"Build it and they will come."
Those memorable words from the classic baseball movie Field of Dreams could easily have applied to Father Carroll Little League Field in Red Hook. Built more than 40 years ago, the cozy little field nestled between the St.Christopher's Catholic School campus and Route 199 has been the baseball mecca for youngsters growing up in Red Hook ever since the time it bacame a reality.
With the influx of people from IBM , growth in the Town of Red Hook skyrocketed. Until then, only 30 boys took part in county Little League program where they traveled to play other teams from Rhinebeck, Tivoli, Milan, Rhinecliff, Elizaville and other towns. A movement was started to form a sanctioned Little League program in the village with four teams to accomodate the extra participants.
In 1960, the Reverend John R. Carroll granted the use of the parcel of land on the property where the new St. Christophers Catholic School was slated to be constructed with many parents and community groups chipping in to get the field built.
Miller Brothers Construction donated their time to level the field with the Jaycees constructing a full-size backstop. When Bob Norton built and set in place a pair of new dugouts, the field was nearly ready to be used and some kids couldn't wait for the start of the 1961 season.
"I remember that we felt like we were going to be in the big leagues because we were going to have a scoreboard and a fence," remembers Don Bowman who played during that inaugural campaign.
"When that field was going up there was a lot of excitement because people could line up their cars on the roadway overlooking the field and watch the games. The scoreboard was also something that no one else had back then and the fact that there was a fence also gave you something to shoot for"
The scoreboard back then was a chalkboard in reality and the outfield walls were constructed of snow fence but that didn't matter to those who had finally made it to the big time world of Little League.
The layout of the field has been the same ever since that first season. Soda was sold in glass bottles at the snack bar which was a small white shack just beyond the first base dugout. Players would be carted around by coaches in their simulated wood-paneled station wagons to solicit donations door to door to pay for equipment. The bats were wooden, some with fiberglass handles to prevent cracking, and the uniforms were wool and hot and stirrup socks were still part of the uniform. But, make no mistake about it, then as it is now for many of the youth of Red Hook, the Little League field was the place to be.
"That is what everyone tried to shoot for," said Art Roberts about playing at Father Carroll Field. "I still think back to those years all the time and remember what a big deal that was to us."
"It was just alot of fun," remembers Bowman about those days on the sparkling new diamond. "I remember that you would feel like a real big shot on the nights you would have a game. You would go out in your uniform, step out of that dugout and play. On nights we didn't have games we would still ride our bikes down there. It was the happening place to be."
Little League was the only game in town for a boy back then other than Cub Scouts. There was no youth soccer, roller hockey, swim teams, video games,computers and endless hours of cable television to distract you from the thing you loved to do most, play baseball, and Father Carroll Field was the stage that you hoped to perform on someday rather than just the sandlots of your respective neighborhood.
The Red Hook Little League All Star Game was played on July 4th weekend back then and Roberts,who has more recently been involved with Little League when he coached his son, Adam, says that those events seemed to have more pomp and circumstance associated with them in those days than they seem to now.
"That was one of the few times that they would actually bring out a microphone for the game," Roberts recalls. "When they picked the All Star teams and the Tournament team back then it was a really big deal."
My own memories of Father Carroll Field are special ones from a time when I was just beginning to be hypnotized by the game of baseball. I can remember squatting at the fence and watching the lefty-hitting Bowman loft his towering homers onto Route 199 with regularity. The sound the wooden bat made with the ball is something I miss at Little League games today.
Soda or ice cream after the games was something to look forward to with a victory and , many times,in defeat as well. It was the first place many of us got to meet the moms and dads of our buddies. Many people that didn't even have children playing would come out to watch the games with the hill above the right field wall being the prime location. With your car radio turned to your favorite station and a cushioned seat if you chose to stay inside, it was that era's version of the luxury box. Father Carroll Field was a great place for the community members to socialize.
Playing there was even better than being a spectator. By the time I was there in the late 1960's, the snow fence had been replaced by a solid wooden fence with plywood facing that was ultimately turned into advertising space. The various signs became landmarks when trying to describe where a homer soared over a fence. Another vivid memory is that the outfield foul lines were a permanent plastic strip that was nailed down to the ground.
Today, there is all new fencing on the field ,an announcer's booth, a snack bar that offers a great variety of goodies, an electric scoreboard and only on a rare occasion does someone park in the once-coveted Route 199 right field section. But one of the things that is still there is the charm of the little ballpark that has been a meeting place for youths for over four decades.
"Baseball is still a love of mine and I must say that it all started with that enthusiasm that I felt right there at Father Carroll Field in those early days," said Bowman.
Just as it has for many hundreds of kids since.
