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| From Baseball's Canadian-American League by David Pietrusza: Oswego’s previous pro teams played at Richardson Field, but that had long been torn down and replaced by the county’s public works garage. Otis Field, named after Depression-era mayor John Otis, was built circa 1931—32 on the site of a city dump. It served as a park for a semipro squad and for youth teams in general, seeing some improvements on the Netherlands’ arrival in 1936, such as stands and fences, but did not receive a grass infield. “A grass infield,” it was noted, “has long been advocated by players to counteract the uncertain hops encountered on a dirt infield... .” Oswego’s Mike Naymick agrees: “That field we played on, it would look like a rock pile. It wasn’t well taken care of. Conditions really weren’t good at all.” Former Nets fan Bob O’Brien recalls the dimensions as being about 340 feet to both left and right field, and “very, very deep, at least 450 feet to center. I think Josh Gibson once hit a ball over it.” Raymond Haynes, who helped build the park, estimates even steeper figures —550 to left, 585 to the center field flagpole, 600 to deepest center, and 428 to right. He con¬tended that only two fair balls were ever hit out. Of the lights that were installed in 1936, Francis Regan wrote, “they were nothing to become excited about,” and were sold in 1939. Their removal played a part in the Nets demise. “During the 1940s,” recalls O’Brien, “the kids pulled the grandstand apart, and some people were said to have removed boards to stoke their stoves and furnaces. Otis Field was torn down in the mid-1950s to make way for the Leighton Elementary School. “That was a mistake,” asserts O’Brien, “because of the former dump, there were problems of sinkage.” |
| Otis Field Oswego, New York |