Parks Department delay leaves ballplayers homeless

The Bronx High School of Science Wolverines baseball team should change its name to the wanderers. And the High School of American Studies at Lehman College Senators could be the nomads.

After expecting to play home games at nearby Harris Park this season for the first time since 2007, field renovations are behind schedule and the fields may remain closed for the entire season because the grass is not ready for play.

“The grass has to knit in order for us to make sure it doesn’t get destroyed. We spent a lot of money to get to this point,” Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte said.

He said he hopes the field — located east of the Jerome Park Reservoir between Bronx Science and Lehman College — will be open by this summer.

For Bronx Science and American Studies, this means another spring without a home.

“This whole thing has been a disaster,” said American Studies varsity baseball coach Howard Blitz.

Originally estimated to cost less than $10 million, the price has ballooned to more than $16 million, according to the total the Independent Budget Office estimates Parks will spend through this year. This is due to a series of delays on the project which, when finished, will be a sports complex with four natural grass baseball fields and two softball fields. The funds for the field renovation are part of $240 million in parks money given to the Bronx for putting up with the decade-long construction of the Croton Water Treatment Plant within Van Cortlandt Park.

Harris Field construction started in April 2008, according to Parks’ website, and stalled in 2010 when Parks discovered high levels of lead at the site. The softball fields were covered with artificial turf and are open to the public, but the baseball fields are still not complete.

Nobody knows why the teams were told of the delay two weeks ago instead of months ago.

Bronx Science scheduled nine home games at Harris Field for this season, beginning with a game on March 28. On March 8, according to Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg, the PSAL was first notified that the field would not be ready for this season.