Selma’s Bloch Park once had its own version of the Green Monster, a giant green wall at Fenway Park in Boston, but it was blown down by a hurricane around 10 years ago.

After a decade of having  just a chain link fence at centerfield, Bloch Park is getting its wall back.

“It is a part of history for the park. It is a part of me, and a part of us that played there,” said Ronnie Mac Sherrer, who is helping with the project. “Since it blew down, we’ve lost that. I wanted to bring it back, not only for us to enjoy, but for the kids coming up now to let them see what used to be.”

The city of Selma’s Recreation Committee met Wednesday at City Hall to discuss the project, which is already in the works.

“Ever since it came down I’ve always wanted to see that wall back up because it was always a part of the field, and we all played on it coming up,” said Lebo Jones, interim director for the Selma Recreation Department.

Jones said the idea came up when he was trying to come up with a way to honor the late coach Elton Reece, who served as the director of the Selma Recreation Department for the last two decades.

“When coach Reece passed away Ronnie and I were sitting around talking to see how we could dedicate something to him at Bloch Park,” Jones said. “It was already named Bloch Park, so we came up with the idea of reconstructing that wall in his memory and in his honor.”

Construction on the wall started Wednesday. The wooden wall will be 14-feet high and 48-feet wide and will look just like it used to, according to Sherrer.

Jones and Sherrer expect the wall to be completed by next Monday or Tuesday and will be dedicated to Reece at the Alabama Dixie Major State Tournament Thursday, July 9 before Selma’s game at 7 p.m.

Sherrer said he has fond memories of the wall at Bloch Park, which has a rich baseball history.

“Back when I was a little boy, the original Selma Cloverleafs were there and Lou Piniella played out there on that field,” Sherrer said. “There were a couple of nights they were looking for volunteer bat boys, and I volunteered and sat right next to Lou Piniella.”

Piniella started his career with the Selma Cloverleafs, a minor league baseball team that called the Queen City home, and eventually played for the New York Yankees.

After his playing career, Piniella served as a manager for the Chicago Cubs and Yankees, among other teams.

Councilman Michael Johnson also had memories of playing at Bloch Park as a child and trying to hit the ball over the wall.

“A lot of kids don’t have any idea, but seeing it brings so much back to us. It is history,” Johnson said.

“It is something that is going to bring a joy to me, especially the dedication to coach Reece.”