Baseball enthusiast Rep. DeSana requested $1.75 million for a baseball stadium

Rep. James DeSana, R-Carleton, requested a $1.75 million earmark in the 2026 state budget to fund renovations of a baseball stadium at Heritage Park in the Wayne County city of Taylor.

“This facility hosts one of the premier international tournaments for 13-and 14-year-old athletes, drawing top teams from across the United States and around the world,” the request stated.

DeSana’s request added that the earmark will stimulate the local economy and enhance community pride. DeSana has served as a college baseball umpire and is the president of the Michigan Monarchs, a college baseball league, according to his official biography.

In a 2023 press release, DeSana criticized a $5 million appropriation to renovate a pool.

“DeSana pointed out a $5 million appropriation to ‘renovate’ a single pool and similar eyebrow raising decisions that total over $1 billion in total for unnecessary public works,” reads the press release from the House Republican Caucus.

Michigan was spending “dramatically more on vague, untraceable construction plans” than on veterans’ health programs, the press release added.

An executive budget analysis and review in 2023 included a $5 million earmark for a public swimming pool. But it appears the earmark was later removed from the final budget.

The baseball earmark does not violate the state’s constitution, DeSana wrote in a form required under House rules, because the money will be used for public purposes to widespread benefit.

Under a rule created by House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland, legislators must complete a questionnaire that solicits information about what it calls ”appropriations requests for legislatively directed spending items.”

The Michigan Constitution requires any public money used for private purpose to garner two-thirds of the Legislature’s support.

The stadium request comes as the Mackinac Center for Public Policy pursues a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity over similar earmarks. The case challenges grants to two stadiums — $1.5 million for Jimmy John’s Field in Utica and $1 million for Jackson Field in Lansing.

The Mackinac Center argues that the grants were approved without the required two-thirds legislative supermajority.

The lawsuit is pending in the Michigan Court of Claims.