It came down to the final pitch in the bottom of the ninth, but the Near North Little League officials finally got the commitment they’ve been looking for.
After months of wondering if they would have a home for their 1998 season, the Cabrini-Green-based league received a commitment Tuesday from Chicago Park District Supt. Forrest Claypool that youth baseball play will not be interrupted during the redevelopment of the Near North neighborhood.
Though their existing home field will be lost to progress, the youths will play next year’s season on a new ball field and two rehabilitated city-owned fields near their current diamonds.
The news came hours before the end-of-the season banquet for the more than 400 players in the league.
“We feel comfortable that all of our needs will be met and we will have a safe and good place to play next year,” said Jesse White, chairman of the Near North Little League, the non-profit league featured in the book “Hardball: A Season in the Projects.” White, the Cook County recorder of deeds, also is well known for his tumbling squads from the development.
For the last seven years, the Near North league played at Carson Field, a 16-year-old field at Division and Sedgwick Streets. Though the diamonds are not pristine, they are well lighted and remain mostly safe from the crime and violence that plague the Cabrini-Green neighborhood.
Under the city’s redevelopment plan, Carson Field will be torn up to make way for the Old Town Square Shopping Center. A video store will replace first base; a parking lot will sit in the outfield. The proposal is just one small portion of the aggressive efforts to revitalize the Cabrini-Green community.
Youth baseball officials met with city leaders earlier this year and received a verbal agreement that the city would provide playing fields for the league during the next season.
But nothing was in writing and coaches and administrators feared the city or the private developer would back out. Their concerns were heightened when the developer broke ground recently for a Dominick’s food store just west of Carson Field.
By Tuesday morning, league officials still were wondering what to tell their players during the end-of-the-season banquet.
“This league is fragile enough and one year off would throw us into total disarray,” Eric Boeckmann, league treasurer, said Tuesday morning.
Mike Gunartt, a 12-year-old first baseman, said youth baseball is one of the few things that keep him off the streets.
“There’s nothing to do around here except get in trouble and play baseball,” said Mike, who lives in the Cabrini-Green complex.
Ed Uhlir, planning director of the Chicago Park District, said the youth baseball teams will be moved to fields at Stanton Park, about two blocks west of Carson Field. Uhlir said the city will install lights before the 1998 season.
The league also will have use of a new field at Franklin Elementary School.