Disabled and able-bodied children play ball at a rubber-turf Miracle Field in Puerto Rico. (Courtesy of Miracle Field)

Canada's first baseball diamond designed for children with disabilities has reached first base.

A groundbreaking event was held Thursday morning for the Miracle League field, part of a new $24-million project in Amherstburg, about 30 kilometres southwest of Windsor.

The site will have a rubber field instead of grass, making it accessible for children with walkers and wheelchairs.

There are already 135 Miracle League fields in the United States and one in Puerto Rico, according to Johnny Franklin, the Georgia-based Miracle League's director of league development.

"We've got about a hundred that are still under construction and still in the fundraising stage," Franklin said at the groundbreaking. "But we're very excited to have the first in Canada."

The Ontario and federal governments each contributed $8 million to the project; the remainder will come from the town of Amherstburg and community fundraising.

Amherstburg Mayor Wayne Hurst said it took "an enormous amount of work" to make the project happen.

"People working together, and that, in my estimation, is so important," Hurst said after the groundbreaking.

"I can't emphasize enough how the levels of government — the province and the federal government — came together to help us see this become a reality."

The complex, expected to open in the fall of 2010, will also include:

• Two hockey rinks.
• A practice mini-rink.
• An indoor walking track.
• An artificial-grass, regulation-sized soccer/football field.