Casey's Clubhouse and the Miracle League baseball field in Upper St. Clair, a township near Pittsburgh, Pa., are separate projects, but they share at least one common goal. They both serve children and young people with special needs who have a passion for the game of baseball. The facilities sit side-by-side at Boyce Mayview Park. Several entities were involved in these projects, including Sean Casey, a former Major League Baseball player, his family and their non-profit foundation. Another is the philanthropic arm of the Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team. It also involved the Miracle League of South Hills, and the township of Upper St. Clair, about 10 miles from Pittsburgh, among others. The baseball glove has custom aluminum fabricated slides that are safe for children with cochlear implants. It removes static electricity that could damage implants.
Photos: Cre8Play

If baseball is America's favorite pastime, it reigns supreme in Upper St. Clair, Pa., a small township near Pittsburgh. Casey's Clubhouse and the Miracle League baseball field in western Pennsylvania are two of the reasons why.

The Miracle League ball field makes it possible for children with special needs to play the game and have loads of fun doing it. And Casey's Clubhouse is a playground themed around the sport. Both projects, though separate, are also a standout example of what can be accomplished when several entities work together toward one common goal.

Cre8Play, a custom playground builder, designed Casey's Clubhouse, a baseball-themed facility. "Inclusive" play was emphasized, because Casey's Clubhouse is all about giving young people with special needs a place to have fun. The same is true of the Miracle League field. Many of the features at Casey's Clubhouse mimic the skyline that can be seen from the stands of PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team. For example, the yellow all-accessible bridge was built to resemble the Roberto Clemente Bridge. The building that houses the blue slide is a replica of PPG Place, a landmark in downtown Pittsburgh that can also be seen from the Pirates' ballpark.

While Casey's Clubhouse is fully accessible to anyone, its many features are specifically for children and young adults with special needs. And then there is the Miracle League baseball field, a place where people with special needs can actually play the game, with no physical obstacles to limit or impede them. The only collective prerequisite is, of course, a passion for the game of baseball, regardless of whether they are able-bodied or not.

The Miracle League Field in Upper St. Clair is an all-accessible baseball field. All players are paired with a buddy/helper in yellow shirts. The baseball field was unveiled in 2012, and the inaugural South Hills Miracle League baseball season began soon afterward. Casey's Clubhouse followed in the spring of 2015. The Upper St. Clair Miracle League field is similar to Miracle League facilities in other parts of the nation. It has a rubber surface to prevent injuries, fully accessible dugouts and no raised bases or pitching mounds. Pashek Associates was the architect for the Miracle League field. Casey's Clubhouse can be seen in the background and sits just outside the Miracle League baseball diamond's outfield fence.

One of the major contributors was Sean Casey, the namesake for Casey's Clubhouse. Casey is a former professional baseball player, and he and his wife, Mandi, manage Casey Family Foundation, a non-profit organization.

Pirates Charities, the philanthropic group of Major League Baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates, also donated a great deal of financial support to Casey's Clubhouse. The Pirates are one of the teams Casey played for before he retired from the game.

The best view of the Miracle League field is from the "Clubhouse Suite." The structure is meant to resemble the Fulton Building, as seen from the stands at PNC Park. Baseball bats are the branches of the tree (background). Built from glass fiber reinforced concrete, the treetop has a container for soil and built-in irrigation for vines and vegetation that will soon be growing. It also has touch-activated misters on the ends of all the bats.

Still another is the Miracle League of South Hills, just one of many such leagues throughout the nation these days. Miracle League began in 1997 in Conyers, Ga., and its goal is to see children with special needs play baseball.

"The end goal is that we build a community of people who recognize their peers' strengths and abilities, rather than seeing differences or disabilities," Maura Rodgers, South Hills Miracle League board member, said.

This water fountain climber is a replica of the Point State Park fountain in downtown Pittsburgh. The fountain has a misting feature that sprays water out of the top.

The Miracle League field in Upper St. Clair is similar to Miracle League facilities in other parts of the nation. It has a cushioned rubber surface to prevent injuries. It has easily accessible dugouts and flat surfaces, and no raised bases or pitching mounds. In other words, there are no barriers standing in the way of the wheelchair-bound, disabled or impaired.

Pirates Charities first became involved with the Miracle League program in 2009. A partnership with the Miracle League of Southwestern Pennsylvania, located in Cranberry Township, led to the creation of the Pirates Charities Miracle League Field at Dick's Sportsplex at Graham Park.

Pirates Charities now works with eight Miracle League programs, most of them in Pennsylvania. All of them give young people with special needs opportunities to play baseball. One of those is with the Miracle League of South Hills, the joint effort that led to Casey's Clubhouse and the Miracle League field at Upper St. Clair.

Musical elements are a big part of Casey's Clubhouse, because its clients stressed that the playground be an all-inclusive site for children with special needs. One of those musical features is the upright organ-like keyboard that this child is playing.

"We believe every child deserves the chance to play baseball and every dollar we raise goes to making that happen," the Miracle League of South Hills says on its website. "We've built a field, a playground and entire community here at the Miracle League of the South Hills with the support of our donors."

Casey is no stranger to philanthropy either. He played for four Major League Baseball teams, and has partnered with Miracle League to support its programs everywhere he went. He is a three-time All-Star who is now a television analyst. Casey, a native of Pittsburgh, attended the opening day festivities for the inaugural season of the Miracle League of South Hills in May 2012. Bob Nutting, chairman of Pirates Charities, was there too. So were representatives from Casey's Clubhouse's "Starting Lineup," comprised of donors who also helped fund the projects.

With Upper St. Clair and the Miracle League of South Hills, the idea was to have both a baseball field and a playground. The field was built first, then the playground. Casey's Clubhouse sits just outside the Miracle League's outfield fence. Among other donors, Casey Family Foundation partnered with Pirates Charities in 2010 and more than $1 million was raised for both the playground and baseball field.

The entrance at Casey's Clubhouse mimics the front of PNC Park, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major League Baseball team. It even has replicas of the street signs that stand in front of the gates at PNC Park: Mazeroski Way and W Gen Robinson Street. The signs were gifted to Casey's Clubhouse.

"At the Pirates Charities Miracle League of the South Hills, we believe every child deserves a chance to play baseball and we are dedicated to giving children with special needs the opportunity to hit, throw and take the field just like their peers," the Miracle League of South Hills said on its website.

The baseball field was unveiled in 2012, and the inaugural South Hills Miracle League baseball season began immediately afterward. Casey's Clubhouse opened in the spring of 2015.

Playground designer and manufacturer Cre8Play was hired to come up with a design that went beyond merely meeting ADA requirements, creating instead an environment that was entirely "all inclusive." Instead of a "sea of ramps," the goal was to have a playground that is just as much fun for children with disabilities as it is for children who are not disabled.

The building in back of the water fountain climber is topped with a black baseball bat (circled). It was designed to resemble the famous Highmark building that can also be seen from PNC Park. The safety surface was meant to look like a place near PNC Park where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers merge into the Ohio River.

Casey's Clubhouse contains special slides that minimize impacts to anyone with cochlear implants, and there are many other features scattered throughout the park to assist the visually and physically impaired. Many of the climbers are "transfer accessible." This makes it possible for all kids to go as high as they want to go in any given space, including those who are wheelchair bound.

A replica of the merging of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, a prominent landmark in Pittsburgh, has been copied onto the rubber surface of the play park. The landscape of Casey's Clubhouse is also a reminder of the rich history of baseball in general, and the Pittsburgh Pirates in particular.

For example, the playground entrance is a replica of the one at PNC Park, where the Pirates play. It even has the street signs Mazeroski Way and W Gen Robinson St. positioned near the front gate. The structures of the playground inside were designed to resemble the skyline as seen from the stands at the actual PNC Park, including the iconic Highmark and Fulton buildings, the Roberto Clemente bridge and other popular attractions.

Swings attached to baseball posts are popular stop for those who visit Casey's Clubhouse. Upper St. Clair, about 10 miles from Pittsburgh, considers Casey's Clubhouse a hit with community members. Jeffrey and Associates installed the poured-in-place rubber surfacing.

A climber of mock newspapers, made of plastic, incorporates the names of the Stream, Baker and Eisenhower elementary schools in Upper St. Clair. These also contain the latest "news" about a local child and baseball fan, Drew Grady, who is fighting a rare disease.

Musical elements are always inclusive for children, so Casey's Clubhouse features a custom Baseball Bat Metallophone. Each bat is a different length and diameter to product musical notes from low to C to high C. Casey's Clubhouse also has a giant walk-on piano-like keyboard, much like the one seen in the movie "Big," and a smaller organ keyboard that sits upright on a wall. Children are able to play all of these instruments as much as they like.

Another unique attraction was copied from the movie "The Sandlot." Boards cut in mismatched patterns form some of the fences at Casey's Clubhouse, as though the kids built the playground with random materials themselves.

Rodgers may have said it better than anyone: "Every child deserves the chance to play. A world that invites all abilities begins in our backyard."