Hart Park is catching criticism, but why?

Chapman last hosted NCAA Regionals at Hart Park in 2022; Photo Courtesy of Larry Newman

Hart Park has been the home of Chapman baseball since 1962.

The program has been familiar with stories of success and triumph in that time. The Panthers have won three national championships, with the most recent coming in 2019, and have cemented themselves as a premier Division III team.

Now, however, rumblings of discontent are starting to show from an anonymous group called “Chapman Families.” On Feb. 24, they voiced their concerns about the state of the baseball program in an email sent to Athletic Director Terry Boesel.

Where did they point the finger? Squarely at Hart Park.

“The lack of basic amenities, such as safe and accessible restrooms, and the inadequate team locker facilities are far below what should be expected at a university of Chapman's caliber,” the group wrote, bolding part of the mail for effect.

The email compared the park to other facilities at the school, such as the Allred Aquatics Center and the Dave & Holly Wilson Football Field, calling the disparity “striking.” The group also wrote that playing on the same field as Orange Lutheran High School hurts the program’s reputation, and that the situation is negatively affecting team morale and recruiting.

Chapman Families’ solution to this is for the school to either build a new stadium in a different location, or to invest more in Hart Park.

As of March 3, Boesel had not sent anything back which prompted a second correspondence from the group. They believed their concerns deserved acknowledgement, and that the families of players “represent the standard of excellence” Chapman upholds.

Although Chapman Families denied an interview for anonymity purposes, they did send The Panther a statement which expressed further frustration with the athletic department and questioned the commitment to the baseball program.

The Panther was able to sit down with Boesel for his reaction to the email. On March 5, he gave a detailed response to Chapman Families addressing each of their concerns. The anonymity of the message, however, gave him pause. He said that he doesn’t like dealing with those emails, and that there would be no repercussions if parents talked to him in person.

“I’m at 80% of the games,” Boesel said. “I’m available. Come up and say something.”

When it came to the contents of the email, Boesel was perplexed as to why Hart Park is only now becoming an issue after six decades playing there.

The success of Chapman baseball is not a thing of the past, either. Since 2000, there have been 13 players drafted straight from Hart Park into the MLB. The most recent was Nick Garcia, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third round of the 2020 MLB draft.

Boesel echoed that the baseball program is one of, if not the most, prestigious at the school. And the school has not neglected the state of the playing surface. According to Boesel, Orange Lutheran and Chapman have invested $380,000 into putting in a turf infield.

The athletic department has also been in talks with the city of Orange since 2019 to put in upgrades to the baseball diamond, but it was put on pause due to the pandemic and budget issues. Those talks have resumed in recent years. Boesel said that parents may not be privy to that information, and he explained it in his emailed response.

Boesel said that sharing a field with Orange Lutheran, which he called one of the best programs in the country, has given Chapman a chance to recruit better players from all around the country since a lot of good teams come to play at Hart Park.

“I don’t take that as a disadvantage,” he said. “I think it’s an advantage for us.”

He also said that it is very unlikely that Chapman can or will invest in building an entirely new baseball and softball complex. With the current budget issues for the school, and the lack of land available close by, Boesel doesn’t see it as an option currently.

Chapman Families brought up recruiting as a point of contention, saying that Hart Park hinders those efforts. But Boesel said that head coach Scott Laverty has never expressed complaints about his ability to bring in talented players.

“We recruited good enough players to win a national championship five years ago,” Boesel said. “I’m not going to take some parent group’s word… if my own coach isn’t telling me (it's a problem).”

Boesel also said that, with the potential for upgrades, Laverty is satisfied with Hart Park. The Panther reached out to Laverty for comment but he did not accept the request.

We also messaged players on the team to talk about their personal experiences with Hart Park, and whether or not they overlapped with the concerns that Chapman Families originally expressed. However, Laverty directed his team not to discuss this with the media.

The last issue that Boesel resisted was the safety of the facilities. He said that, personally, he has never felt like his own family couldn’t walk to the bathrooms without being safe.

“I have never received, in my 19 years here, an incident regarding the safety of Hart Park,” Boesel said. “I can understand if there had been some attacks, or something in the past, but I’ve received none of that.”

Ultimately, Boesel wondered if the group was throwing a lot of issues up against the wall in the hopes that something would stick.

“My experience, when dealing with the parent groups that are upset, (is that) there’s almost nothing you can say that’s gonna appease them,” he said.

Although there’s tension between parents and the athletic faculty, there’s one thing that has been made clear: At least for now, Hart Park isn’t going anywhere. The question that will continue to be asked is whether or not that’s a bad thing.