It’s Opening Day at T-Mobile Park — both the real version of the Seattle Mariners ballpark and the LEGO version, which has undergone a major upgrade from builder Shane Deegan.
Deegan, of Mukilteo, Wash., tweeted Thursday afternoon that his miniature brick ballpark, which went viral in December, has substantial new components.
He put in a new scoreboard, new roof tracking, smoother gears for opening and closing the roof, and new magenta lighting to match that at the real park. He credited T-Mobile Consumer Group President Jon Freier with sending the lighting his way.
Deegan, a longtime employee of the clothing retailer Zumiez, said the response from the LEGO community, local Mariners fans and the larger baseball community has been amazing.
“To create something that connects with so many people’s passions and inspires other people to build something themselves or find joy in my project has been awesome,” he told GeekWire via Twitter on Thursday.
A Mariners fan who came of age during the era when cities and teams were building stadiums that hearkened back to the classic ballpark designs, Deegan laughed about one change he made to the scoreboard. It used to feature former Mariners catcher Mike Zunino. He’s been replaced by star centerfielder Julio Rodriguez.
“I told my wife Mike Zunino will have a place in every build I ever do,” Deegan laughed, adding that he improved his photoshopping details this time around.
The original ballpark build took Deegan about 60 hours, and he’s got another 30 in the upgrade, because of lots of trial and error. His biggest challenge was the weight of the roof.
“I tore it apart and rebuilt it twice,” he said. “Finding a balance between stability, weight, leaving it open to expose the lighting, but making it strong enough to hold the lights — all took way longer than I would have thought.”
In search of detailed pictures of the roof’s track mechanism last week to aid in his new build, Deegan was Googling “T-Mobile Park roof.” He laughed when recalling that the results kept returning pictures of his own LEGO build.
The Mariners open the season against the Cleveland Guardians at the T-Mobile Park on Thursday night.
