Baseball field to bear Mike Trout's name

Millville High School's baseball field will soon be named after its most famous former player: 2009 graduate and 2012 American League rookie of the year Mike Trout.

Millville baseball coach Roy Hallenbeck said Wednesday that the Millville Board of Education on Monday night approved a sponsorship deal that will include a $10,000 donation to the school for improvements to the field in conjunction with naming the facility after Trout.

Hallenbeck said that officials hope to hold a naming ceremony later this spring but that the date and other details still were being finalized.

Trout, a star outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, already has donated a $20,000 award from winning the Player's Choice Rookie of the Year honors to Millville to refurbish its baseball field. That work, which includes the laying of new sod, has begun, Hallenbeck said.

The new agreement with BodyArmor Superdrink, which Trout endorses, includes an additional $10,000 for more improvements to the field.

"Mike has helped us so much," said Hallenbeck, who coached Trout during his career at Millville. "It sounds weird to say, but it's not so much the physical help in terms of the money but just the fact that it meant enough to him when he was here that he wants to do these things.

"That has a great impact on everyone around here. We're so proud of him."

Millville officials hope to have Trout present when the field is named in his honor but are uncertain whether that can be arranged with Trout's schedule.

The Angels' first East Coast trip this year includes games June 7-9 in Boston and June 10-12 in Baltimore.