Uniontown’s Bailey Park falls on hard times
It’s summer, and the infield is overgrowing with weeds. I’m speaking of the big infield at Bailey Park, a sad commentary on the state of baseball in Uniontown.
The valiant effort to reclaim Bailey Park from the dustbin of history has only been partially successful, so far: the park’s smaller diamond was used in the spring by the Uniontown High School softball team; its use this summer by the Miracle League brings the promise of baseball to a bunch of kids who deserve the break, as well as the fun.
As for the larger diamond, it’s in bad shape: tufts of grass are sprouting on the soft dirt where, under better conditions, infielders would patrol. The mound is eroding away, the pitching rubber is missing. The outfield is a patch work of weeds and grass; it looks like someone’s abandoned backyard.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Bailey Park has a proud tradition going back to the 1920s, at least. It’s where generations have played. It was the foundation upon which the whole sports enterprise in Uniontown was built. It’s where the great Abe Everhart threw batting practice to kids who were climbing the ranks: the Midget (excuse the term, that’s what it was called) League for 10- to 12-year-olds was next. The Teener League loomed ahead.
This was long ago, of course. The world was different. It was the era before the ball diamonds at Hutchinson in South Union Township and the Eberly fields in North Union; before the abandonment of downtown Uniontown as a retail center and the departure of a good chunk of the middle class from Uniontown’s clunky, crowded neighborhoods for the newer, cleaner, bigger suburban developments in the townships.
Even the high school baseball team refuses to play at Bailey Park, though a large sign plastered to the left field fence declares the park to be the home of Red Raiders’ baseball. The sign is beginning to look a bit tattered, and for good reason: it’s been two years since the high school last played there. I asked a former player about this, and he said the field, after a rain, is a swamp; it doesn’t drain, he said, before adding that the outfield was lumpy and strewn with bolders.
Bolders, mind you.
That’s not true. Lumpy, I grant you; but bolders, no. I walked the outfield the other day. I can assure you, the outfield is bolder-free.
As for not draining, that may be, but I don’t understand why it should be true so late in the park’s career. I don’t remember a drainage problems in days of yore. It’s true Bailey Park is abutted on one side by a steep hill leading to Charles Street. But elsewhere it’s flat -flat as a dry sponge.
Proving again that baseball is a game full of hopeful possibilities, the man in charge of Bailey Park for the city, Greg Pikulsky, is hoping for what may be a small miracle all its own: a youth baseball revival in Uniontown. And a revival — not for the first time — of play at Bailey Park’s big diamond.
Pikulsky, at 41 a Bailey Park alum, told me he believes he has landed a landscaping firm to redo the big field — adding dirt and improving the drainage, though he’s not exactly sure at what point this year the job will get done.
The work has been volunteered. You know how that is: beggars can’t exactly be demanding. Timetables are flexible in such instances.
Pikulsky said he doesn’t like to get too specific about dates or even the name of the firm that, tentatively at least, has stepped up to the plate. “Until the first shovel of dirt is thrown down (on the field), I don’t want to say too much,” Pikulsky noted.
The parks and rec director realizes how fickle and demanding the public can be. Saying something is going to happen puts him in a bind to deliver, even if he lacks the means to get the thing accomplished.
The same applies to getting teams together to actually the play the game. This may be a steeper hill to climb than getting the field in shape.
Pikulsky told me he has been in touch with a number of businesses and service clubs to sponsor teams. The response has heartened him. Several, he said, were “super excited” about the prospective return of baseball to Bailey Park. It would be a back to the future moment: once upon a time in Uniontown, the Elks, Kiwanis, Rotary and their ilk all put their names on the fronts of baseball jerseys.
A kid felt pretty special putting on one of those uniforms.
Now maybe I’m getting carried away. Finding kids who want to play the game could be the biggest challenge of all. It’s been nearly a decade since youth teams took to the fields at Bailey Park. During this period, efforts to entice African-American youngsters back to baseball have been tried in other cities; as best as I can tell, these attempts have had only limited success.
But the real impediment is not necessarily race. Being poor is a big deal, and especially in Uniontown, where the poor proliferate. Pikulsky said the city recently held a basketball clinic at the Grant Street courts. For $25 the kids could buy a clinic T-shirt. Some youngsters couldn’t come up with the cash.
It takes more than $25 to purchase a baseball glove and cleats and balls and bats.
Pikulsky can’t do any of this on his own. He needs adults to volunteer their “time, treasure and talents.” He’s pleading for help, in fact. So, are you ready to hit one out of the park for the kids? for baseball? for Bailey Park?
If you’re interested, call city hall at 724-430-2910 and ask for Pikulsky. He’ll be happy to talk to you.
Richard Robbins lives in Uniontown and is the author of two books -“Grand Salute: Stories of the World War II Generation” and “Our People.’ He can be reached at grandsalutebook@gmail.com.