Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field explained

Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field
Nickname:Benedetti Diamond
Former Names:Max Ulrich Field (1953-1980)
Location:Golden Gate Avenue and Masonic Avenue, San Francisco, CA, USA
Coordinates:37.7767°N -122.448°W
Opened:1953
Owner:University of San Francisco
Operator:University of San Francisco
Surface:Natural grass
Scoreboard:Electronic
Capacity:2,000
Dimensions:315 feet (Left field)
415 feet (Center field)
321 feet (Right field)
Tenants:San Francisco Dons baseball (NCAA D1 WCC) (1953-present)

Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field is a baseball venue in San Francisco, California, United States. It is home to the San Francisco Dons baseball team of the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference.[1] Built in 1953,[2] the original facility had a capacity of 2,000 spectators.[3]

The venue was originally called simply Max Ulrich Field. After its 1953 construction, it was named after Max Ulrich, a San Francisco resident who donated in his will $358,000 to the university. The field took on its current name in 1980. In that year, Dons baseball coach Dante Benedetti retired after 29 years in charge of the program.[4] The diamond was dedicated to him that same year. Until Nino Giarratano surpassed him in 2012, Benedetti was the program's all-time winningest coach, with 373 wins.[5]

The playing field is surrounded by mesh netting, designed to keep foul balls and home runs from damaging nearby houses or flying out onto busy Golden Gate and Masonic avenues.[6] [7]

Benedetti Diamond underwent a $6 million renovation following the 2015 season, resulting in a brand new ballpark on the same site as the original field. The diamond was rotated 90 degrees with the first base line now running along Golden Gate Avenue and home plate in the northwest corner of the field. The playing surface was lowered 18 inches to accommodate a wrap-around spectator deck with seating above and dugouts underneath. The Astroturf surface includes Greenplay organic infill made from ground coconut husks for performance, low temperatures, and player health and safety.[8]

See also

References

  1. Web site: Athletic Facilities . USF Dons . 27 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110815193236/http://www.usfdons.com/information/facilities/index . 2011-08-15 . dead .
  2. Web site: Benedetti Diamond . 27 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120320114904/http://usfblogtastic.blogspot.com/2007/03/benedetti-diamond.html . 2012-03-20 . March 21, 2007 . dead .
  3. Book: The Editors of Baseball America. Baseball America 2007 Directory: Your Definitive Guide to the Game. March 2007. Simon and Schuster . 9781932391152. 27 July 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20160422145903/https://books.google.com/books?id=EXno1qQKoyIC&pg=PA304&lpg=PA304&dq=benedetti+diamond+capacity&source=bl&ots=8W78VUOasY&sig=n10QWKiIYMWXzirdPd4mdcBcjxo&hl=en&ei=lFswTqTrNYPQgAeAkLl-&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=benedetti%20diamond%20capacity&f=false. live. 2016-04-22.
  4. Web site: Perkins . Andrea . The Life and Times of Dante Benedetti: Baseball, Business, and a Babe Named Chubs . Coast News . 27 July 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110719064753/http://www.coastnews.com/sf/dante/dante.htm . 2011-07-19 . dead .
  5. Web site: Sorenson . Eric . One of My Simple Pleasures in Life . College Baseball Today . 4 March 2012 . https://archive.today/20130122060312/http://blogs.eastonbaseball.com/collegebaseballtoday/2012/03/03/one-of-my-simple-pleasures-in-life/ . 2013-01-22 . 3 March 2012 . San Francisco’s Nino Giarratano picked up his 374th win in his Dons coaching career with today’s 6-5, 10-inning win over Cal State Northridge. With the win he surpasses the legendary Dante Benedetti for the most wins in program history. . dead .
  6. Web site: Sorenson . Eric . The Campaign to Stop Bay Area Bullying . College Baseball Today . 26 February 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131204103242/http://blogs.eastonbaseball.com/collegebaseballtoday/2012/02/24/the-campaign-to-stop-bay-area-bullying/ . 2013-12-04 . 24 February 2012 . Benedetti Diamond, which is crunched into a corner of the campus and is surrounded by netting (think the Henry Doorley Zoo bird aviary). . dead .
  7. Web site: Benedetti Diamond slideshow . USFDons.com.
  8. Web site: Benedetti Diamond . USFDons.com.