Decades ago, physically challenged people were nearly invisible. Few allowances to assist their accessibility were made, so they were discouraged from participating in society. However, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and many subsequent measures have enabled handicapped individuals to take part in activities and receive available services. The modern spirit of inclusion has transcended into sporting endeavors from basketball and tennis for wheelchair-bound people to “murderball”, a fierce, rugby-style game played by paraplegics.
Springfield, MO’s Miracle League baseball field provides another prime example. Local resident Bobby Allison – who also paid tribute to his late mother, Betty, in making the donations – generously provided the funds necessary to build the park, one of more than 200 across the U.S. and Canada that feature a rubberized playing surface that accommodates wheelchairs and other devices that assist the disabled.
To increase the neighborhood visibility, Allison and the Springfield (MO)-Greene Co. Park Board hired Pinnacle Sign Group, also of Springfield, to fabricate the facility’s monument sign. Opened as Savage Sign Co. more than 100 years ago, the company was renamed and incorporated as Pinnacle Sign Group in 2003. According to Darren Pearce, Pinnacle’s president and CEO, most of the shop’s monument-sign work arrives through referrals and repeat business.
“Many factors go into developing an effective monument sign,” he said. “Respecting the customer’s idea, viewing distance, budget, surrounding architecture and theme are all key considerations.”
Pinnacle contracts with regular vendors to build their signs’ masonry and foundation work, although Pearce said Pinnacle employs workers proficient in such construction if deadlines become too tight for subcontractors.
Pinnacle has fabricated several projects for Allison and the Park Board, and readily accepted a pro-
posal to build the monument sign for the ballfield, which was dedicated in 2011.
The customer provided a logo, which Pinnacle’s designers enhanced using CorelDRAW X5 to make it more dimensional. Also, because the sign sits 50 ft. off the road, it needed sufficient contrast to be legible from a distance.
To fabricate the 14-ft.-tall sign’s cabinet, Pinnacle shaped 5052 aluminum-alloy sheet, which is corrosion-resistant and easily welded because its magnesium content lowers its melting point, on its AXYZ Automation 5010 CNC router. Fabricators made second-surface copy with push-through acrylic, which they overlaid with 3M translucent cut vinyl. To allow enough illumination to project out from the cabinet, Pinnacle installed a layer of polycarbonate around the cabinet’s sides. They joined the cabinet to 6061 aluminum-alloy tubing with a Miller Electric Mfg. Co. 220 MIG-welding system.
To illuminate the sign, Pinnacle used JT LED RGB color-changing modules. Pearce said the shop has used LEDs exclusively to illuminate its cabinet signs since 2010, and employed color-changing LEDs on this project to increase the fun factor for kids. France power supplies fuel the LEDs.
And, of course, what would a sign for a baseball park be without a bat and ball? To provide these, Pinnacle made durability and vandal resistance key priorities. For the ball, the shop bought a yoga ball, inflated it to its maximum capacity and encased it within fiberglass resin. To construct the bat, Pinnacle welded a steel core and shaped the bat from routed and rolled aluminum. They finished it by sheathing it within fiberglass resin. The shop airbrushed the ball and bat’s decorations by hand.
“One of the bigger challenges of the job was calculating the bat’s exact measurements,” Pearce said. “There was no room for error to create the exact angle to make it appear as if it were going through cabinet, and also structurally sound.”