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Gabe Stump has a smile that just won’t quit.

This summer, the spunky 15-year-old is looking forward to playing baseball on Iowa’s first Miracle League ballfield, which is expected to open June 14. The idea of playing ball means more to him than most kids, as he’ll be rounding the bases in a wheelchair.

“What I like about the Miracle League is that they’re adapting the field for the kids, rather than the kids to the field,” said Gabe’s mother, Jeanne Stump. “For someone like Gabe, this will be a lot easier for him.”

The Kiwanis Miracle League at Principal Park, with a special playing surface designed for children with disabilities, will be built just across the street from Principal Park. Last week the Des Moines Kiwanis Club and the current Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute class formally announced their partnership in the $636,000 project, which will be Iowa’s first Miracle League ballpark. Des Moines will join more than 100 communities that have built such ballparks over the past eight years with the guidance of the National Miracle League Association, a nonprofit organization based in suburban Atlanta.

Gabe, who was born with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, is among an estimated 3,100 kids in Greater Des Moines who have a disability that makes it difficult or impossible for them to play baseball on a regular diamond. He and other kids who play on the field will each be assigned a volunteer buddy who will assist them and cheer them on, which Jeanne Stump sees as a real positive.

“Generally, as parents, we’re the buddies or providing the assistance for everything,” she said. With a buddy assigned to Gabe, “he’ll be allowed to have different people in his life.”

The pitch for the project began after a Kiwanis Club member saw a three-minute “Today” show interview about the program and passed the video along to the club’s president, Bob Mitchell. Since then, a number of Des Moines’ community leaders have viewed it, he said.

“The reaction by everyone (who has seen) the video has been the same: “How can I help?'” Mitchell said. “It’s been a thrill to work on this project, because everyone is so pumped about it.”

The Iowa Cubs have agreed to sublease the city-owned land at no cost to the recently formed nonprofit group, and will also provide maintenance and upkeep for the facility. Hubbell Realty Co. will provide use of adjoining parking lots at its Riverpoint office complex. The Leadership Institute class has pledged to raise funds to build the concession and restroom facilities for the project and is providing volunteer assistance.

The Kiwanis Club, which owns Riverview Nature Island on the Des Moines River, initially looked into building the ballfield on that property. However, that idea proved infeasible after they found out that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would be building a levee across the property, and that putting the project there would have required building an expensive sanitary lift station.

After a couple of alternative sites recommended by the city of Des Moines didn’t pan out, the club was very close to taking the project to Urbandale, Mitchell said.

“At the last minute, one of our members, John Keck, informed us he had a meeting with (Iowa Cubs majority owner) Michael Gartner and (Cubs General Manager) Sam Bernabe, and they suggested they might have a piece of ground that might be really great for this field. ”

The ballpark, which is being designed by Shiffler Associates Architects PLC, will look like a miniature version of Principal Park with matching exterior features, including a blue roof, ironwork and stucco.

“Our vision …was that our facility would be like what I call a little sister to Principal Park,” said Jan Burch, the Kiwanis Club’s vice president and Mitchell’s wife.she said.

The Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute class became involved with the project after Kiwanian Mary Lou Garcia, a member of the leadership class, suggested the Miracle League field could be the class’s project, Mitchell said. The class selected the project from among three alternatives.

“”We knew that it was a project we had to get involved with,” said Colleen Murphy, a member of the class and events director for Blank Park Zoo. “Most importantly, we know that this will be a place where parents will smile, and kids will smile, and that’s important.”