Williamsburg pols must go to bat for two run-down neighborhood ballfields by pitching in funds and urging the city to fix them up, say leaders of a local little league.
Both Roberto Clemente Ballfield and Sternberg Park are lacking facilities and sporting shoddy, worn-out turf that doesn’t drain after it rains, leading to soggy sod and canceled games during the season, according to the league’s founder.
“If it rains, I lose the whole weekend of baseball,” said Mario Delgado, who has run the Williamsburg Sports League for 12 years. “I don’t have enough dirt to even prepare the fields for the weekend, and a lot of games get lost because I can’t fix the field.”
Sternberg Park, which is at Boerum and Larimer streets, has had the same turf since 2006, and which is now studded with potholes — one kid twisted his ankle in one of the small ditches during a game last summer — and the dugouts have no roofs, so kids get drenched whenever the skies open, said Delgado.
Meanwhile, Roberto Clemente Ballfield, at Wythe and Division avenues, has had the same turf since 1998. It also lacks bathrooms — busting ballplayers at the small waterfront field have to run across the street to use facilities at a nearby supermarket — and lights for night games, said the league’s commissioner.
“Our families come to use that park, and our kids, and there’s no way to use a bathroom,” said Tommy Torres.
Both Delgado and Torres say they have been trying to convince local pols and the city’s parks department to step up to the plate with more money for years with nothing but whiffs.
But this season is looking more promising — both Councilman Antonio Reynoso (D-Bushwick), who represents the district around Sternberg Park, and Councilman Steve Levin (D-Greenpoint), who represents Clemente, have said they will assign some of their taxpayer-funded coffers to the neglected sporting grounds, according to Torres.
Levin clarified that no commitments have been made yet, but he agrees repairs are needed and intends to discuss it further.
Parks officials will meet with the Council members over the next few months to discuss budgets and plans for the next fiscal year, which will kick off July 1, and Torres hopes Levin and Reynoso swing for the fences on the fields’ behalf.
“I want this to become a priority for them,” he said. “We need to come to the table and discuss this and analyze this.”
Community boards will also have opportunities to submit proposals for the new parks budget — so ballplayers who want to see changes to the beloved fields need to make their voices heard, a parks rep told a Community Board 1 meeting on Jan. 12.
Reynoso did not return requests for comment by press time.
