Former Pirate Sean Casey came back to his native Upper St. Clair and brought a little inspiration from his days as an MLB All-Star in Cincinnati and Detroit, where he helped open ballfields accessible to special-needs children.
"I saw how awesome it was for these kids, how happy it made them," Casey says, "and I said to myself, I'm going to build one of these in Pittsburgh."
Casey and his wife Mandi, who has worked as a special education teacher, formed
Casey's Clubhouse to raise funds to build a Miracle Field. They are flat, rubberized, wheelchair accessible baseball diamonds that allow kids with disabilities to join a team and participate fully in games.
The Caseys hope to open their facility about a year from now. The Clubhouse has already secured land at the Upper St. Clair Recreation Center and is aiming to raise up to a million dollars for the project, although "$700,000 will get it up and running," Sean Casey says.
"I've talked to a lot of families from this area who take their kids to the Miracle Field in Cranberry" – the only other one in the area. "I know there's going to be a lot of interest. We need one in the South Hills."
Every child will have a volunteer buddy to help him or her out on the field. "It's awesome," Casey says. "I was part of a grand opening in Cincinnati last summer. The parents get a chance to sit back and watch their kids play baseball. The smiles on these kids when they get a hit are just priceless."
Author: Marty Levine
Source: Sean Casey, Casey's Clubhouse
Image courtesy of GatesmanMarmionDrake+Dave, Inc.