Dyer Pauses Plans for Tinker Field Demolition
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
By: Nicole Creston

February 11, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando - Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer has put on hold plans to demolish Tinker Field. The historic baseball park was set to be torn down to accommodate new renovations to the nearby Citrus Bowl. But some Orlando residents say city officials didn't allow for public input on the demolition plan before it was announced, and a movement to preserve the field is gaining steam.

[Image: Tinker Field, Orlando]

Emmett O’Dell is part of “Saving Tinker Field,” a Facebook group with about 600 members so far. He says the field has hosted ball games since 1914.

“Orlando’s history only goes back to the 1840s, so we don’t have history back to 1776 like they do in the northeast,” says O’Dell. “This is an old part of Orlando. Lots of baseball greats have come through there.”

Over the years Tinker Field has been the spring training home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds, among others. Hall of Fame members have played there.

And fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech from the pitcher’s mound during a civil rights rally.

Tinker Field is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

City lawmakers are split on tearing down Tinker Field. Commissioners Patty Sheehan and Sam Ings have voiced concerns about the plan.

Mayor Dyer says he’s delaying demolition to explore ways to “preserve the historic significance” of the field.