Photo by Eric Keith / St. Joseph News-Press / Purchase this photo

St. Joseph Parks Department workers pour the last part of an extensive concrete patio on the southwest side of Phil Welch Stadium Thursday afternoon.

Kansas City won’t be the only baseball town to show off a revamped stadium this summer.

Phil Welch Stadium will have a new look when summer baseball returns to St. Joseph next Thursday for the St. Joseph Mustangs’ season opener against the Omaha Diamond Spirit.

Fans who haven’t visited the ballpark since the Blacksnakes left town two years ago will see more than $600,000 in new features.

The George Bode Trust donated more than $55,000 for a new press box and a new outfield fence. The city spent an additional $549,000 of its own money to install new lighting, rearrange seats to improve sight lines, construct a party deck in right field and cover old gravel areas with concrete.

“That’s my favorite improvement of all the ones we did because it has been so hard to maintain with all the gravel,” said Chuck Kempf, city special projects manager.

In addition to the city’s work, the Mustangs have taken on a few projects of their own. Owner Dan Gerson said the club had installed a state-of-the-art sound system, a second concession stand in right field, a new warning track and had painted several areas of the stadium. Players will reap benefits as well, with new field equipment and a remodeled clubhouse.

Most important to Mr. Gerson, the stadium improvements do not take away from its history.

“I think I talked the first time I came to town about how much I loved Phil Welch, and I loved it because of its historic feel,” Mr. Gerson said. “What we have done only adds to it.”

Construction was not completed without incident. Wet spring weather delayed work and even added a round of field repairs to the to-do list. In early March, a crane used to install the new lighting system got stuck in right field when it sunk into the ground. By the time a tow truck pulled out the crane, deep ruts criss-crossed the outfield.

“I don’t think we were ever concerned about getting it ready for the Mustangs’ opener on the 28th, but for a while we worried that we might not be able to serve Missouri Western and the high school teams as well as we should in the spring,” Mr. Kempf said. “It got a little hairy there for a while.”

The city has budgeted for more than $350,000 of stadium improvements next year, including an artificial turf infield. Mr. Kempf said the city had talked to officials from Kansas State, Emporia State and Washburn universities about their artificial infields, and all said it helped them save on maintenance costs.

“They were trying so hard to make the field look good in early spring, but it’s hard when you have guys out there on a field that is trying to recover from winter,” Mr. Kempf said.

Mr. Gerson said the Mustangs will evaluate fans’ reaction to the stadium to see what additional features might be popular.

“if there are things that need to be done, even after opening day, we will do them,” he said.

Clinton Thomas can be reached at clintonthomas@npgco.com.