Lakewood Baseball Fields In Disrepair, Parents Say

LAKEWOOD, OH — During a spirited city council meeting on Monday, parents of young baseball players voiced their displeasure at how Lakewood maintains its community baseball fields.

Lakewood City Councilperson Tom Bullock introduced a resolution to officially delineate who is responsible for upkeep of the city's baseball and softball fields: the city or the Lakewood City Schools recreation department.

In a letter to their colleagues and Mayor Meghan George, City Council President Dan O'Malley, Ward 3 Councilperson Tom Litten, and Bullock noted that upkeep of the fields has historically been split between the city and the school district, but the agreement was never put in writing. The lack of clear direction has often led to neglected fields and dangerous conditions for kids, parents said.

A community group even launched a GoFundMe to raise money to either improve the fields in Lakewood themselves, or pay to play in another city, Bullock's letter notes. This, he said, was unacceptable.

"The time has come to update, better detail, and formalize a cooperative agreement that incorporates, among other things, metrics for success and accountability for performance," Bullock said.

In a message posted to Twitter, Mayor Megan George said she intended to take action to improve the quality of the fields.

A Longstanding Problem

The issues with Lakewood's baseball fields did not begin yesterday.

"As long as my kids have been playing baseball, that’s both recreation and travel ball, the fields have consistently been a disaster," Caitlin Magner told Patch. "There’s been grass growing on the infield, there’s generally been a lack of maintenance."

Maintenance of the fields has historically been split between the city's public works department and the Lakewood Schools recreation department, though official duties for either side have never been codified, according to Bullock.

With neither side claiming responsibility for upkeep, youth baseball players often face dangerous conditions.

Multiple parents told Patch that fields are routinely left in disrepair. The Jimmie Foxx Memorial Baseball Field at Kauffmann Park was singled out as particularly bad, having gained notoriety for the "Lakewood lip."

While the city maintains the grass in the outfields, the schools maintain the infields. Where the grass meets the dirt, a small no-man's land has formed creating a ridge that can cause balls to ricochet into the air. Opposing teams began calling it the "Lakewood lip," parents said.

There are often divots in the base path, leading to rolled ankles and other injuries for players. Other fields had degraded dugouts, overgrown outfield grass and were generally left in disrepair.

"We pride ourselves on being Lakewood Rangers and it’s embarrassing to host some of these visiting teams," said Kristy Gibbons, whose 12-year-old son is part of the Lakewood Community Baseball Association.

A Twitter parody account — called simply Lakewood Baseball Fields — both chronicles and mocks the condition of many of the city's fields.

Ultimately, parents want the city and school district to take action and begin upkeep of the fields. Gibbons noted that asking community groups to raise their own funds to cover improvements at the field is "absurd."

"It’s absurd that we had to do this," she said. "This blows my mind. Our tax money should be going into the maintenance of our parks and our fields."

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