Vandals damage baseball facility in South Nashville
By Marissa Sulek
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https://www.wsmv.com/news/vandals-damage-baseball-facility-in-south-nashville/article_1ab8ea1a-74cf-11ec-acc0-3bd8fd55ad66.html?block_id=994460 (WSMV) — A youth baseball facility in South Nashville is now out thousands of dollars after vandalism at the building earlier this month.
This incident was the second time that someone or someones had broken into the facility. The first was in the fall of 2021, but this recent incident has caused significantly more damage.
The facility manager said he could track down the people who did it after they posted videos on TikTok.
These are the same fields World Series teams have practiced on. The fields of 2013, 2014, and 2015 Tennessee State Champions.
“We had some superstars that come play out here,” said Chris Mercado, Music City Baseball facilities manager. “Mookie Betts, Bryan Reynolds are two major stars in the major leagues right now.”
This place prepares players for the next level. Still, Mercado never prepared for what he saw inside his concessions stand over the weekend.
“This is exactly how I found it,” Mercado said. “Haven’t done anything to clean it up just yet.”
After the winter weather last week, Mercado said he saw TikTok videos of juveniles vandalizing his South Nashville facility.
“They want to be famous somehow, and they incriminated themselves,” Mercado explained.
He said he checked the mess himself. That’s when he found damage to the fryer, a chair burned, food scattered and smothered on the ground. Outside, he said his golf cart was gone and his lawnmower broken.
“I use that every day to drag the field and pick up dirt and grass,” said Mercado.
For Mercado, this isn’t the first time he’s dealt with damages at the facility. Last summer, kids clogged the storm drain.
“I was gone for over a month, and when I come back, it’s filled up with a lot of stuff, and it burnt out the pump,” Mercado said.
He said with not much of a budget, and it’s going to take a lot to get their field ready before March – for players and fans.
“I mean that’s $3,000 just to add dirt to the field and get it done,” Mercado said. “We use that fryer a lot. They love our cheese sticks, our chicken nuggets, and everything. We’re going to have to replace that.”
Mercado said he doesn’t have a board of people working for him. He is the only one running the facility.
You can donate here to help Mercado recover and prepare the fields for the spring season.
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