Lincoln Park will soon boast the biggest baseball and bat in Manteca.

It’s part of a baseball plaza being created at the elbow of the Lincoln Park parking lot. The plaza will include trees, shrubs, three picnic tables, a passenger drop-off zone and a concrete sculpture of a baseball with a bat resting against it.

The baseball will be 24 inches in diameter while the bat is 78 inches in length.

The Manteca City Council approved plans for the parking lot and plaza project and authorized calling for bids during Tuesday night’s meeting.

It is the final phase of the Lincoln Park baseball field upgrade.

The $220,000 project involves no general fund money. Almost all of it is from federal pass-through funds aimed at improvements in low- to -moderate-income neighbors of which the Powers Tract qualifies. That is why the fund could not have been used to upgrade baseball facilities where other Little Leagues play in Manteca at Northgate Park or Brock Elliot School. Manteca Little League uses the field for their senior division games. It is also used by other teams including the Manteca High junior varsity baseball team.

The parking lot currently has deteriorating asphalt plus abandoned South San Joaquin Irrigation District standpipes that will be removed. The parking lot is being designed in such a manner that it will actually increase parking places plus provide improved access for those with disabilities.

The city has already replaced the baseball field fencing, upgraded lighting, installed a new scoreboard and put new sod in place. That is in addition to new playground equipment installed a few years back.

The goal is to have the work completed before the start of the Manteca Little League season.