Jack Roeder is a seasoned veteran in the world of baseball. The Iowa native spent 30 years as a minor league baseball executive before transitioning to his current role as President and CEO of Prospect Meadows, a state-of-the-art baseball/softball complex in Linn County, Iowa.
The dream of Prospect Meadows was born from a group of visionaries who began tossing around the idea of a transformational facility 2010. While it took nearly a decade to secure the funding, land, and complete construction, today Prospect Meadows is a thriving complex, delivering a place for kids of all ages and abilities to play ball and serving as an economic engine for the region.
“Our focus is on providing inclusive access for all youth to the positive experience and growth associated with the games of baseball and softball,” Roeder says. “We built Prospect Meadows on the vision of four bases: local league play, the League of Dreams program for underserved youth, the Miracle Field for differently-abled youth, and regional economic impact from hosting regional and national tournaments.”
The four bases vision has proven a success from the first pitch of the first game at the complex, delivered in May of 2019.
The True Pitch Partnership: A Game-Changer
The complex features eight fields that are designed for optimum flexibility. Each of them features a synthetic turf infield, natural grass outfields and adjustable base lengths. One major addition that allowed Prospect Meadows to meet the vision for flexible fields that could be used for multiple age groups—in addition to baseball or softball—was the purchase of portable pitching mounds and portable softball pitching lanes from True Pitch Mounds.
“It was imperative to have mounds that could move,” Roeder says. Prospect Meadows purchased more than a dozen True Pitch mounds to ensure coverage for all eight fields, along with supplying bullpen mounds at each field. “If we wanted to have a 12-year-old tournament or an eight-year-old tournament or a 17-year-old tournament, we needed different mounds of different sizes set at different distances. And if we were going to play softball on one of the fields, we needed to be able to remove the mound completely. Our vision could only be achieved with portable mounds.”
In researching options for portable mounds, Roeder quickly found a partner in True Pitch.
“True Pitch has been awesome to work with from the start,” Roeder says. “It appeals to us that they are local. We are focused on making an economic impact here in Iowa and they are too. I just like the idea that our mounds are being made no more than 60 minutes from the complex. If we have any issues, the team at True Pitch is easy to reach and quick to respond. It has been a terrific situation for us.”
Streamlining Groundskeeping
The combination of turf infields and True Pitch portable mounds has streamlined the maintenance process and enhanced efficiency at Prospect Meadows. With portable mounds, there's no need for extensive work between games, allowing the complex to turn games over quicker. The quicker the turnover, the more games that can be played in a single day.
“This kind of efficiency has not only improved our operations, but it has also contributed to the economic impact of the facility,” Roeder says. “In our most recent year, we generated more than $11 million in economic activity, including contributions from hotels, restaurants, and local businesses. This is the kind of impact we hoped we would have. We are seeing our vision of attracting teams from across the region and the country to the complex come to fruition.”
Building efficiency into the care and maintenance of the complex is vital as it continues to grow and attract more teams from across the country. Since its opening, Prospect Meadows has welcomed more than 2,000 teams from two dozen states and Canada. In total, the complex has hosted more than a thousand local league games, and nearly 250,000 people have attended games.
Serving the Community
The numbers make clear that in a short time, Prospect Meadows has grown to become a hotspot for competitive teams from across the country. It has also served as a vital location from which to provide opportunities that didn’t previously exist for special needs children and at-risk youth. Roeder says he feels fortunate to have found such a fulfilling role at such a remarkable complex.
“Baseball has been my life from as far back as I can remember,” Roeder says. “When it came time to retire from minor League Baseball back in 2010, this was a great opportunity for me to help. From the design to fundraising to the construction.”
One huge benefit to the community is that tournament-level teams now have more options locally.
“I heard over and over during my years in baseball that we needed something like this locally, so our youth teams didn’t always have to travel to other locations to play,” Roeder says. “We have done that with Prospect Meadows. To be a part of all we are doing is incredibly gratifying for me.”