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Thursday, May 8, 2008

Upgrades at The Bill

Permanent recognition of the Buckeyes' College World Series appearances and Big Ten championships will be added to Bill Davis Stadium. The three retired jersey numbers will have a permanent place on the outfield walls and jersey plaques and bios for Fred Taylor, Steve Arlin and Marty Karow will be placed on one side of the arched wall in the stadium concourse.

On the other side of the arches, the side facing Borror Drive and the entrance to the stadium, Ohio State’s College World Series years – 1951, 1965, 1966 and 1967 – will be displayed along one end and Ohio State’s Big Ten Conference championship years – 1917, 1924, 1943, 1951, 1955, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1999 and 2001 – will be displayed on the other end.

In addition, “Ohio State” and “Buckeyes” will adorn the tops of the dugouts similar to the way those brands are displayed in the end zones at Ohio Stadium and on the end lines on the basketball floor at the Jerome Schottenstein Center. A new back stop behind home plate will also be installed.

From OhioStateBuckeyes.com

5 comments:

Chris said...

They got those ideas on their recent trip to Michigan, I believe.

Somewhat visible in this Flickr set of OSU's visit.

BaseballBucks33 said...

Sorry Chris, we don't steal idea's (from UM) to make our great stadium better.We come up with the idea's on our own. This has been in the works for some time. Lol

Ray Fisher does look better after the face lift,but nothing like Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus.

Nice pics though.

Go Bucks beat the Illini!

Chris said...

I see. So it's just a coincidence. The timing just was interesting.

Bill Davis is a very large and attractive stadium, no one is denying that.

Guillermo said...

Chris....there is a press release on the Bucks baseball website dated 4/29 describing the changes at Bill Davis. That was a couple of days prior to the trip to um.

Buckeye Nine said...

Actually, these projects have been in the works for quite some time. I cannot remember the exact year we started talking about adding signage, retired jerseys and list of championships, but it was at least 2004 or 2005. The university was not willing to fund the project without a major donor and the Buckeye Diamond Club was building the batting cages and office suites to stay ahead of our Midwest bretheren.

I know a new stadium entry plaza complete with wrought iron fences and brick is in the works. I know they also want to add permanent ticket booths at all locations. There was even some discussion of moving the scoreboard to left-center field and adding a video board. I have no idea of the time frame of any of these projects or even if the university has committed to them.