A few weeks ago I dropped off my son Tavish at Baker Park where he was meeting friends for a game of pickup baseball. They’d met there a number of times throughout the summer but at this last meeting they didn’t get a chance to play ball.
It wasn’t because somebody else was using the diamond. Rather it was because the ball diamond wasn’t there. The City of Oshawa had torn out the fencing, removed the benches and cleared out the bleachers. The only thing remaining was a vague outline of the former infield.
“Why would the City do that?” Tavish asked me.
I didn’t have an answer for him. My hope was that because this summer was the 50th anniversary of Baker Park the City was in the process of improving the ball diamond. What better way to celebrate a milestone anniversary than to replace an aging diamond with a brand new one? The diamond had seen better days. It was the same one I played on as a teenager and it was obvious the City was doing NOTHING to maintain it. Weeds grew all through the infield.
I contacted Mayor John Henry and asked him what was going on. He told me the diamond didn’t meet City standards anymore and a community meeting with the park association had taken place and it was agreed the diamond would be removed.
I wasn’t pleased with this decision for two reasons. One, Baker Park was my park growing up. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. So I’m a little nostalgic when it comes to ball diamonds. To see Baker Park without a diamond upset me. Second, I am now in the coaching stage of my life. I coached many years in softball and I now coach for Baseball Oshawa’s house league system. Last summer I struggled to get a diamond to practice on with my team because there weren’t enough diamonds to meet the demands of the various softball and baseball organizations across the city.
How then would reducing the City’s ‘fields of dreams’ by one help kids play ball?
I vented my frustration on a Facebook group I belong to, NASC Softball. Olga Field, who administers the page, replied to my post indicating Baker Park wasn’t the only park to lose its ball diamond this summer. So too did Nipigon Park. Eastview Park was also on the City’s list to have its three diamonds removed as was MacKenzie Park. The City held off removing those diamonds only after the NASC convinced them otherwise. How councillors could ever consider removing the three diamonds at Eastview is a head scratcher. Drive by Eastview Park on any night of the week during the summer months and you'll see teams playing, parents cheering. The NASC uses the park extensively and hosts its tournaments on the three fields. Remove the diamonds? Give me a break!
What should be done at Eastview Park and others across the city is proper maintenance of the fields. The City grooms fields such as the one at Connaught Park and the beautiful diamonds at Alexandra Park but visit Eastview Park or MacKenzie Park and you'll see the neglect. Yet our kids are expected to play on these fields just as often as they are at other parks. It makes me wonder if the City only wants to remove diamonds to save a buck. It's easier to rip diamonds out than it is to maintain them.
I sent a letter to every councillor a few weeks ago asking them to reconsider this foolhardy approach to running the City. Ron Diskey, Director of Culture & Recreation got back to me to let me know there is an upcoming needs assessment study taking place on parks and recreation to determine future needs and locations of diamonds, soccer fields, etc. It takes place Oct. 8 at the Civic Auditorium Complex at 6:30 p.m. You can be I'll be in attendance.
Our city needs to maintain and improve it's baseball and softball diamonds, not remove them. Like I said before my team was shut out of practices during weeknights this summer because there weren't any diamonds available. Removal of the diamonds at Baker Park and Nipigon Park will only make matters worse next summer.
I found it funny as I scrolled through the NASC Softball Facebook page to see photos of this summer's championship teams. There were a lot of kids who played for Baker Park in those photos. Yet the City felt Baker's diamond wasn't being used enough to keep it?
Shame.
