For years, the Mercer name has been synonymous with Franklin baseball.
That connection is now an official one.
This week, the Franklin Community school board unanimously approved naming the high school baseball field Mercer Field in honor of the family.
"On the surface, it appears to be about baseball, but really it’s an extension of family," said Jeff Mercer Sr., formerly the Grizzly Cubs’ baseball coach and currently the school district’s executive director of finance. "That’s what it’s been for the better part of 20 years. (The community is) a part of my family and we hope we’re a part of theirs. Even more, it’s a special honor. It comes from people who meant the most to you."
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The idea of naming the field for the Mercers came to life a couple of months ago when Mercer Sr. made the decision to retire at the end of the current school year. Superintendent David Clendening approached athletic director Bill Doty with the idea.
Ryan Feyerabend, the current Franklin baseball coach, said that a dedication ceremony will be planned for the spring, most likely before or after a game. The goal is to schedule it for a date where the entire family, and as much of the community as possible, can be a part of the celebration.
"Words cannot describe what the Mercer family has meant to the Franklin community and Franklin baseball," Clendening said. "They’re role models, men of integrity, they compete, play the game well, but when you step aside and look at the community, following through and having passion for success, doing the right thing all the time, that’s what the Mercers mean.
"We’re honored to have them in the community, honored we can do this small thank you to them."
Each of Mercer Sr.’s four sons — Jeff Jr., Daniel, Joe and Anthony — played baseball at Franklin. A tree planted outside of the baseball stadium is already dedicated to Daniel Mercer, who died in 2006 at the age of 19 after a battle with brain cancer.
A plaque will be affixed to the press box to commemorate the naming of the field, and signage will be added to the top of the scoreboard, Doty said. Additional options are still being discussed.
Jeff Mercer Jr., Joe and Anthony attended Monday’s board meeting. Jeff Jr. was hired this summer as the head baseball coach at Indiana University.
Feyerabend, who has known the Mercer family since he was about 13 years old, says that part of what makes them all so deserving of this honor is that it’s not the sort of thing they would ever seek out.
Jeff Sr. and his sons have run a free baseball clinic each winter, Camp 54, for youth players in Franklin through the Daniel Mercer Family Fund.
"They just do things to help people and don’t ask for any recognition," Feyerabend said.
For Jeff Mercer Sr., seeing the field named for his family just affirmed all of the reasons that they wanted to be a part of the Franklin community in the first place.
"Ultimately, the people, it is a special place, they draw you in," he said. "You’re almost instantly a part of the community. It happened initially through baseball but in the past several years it’s much beyond that, something you feel really good about and a community you feel really good about."
Reporter Andy Bell-Baltaci also contributed to this story.
