Country star’s donation provides one-fifth of the $2.5 million needed to fix up fields where some of Nashville’s first integrated baseball games were played
Morgan_Wallen_Video
Morgan Wallen walks to the stage to perform at his free concert.
Morgan Wallen said he spend “countless hours” playing Little League baseball when he was a kidTwo fields have been renamed to honor Wallen, one for his great-grandmother, the other for an East Tennessee lake where he spent lots of time growing up
Country star Morgan Wallen‘s foundation is one of the major donors that celebrated the Aug. 13 reopening of two historic youth baseball fields at Parkwood Community Club in North Nashville.
Dozens of kids, the Nashville Sounds mascot and several community leaders gathered to mark completion of a $2.5 million restoration that brought new turf, lights, fences, dugouts, scoreboards and roads leading to the fields.
In the 1970s, the Parkwood Community Club became one of the first places where Black and white kids played baseball together in Nashville. In the decades since, the two ballfields fell into disrepair.
The Morgan Wallen Foundation donated $500,000 to help the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville and Metro Parks restore the fields. Other major donors include the Christian nonprofit Speer Foundation and Major League Baseball’s youth development foundation.
“Growing up, I spent countless hours out on the diamond. Those hours taught me life lessons I still hold close today and helped me realize the value baseball can have on youth,” Wallen said in a statement.
“Being a part of this project and revitalizing these Parkwood fields — right here in Nashville — to ensure the kids have a place to play for many years to come is something I am really proud of.”
In February 2021, TMZ released a video of Wallen shouting a racial slur after being dropped off at a house at night. Within days, Wallen released a statement apologizing, saying he was “embarrassed and sorry,” adding, “I promise to do better.”
The ballfields are the start of a neighborhood revitalization. In the next few years, a 59-acre park will surround the fields, and Habitat will build 26 homes nearby.
Two fields have been renamed to honor Wallen. One will be called Boots Field for Wallen’s great-grandmother, known as “Mamaw Boots.” The other will be called Norris Field as a tribute to Norris Lake in East Tennessee where Wallen spent a lot of time growing up.
His foundation director, Kathleen Flaherty, said in a statement that nonprofit’s leaders are “thrilled” with the field renovations.
“This was the foundation’s first field restoration grant,” Flaherty said, “and we couldn’t be happier with the results.” Reach Brad Schmitt at brad@tennessean.com.