Ripken Baseball fits here

It wasn't that long ago when the property served as an airport — Griffing Airport — before that operation closed and there was nothing but open fields and unused airstrips there off Cleveland Road between Sandusky and Huron. In hindsight, it would seem that Sports Force Parks, and later the Cedar Point Sports Center were inevitably going to be built. But there never was an easy part to making it happen. Cal Ripken Jr. with the Baltimore Orioles meets with President Ronald Reagan in the dugout at Baltimore Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland on April 7, 1986. White House photo series Brian Storm, the founder of Sports Force Parks, died in 2021. It was Storm who had both the vision and the financing to get it started. Working with Erie County commissioner Pat Shenigo and Cedar Point's former general counsel Duff Milkie and its former CEO, Matt Ouimet, they hammered out the details for a plan, and that plan succeeded. This week, Sports Force Parks — a complex of 14 sports fields that opened in 2017 — was sold this week for an undisclosed amount to the Ripken Baseball Group. When it was constructed the estimated price tag was $23.5 million. Cedar Fair, the amusement park's corporate owner, purchased the land along Cleveland Road and Storm, with some tax incentive funding, built the sports fields — baseball, softball and lacrosse. Sports Force Parks is a complex of multi-purpose and convertible fields. It has as many as 11 baseball/softball synthetic turf diamonds or eight full-size soccer fields that are convertible to create up to 21 youth soccer fields, in addition to one ADA-accessible field for adaptive sports. It is a park built for tournaments, which is a main focus for Ripken Baseball. With the sale, the new company takes over the 2023 season — already underway — which includes multiple tournaments. Storm's vision for the park is not unlike the Ripken Baseball group's vision. In fact, when the opportunity to bring a sports complex to the area was endorsed by Shenigo, the Ripken group was one of the first prospects to review the proposal. Here's how the company describes itself: Ripken Baseball brings teammates, coaches, and families together through its Big League Experiences while teaching children how to play sports the right way — the Ripken Way. "Ripken Baseball continues to innovate the game through tournaments, camps, clinics, and spring training at their state-of-the-art baseball and softball facilities." The company owns and operates parks in Aberdeen, Maryland, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Cooperstown, New York and now Sports Force Parks at Cedar Point Sports Center, here. Cal Ripken Jr. played 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles (1981-2001). He was known as "The Iron Man," and known for his hard work and dedication to the game. He holds the record for most consecutive games played (2,632) and had 3,184 hits, 431 home runs, 1695 RBIs. He played on the Orioles with his brother, Bill Ripken, and their father, a third base coach with the team, Cal Ripken Sr. Cal Jr. and Bill Ripken founded Ripken Baseball. Cal Ripken Jr. was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, in his first year of eligibility. Sports Force Parks, has been a celebrated success since its opening season. It's a testament of sorts to that, that one of baseball's greatest picked Sandusky, picked this complex, this time. The community did not have to trade for Ripken; the Ripken group selected the community. Fans watch a youth baseball game at Sports Force Parks. Register photo/BRIAN KOLLARS