brought an old
brand's jersey from the forties and we actually have a
photo of guys wearing that jersey, so it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Oh cool.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
And then that little individual trophy from nineteen thirty seven.
It was from the first league championship and Stubby Overmeyer
was on that team. Oh yeah, dutch Craft paints. He
looks like a batboy in the team photo and he
ended up being a major leaguer. So yeah, So and
in order to get us to the finish line here
with the fundraising that we're doing, we actually had hit
(04:34):
our goal. But then when the construction started and they
ran into quote unquote major structural issues, we had to pause.
An engineering firm looked at it and actually recommended tearing
it down. Luckily, the city let us get a second opinion.
We brought in an engineering firm that specializes in old buildings.
They came up with a plan to save it nice.
(04:54):
But of course that means more money, so the price
tag went up. So everything's again happen. The work has
actually been awarded, all the bids are in and Rockford
Construction has awarded the work, so it's gonna happen. But
now it's just a matter of depending on how much
money we end up with, we may have to cut
some things, like for example, we were gonna cut the
(05:15):
stage and pavilion and do that later.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
Well, we want to do that. We want to raise
all the money we can Yeah, yeah, let's talk bricks.
Get them through the website.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, if fans of valley Field dot org gets front
and center, so when you click on that, you're going
to see it right away, and you'll be able to
see some other cool stuff too. You can volunteer, but yeah,
we want to challenge everybody. This is kind of your
last chance, you know, and don't wait and say, oh man,
I wish I would have done that, especially businesses you know,
on the West Side and beyond. We're challenging them. For
(05:47):
a thousand dollars, you can get your name on the
donor wall forever. So I think that's pretty cool. But
if you know, if individuals can't afford that, you can
do it for as little as one hundred and fifty dollars.
So yeah, that's it's our angels in the outfield push.
We just we need a few more angels in the
outfield to get us to home plate. Here.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
We will put the link in the podcast section where
this interview will live at Woodradio dot com. Co founder
and vice president Fans of Valleyfield Again, Fans of Valleyfield
dot Org, Paulsaltisiak, thanks for coming again today.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Hey, thanks so much for helping us tell the story.
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