HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, Arkansas — Hot Springs native John Muldoon, who has extensive experience coaching baseball at the former Hot Springs Girls and Boys Club, has been named assistant general manager of the new Majestic Park baseball complex being constructed at Carson and Belding Streets.
He will assist General Manager Derek Phillips in all aspects of the operation of the new five-field Majestic Park complex.
“We are so pleased to have John join our team here at Majestic Park,” Phillips said. “His tremendous knowledge of youth and travel baseball will be a great asset to the park and those who play baseball here.”
Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison said, “With the addition of John to our management staff, we now have two great baseball people in place who will without a doubt make Majestic Park the premier baseball facility in the South.” Visit Hot Springs is in charge of building and operating Majestic Park.
Since the mid 1950s, Muldoon’s family has been a part of the fields at the former Jaycee Park where Majestic Park is being built and at the Hot Springs Boys Club. He served has a board member and chair of the Sports Committee for the HSB&GC and also served on the development committee for Majestic Park.
Married to Audra Hollyfield, Muldoon coached baseball from 2000 through 2017 at every level of league play, from Cal Ripken League, Little League, Babe Ruth League and USSSA. He and his wife have two sons.
“I love the game of baseball and the life lessons it teaches,” Muldoon said. “I am excited that the community and the boys and girls of Hot Springs will have this opportunity to participate in the wonderful tradition of baseball at the fields of Majestic Park.”
The five-field Majestic Park facility is expected to be completed by late fall. Completion has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The park is financed by a $7.87 million bond issue approved by Hot Springs voters in September 2019. It will have artificial turf playing fields that will allow traveling tournaments to be held even after inclement weather would have closed baseball diamonds without that amenity.
“The Majestic Park facility, with its deep historical roots in Hot Springs’ role as The Birthplace of Major League Baseball Spring Training, will become both a tremendous asset for the kids of Hot Springs and also a major tourism asset as it becomes the scene of tournaments that bring in kids and their relatives from Arkansas and across the South,” Arrison said. “Derek Phillips and John Muldoon will help us elevate the new facility to the top rank of such baseball complexes.
“Babe Ruth played at this site, as did other baseball legends who had come to Hot Springs to get in shape for the coming seasons. Who knows, maybe a future Babe Ruth will say he got his start in baseball at Majestic Park in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.”
For information call Steve Arrison, 501-321-2027.