Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field

Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field is a baseball venue in San Francisco, California, United States. It is home to the San Francisco Dons baseball team of the NCAA Division I West Coast Conference.^[1] Built in 1953,^[2] the original facility had a capacity of 2,000 spectators.^[3]

Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field

Benedetti Diamond
First-base side at Dante Benedetti Diamond at Max Ulrich Field
Former names	Max Ulrich Field (1953-1980)
Location	Golden Gate Avenue and Masonic Avenue, San Francisco, CA, USA
Coordinates	37.776684°N 122.448017°W / 37.776684; -122.448017
Owner	University of San Francisco
Operator	University of San Francisco
Capacity	2,000
Field size	315 feet (Left field) 415 feet (Center field) 321 feet (Right field)
Surface	Natural grass
Scoreboard	Electronic
Opened	1953
Tenants
San Francisco Dons baseball (NCAA D1 WCC) (1953-present)

The venue was originally called simply Max Ulrich Field. After its 1953 construction, it was named after Max Ulrich, a San Francisco resident who donated in his will $358,000 to the university. The field took on its current name in 1980.^[2] In that year, Dons baseball coach Dante Benedetti retired after 29 years in charge of the program.^[4] The diamond was dedicated to him that same year.^[2] Until Nino Giarratano surpassed him in 2012, Benedetti was the program's all-time winningest coach, with 373 wins.^[5]

The playing field is surrounded by mesh netting, designed to keep foul balls and home runs from damaging nearby houses or flying out onto busy Golden Gate and Masonic avenues.^[6][7]

Benedetti Diamond underwent a $6 million renovation following the 2015 season, resulting in a brand new ballpark on the same site as the original field. The diamond was rotated 90 degrees with the first base line now running along Golden Gate Avenue and home plate in the northwest corner of the field. The playing surface was lowered 18 inches to accommodate a wrap-around spectator deck with seating above and dugouts underneath. The Astroturf surface includes Greenplay organic infill made from ground coconut husks for performance, low temperatures, and player health and safety.^[8]

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball venues

References

1. "Athletic Facilities". USF Dons. Archived from the original on 2011-08-15. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
2. "Benedetti Diamond". March 21, 2007. Archived from the original on 2012-03-20. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
3. The Editors of Baseball America (March 2007). Baseball America 2007 Directory: Your Definitive Guide to the Game. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781932391152. Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 27 July 2011. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)
4. Perkins, Andrea. "The Life and Times of Dante Benedetti: Baseball, Business, and a Babe Named Chubs". Coast News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
5. Sorenson, Eric (3 March 2012). "One of My Simple Pleasures in Life". College Baseball Today. Archived from the original on 2013-01-22. Retrieved 4 March 2012. San Francisco's Nino Giarratano picked up his 374th win in his Dons coaching career with today's 6-5, 10-inning win over Cal State Northridge. With the win he surpasses the legendary Dante Benedetti for the most wins in program history.
6. Sorenson, Eric (24 February 2012). "The Campaign to Stop Bay Area Bullying". College Baseball Today. Archived from the original on 2013-12-04. Retrieved 26 February 2012. Benedetti Diamond, which is crunched into a corner of the campus and is surrounded by netting (think the Henry Doorley Zoo bird aviary).
7. "Benedetti Diamond slideshow". USFDons.com.
8. "Benedetti Diamond". USFDons.com.