Just like an average mid-life L.A. resident, Jackie Robinson Stadium is getting another facelift.
As the stadium prepares to serve its 32nd year as the home field of the UCLA baseball team, 290 new seats will be installed above each dugout, adding 580 total new seats and bringing the stadium’s capacity to 1,820.
The new chairback-and-cupholder seats come as the result of another donation from the Gifford Foundation, which also funded the Jack and Rhodine Gifford Hitting Facility, a 10,500-square-foot state-of-the-art training complex.
“Our players and coaches are extremely grateful to the Gifford Foundation for providing us with the resources to add more seats,” coach John Savage said.
“This has been a top priority for our program, especially after having hosted NCAA regionals the last two years. Our fans have done a great job supporting our team, and it’s in our best interest to make sure they have a great seat to watch our games.”
This renovation comes along as the next step in what has been an emphasis for Savage during his career here.
Since becoming the coach in 2004, Savage has overseen the installation of seats, a new backstop net, a complete field renovation, the Gifford Hitting Facility and additional bleachers.
“Coach Savage has been doing an outstanding job keeping Jackie Robinson (Stadium) up to par compared to all the other stadiums around the country,” junior outfielder Beau Amaral said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of help from the athletic department, … and I feel that Jackie Robinson (Stadium) is starting to become one of the better stadiums in the country.”
In past years, UCLA has had concerns about securing regional and super-regional bids, considering Jackie Robinson Stadium carries one of the smallest capacity figures in the Pac-12.
UCLA was able to win bids the past two years because of the strength of the team.
Going forward, further improvements to the stadium will only make it easier for the Bruins to host postseason games on their home field, which, as Amaral said, is slowly becoming a top-of-the-line facility.
On top of that, more seats means more fans, which translates into a greater home-field advantage.
The recent success of the team has rapidly driven up fan support for the Bruins, as UCLA saw its average home attendance crack the top 50 nationwide in 2010.
“We’re obviously not as prominent as an SEC team, … but we’re promoting more, bigger audiences to come out and watch the Bruins,” sophomore pitcher Adam Plutko said. “How does that not give you confidence as a pitcher?”
The UCLA baseball team is one of the fastest rising programs among UCLA’s stellar athletics department.
Since Savage became the head coach, UCLA baseball has seen improvements in performance, recruiting, facilities, postseason results and even professional prospects, highlighted by recent top-draft picks Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer.
And if these renovations, slated to be completed in December, are a sign of things to come, perhaps the Bruins have hope that Savage can lead this program to an even greater glory ”“ its first national championship.