[PHOTOS] Georges Maranda deserves better than this baseball field in Levi’s

The son of Quebec baseball legend Georges Maranda has condemned the deplorable state of the stadium that bears his father’s name in Levis.

“What a disaster,” protested Denise Maranda, who spoke with her Newspaper tuesday

Georges Maranda, who died in 2000, was the first player to reach the major leagues in the 1960s with the San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins. He wore No. 47 with the Twins, as did a certain Edouard Julien, who made his debut with the same team two weeks ago. Georges Maranda is one of the few Quebecers to pitch more than 100 innings in the major leagues.

Georges-Maranda Stadium is the largest baseball complex in Lewis, with four fields, including one that hosts a midget AAA team.

Renovations there over the years have been superficial: a new scoreboard and restoration of dugouts for players.

“It’s time [pour les abris], it looked like a chicken coop. No one goes there anymore,” a baseball official in Levis told me, who did not want to be named so as not to alienate the city.

He especially salutes the work of the municipal employees who are fighting to keep the land safe. But he needs more than that.

No sense

“Let’s say it’s not called a park anymore. It doesn’t have any bad common sense anymore,” he says, referring specifically to the mounds, grass and demarcation between infield and outfield.

If nothing changes, Levi’s Stadium will soon become one of the worst in the province of elite baseball.

For Dennis Maranda, the situation is even more shocking considering his father was involved in minor baseball development at Levi’s long after his career.

My father is a great man […] It has improved Lévis and Quebec City,” explains Mr. Maranda.

“In the stands, I’d be afraid to get a rift, and the stadium is obsolete,” he adds. “What’s the point of installing the latest scoreboard if the rest of the land is ignored?”

Denise Maranda says she wrote to Mayor Gilles Lehoulier.

“These fields need to follow in the footsteps of the young Georges Maranda and Edouard Julien,” said Mr, who believes artificial turf could be a better solution.

Artificial grass?

While artificial turf baseball fields are starting to spring up everywhere in Quebec, Lévis still doesn’t have one. However, it has four artificial turf football fields.

Safe, such a surface above all significantly increases the number of hours a floor can be used.

Asked if renovations are expected, Lewis said the city would get back to us with answers on Wednesday.