Celebrating 45 years of baseball in Fort Dodge
Gypsum Hollow Teener Baseball League
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Patterson Field is a very unique baseball park, now designed for young baseball players. The park itself is situated in southeast Fort Dodge, just between the old Coleman School building and the National Gypsum Mill. The cool shade from the towering oak trees and the peaceful tranquility of the area make Patterson Field a favorite gathering spot for families to watch their youngsters play baseball.
In the summer of 1967 there was no public baseball park in Fort Dodge. It was at that time that Jerry Patterson, who had been hooked since an early age on baseball and the joy of working with the kids who played the game, decided that the only way Fort Dodge would ever get and keep a baseball park, would be if he bought some land and built a ball park himself. That fall, he found a cornfield for sale in Southeast Fort Dodge. He borrowed $1,000 from Oscar Lundgren at the Union Trust and Savings for a down payment , bought a 4 acre tract of Land from Joe Rejsek and went to work in mid October. By the following summer, a crude baseball field had taken shape. Since then, the park has slowly but surely been molded into the fine facility that it is today.
Thousands of young and old baseball players have played on the filed in the last 40 years. Thousands of others have enjoyed watching the games at the field. There is constant baseball played on the field every day of the week, except Sunday, from mid-May to mid-October. Through the years, there have been hundreds of teener; semi-pro games, donkeyball games, office and service club games, all played at the field. There have been numerous baseball clinics and some tryout camps for professional baseball on the field. At times, the park has served as the home filed for the Iowa Central Community College and St. Edmond High School baseball teams. In 1991 an international game was played on the field when a team came from Japan to play. Quite often, young players have come to the field informally, just for the joy of playing baseball.
Several former major league players have played a time or two at the field during their developmental days as young players, or after their major league careers had ended. They include Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield, Paul Moliter, Larry Bittner, Steve Macko, Duane Josephson and Dennis Leonard. Patterson Field has been very good for Fort Dodge. It provides a needed place for the youngsters to play baseball, to develop their skills and make new friends. It keeps them occupied and busy. The park brings people into Fort Dodge for tournaments, which impacts the local economy. Perhaps best of all, it provides good, clean family-type fun for all people in the Fort Dodge area.
Msgr J.E. Tolan, then of Wall Lake, perhaps Iowa's best known and most respected of all sports personalities, visited Patterson Field shortly before his death. When asked what he thought of Patterson Field, his reply perhaps summed it up best, -"I love it, I love it. It's truly a genuine labor of love."
No team has ever had to pay a penny in rent to use the field. Jerry Patterson could use your help in keeping the park going. Donations are most welcomly received at any time and are always put to good use. It's a great opportunity for you to lend your support to one of the most positive projects anywhere.
