Demie Mainieri Field Getting $2.5 Million Facelift After Being Dormant For 28 Years
Paul Mainieri’s love for baseball blossomed in 1961 in the muggy dugout at Dade County Junior College as his dad Demie Mainieri coached the school’s baseball team—the Falcons.
“I grew up in that dugout next to my father,” said Paul, who would return to that same field 16 years later to play second base for him. “I feel his presence there when I go by.”
Demie was a baseball lifer with a gargantuan personality who left a dent on the community college landscape. During a three-decade-long coaching career, he won a National Junior College Athletic Association National Championship and tallied 1,012 wins.
Thirty of his players made it to the Major Leagues including Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Mike Piazza.
To honor his legacy, North Campus named the baseball field at the campus after him in 1989. But six years later, it cut sports from its budget.
By 2019, when the baseball legend and former athletic director had passed, Demie’s field of dreams was in disrepair, overrun by weeds, crabgrass and other vegetation.
“It was just so sad,” said Paul, who led Louisiana State University to a baseball College World Series championship as head coach in 2009. “I knew how much effort my father had put not just into the field itself, but to the whole athletics program and promoting college baseball.”
Almost three decades after the last game was played at Demie Mainieri Field, the old ballpark is getting a $2.5 million facelift. Renovations started in May and are expected to end in October.
“I’m really happy,” Paul said. “I know how excited my father would be to know that the field is being renovated.”
Included in the overhaul: new St. Augustine grass, a field irrigation system, eight LED baseball field lights valued at $400,000 and new benches behind home plate and the dugouts for fans to enjoy America’s pastime.
The old dilapidated chain-link fence will be replaced with a new one featuring a protective cap. For practices, the batting cages will be restored and outfitted with new artificial grass. An additional practice field will be created on the northeastern side of the main field.
North Campus President Fermin Vazquez said the field will be used by local high school teams and clubs and organizations at MDC.
“It’s important to keep that field alive and [honor] the memory of Demie Mainieri, who pretty much started Miami Dade College baseball and the tradition that we have now,” said MDC Head Baseball Coach Adrian Morales, who hopes to host alumni games at the venue in the future.
Aside from the changes to Demie Mainieri Field, $200,000 will be allocated to renovate the North Campus softball field. Changes will include new grass, dugouts, batting cages and a restored field
In the future, North Campus hopes to create a sports complex to the north of Demie Mainieri Field that would include three soccer fields, seven pickleball courts and concession stands to the west of the Science Complex and the 9000 building.
“North Campus is in the heart of North Dade and has been a beacon for our students and community in so many ways,” Vazquez said. “Sports is just another way MDC serves the students and our community.”
Staff writer Olivia Valkenburg contributed to this story.
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