West Ham's London Stadium transformed for Major League Baseball series
By Sky Sports News
Last Updated: 18/06/19 3:37pm
The London Stadium has been temporarily transformed into a Major League Baseball field in preparation for the upcoming series between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
The home of West Ham has been selected to host the two-match series, which will be held on June 29 and 30.
Major League Baseball regular season games have previously been held in Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Puerto Rico, but this month's series will be the first time the league has ventured into Europe.
More than 141,900 square feet of artificial turf has been installed on top of the grass surface at the London Stadium, to create the diamond shaped baseball field.
Eighteen metre tall foul poles and over 400 metres of fencing have also been installed, while the build of a batter's eye, backstop, batting cages, dugouts, and temporary clubhouses are still on-going.
Clay for the pitcher's mound and home plate area, and 345 tonnes of dirt for the infield diamond have been shipped from the US, while the fence padding for the field's perimeter has been brought in from Canada.
The transformation began on June 6 and is expected to take three weeks to complete, finishing on June 27.
Once the series is completed, it is expected to take five days to return the ground to its normal state, in preparation for the 2019-20 Premier League season, which begins on August 9.
