L.J. Hightower squares up a baseball during a baseball clinic organized by Jacksonville-based Walk Off Charities on Friday, Jan. 24, 2025, inside Henry L. Aaron Field at J.P. Small Park. | Will Brown, Jacksonville Today
Published on January 24, 2025 at 3:35 pm
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A baseball clinic at Henry L. Aaron Field at J.P. Small Park would have been a soggy impossibility Friday without the $9.6 million in renovations to the historic facility in Durkeeville.
Instead, its turf surface showed no sign off the cold, wet weather that had plagued Jacksonville this week. The ballpark welcomed dozens of dignitaries and scores of schoolchildren for a ribbon cutting and clinic.
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The 113-year-old baseball park will use turf in lieu of the clay and grass surface. Funding from the city of Jacksonville also provided new lighting, restroom renovations and improved dugouts for the venerable facility at 8th and Myrtle.
Jacksonville City Council member Ron Salem recalled first visiting the facility in 2003 when his son, as well as council member Matt Carlucci’s son, played baseball together for Stanton College Prep. He says that experience, combined with his baseball fanaticism, motivated him to push for renovations once he was elected to the council.
“This park is steeped in history and is a cherished part of our community, which is why this has been such a passion project for me,” Salem says. “I want to ensure J.P. Small Park remains a place where families, athletes and visitors can gather, celebrate and create lasting memories.”
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Over the decades, legends such as Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron have played at J.P. Small Park. It even hosted an early version of the Orange Blossom Classic between Florida A&M College and Howard University in the 1930s.
The facility was known as Barrs Field when it opened. It was renamed Durkee Field in honor of the neighborhood where it’s situated. Its final name change came when it was rededicated in the name of longtime Franklin Street Grammar School and Stanton High School coach James P. Small in 1980.
In 2018, the Jacksonville City Council renamed the playing surface Henry L. Aaron Field to celebrate the baseball immortal who spent the 1953 season playing for the Jacksonville Braves and breaking the color barrier in the South Atlantic League.
Before he died — three years ago this week — Aaron noted that he preferred to be called Henry, not Hank. Jacksonville honored the baseball pioneer by affixing his full name on the field.
The green and white scoreboard that Edward Waters University and Stanton College Prep hope to light up this spring in right-center field has Aaron’s name at the top.
Both Stanton and Edward Waters were displaced during the 2024 season during the renovations. The Tigers were 16-10 in designated home games last spring en route to the 2024 SIAC championship.
Edward Waters baseball coach coach Reggie Johnson II says he is excited for the program to be back home. Most afternoons this month, the Tigers have been spotted pitching, catching and fielding inside J.P. Small Park ahead of their 2025 season.
“This Durkeeville community has been a good one,” Johnson says. “In the year and a half when we were gone, we would come back to check on the field and things and everyone’s like: ‘Hey Coach, when are y’all coming back? We miss you guys.’ They embrace the players. The players know quite a few of the local residents of the community, and they come out to watch practices; they know them by name. It’s bringing excitement to this area.”
Edward Waters will open its 2025 season on Jan. 31. The Tigers will play their first home game
Salem and Mayor Donna Deegan want to bring more excitement to Durkeeville. Friday morning, both expressed a desire that Major League Baseball would play a game at the renovated park. Salem mentioned that if baseball can play in an Iowa cornfield, the league can definitely play in Durkeeville.
Major League Baseball holds a Field of Dreams game each year in Dyersville, Iowa. It holds the Little League Classic at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field every August.
More importantly for Jacksonville, Major League Baseball played a game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, last June. Rickwood Field is the oldest professional ballpark in the United States and one of five fields that was home to a Negro League baseball club.
J.P. Small Park is another one of those five fields still in existence. The Jacksonville Red Caps competed in the Negro American League in 1938, 1941 and 1942 at what was then called Durkee Field.
As Deegan, Salem and other city officials spoke, more than 40 students from R.V. Daniels Elementary touched the turf and did pushups in the outfield. The students were there to participate in a baseball clinic sponsored by Jacksonville-based Walk Off Charities.
Players from Edward Waters and Florida State College at Jacksonville taught students from the Grand Park elementary school that is less than a mile away from the ballpark the intricacies of throwing, hitting and fielding.
Rick Kane is a physical education teacher at R.V. Daniels who volunteers with Walk Off Charities.
“I need them to understand the historical connections of this ballpark to their community,” Kane says. “I know that students at our school drive or walk past this park every day. I need them to know baseball is alive and well in their community.”
