By Rusty Bastedo —
On a blustery April day I ventured down to Dublin Baseball Field (on Church Street, behind Town Hall) to check on the condition of the diamond. There I found Jamie Kierstead smoothing out the infield with a grader, and I soon learned that there were plans afoot to give Dublin Baseball Field a facelift in the coming weeks.
Back on October 1, 1930, the Town of Dublin paid Herman H. Priest, of Miami, Florida, one dollar for the land that became Dublin Baseball Field. There were plans drawn to develop the area as a town playground, with a swimming pool and a tennis court, and a copy of the drawing exists at Dublin Town Archives as evidence of the dream. But those plans were shelved as The Great Depression bit into New Hampshire. A baseball field was built instead, as a Works Project Administration (WPA) project, in late 1934 –1935, according to Mike Worcester.
Since the 1930s, Dublin Baseball Field has had baseball dugouts built; those now in use are thought to have been built in the 1970s. The land around the baseball diamond has been enlarged since 1930, but the deferred makeover of Dublin’s “Field of Dreams” has not interfered with its use as a training ground for future generations with dreams of playing in the American League’s Fenway Park.
A recent Saturday morning several players were hard at work with their coaches/parents; a full schedule for the Rookie League (ages 7-8), Minors (ages 9-10), and Majors (ages 11-12) is posted at www.townofdublin.org, or at Town Hall.
Russell Bastedo was formerly New Hampshire State Curator from 1997 to 2009. He is on the staff of The Dublin Advocate.