Little Ebbets Field was a replica of the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1913 – 1957, Ebbets Field. Ebbets Field was almost the perfect opposite of Fenway Park, which was built in 1912 and still the home of the Boston Red Sox over 100 years later.
I had my Ray Kinsella moment in 2006, I went to Petco Park to see the World Baseball Classics, in the rear on the stadium I came across a Wiffle Ball Field. It brought me back to my youth and after losing my Dad in 2004, I was looking to find a connection to him and one thing we did a lot of was play Wiffle Ball. So I awoke a few days after coming home almost to the voice, “Build it and he will come.” I went on to build, The Ball Park at Lake Gardiner, and normally you only hear the voice once. Ray did hear it several times, but he only had to build one field.
The voice I heard was you really need a better and bigger field. My ex-wife wanted a new house so we went off on a mission to find a house that worked for the family and I could build a Wiffle Ball Stadium on. It took 4 months and 44 showings (Maybe more, she was very determined). We found the perfect spot that had all we needed to suit both our needs. (Address withheld because I eventually sold the house).
Construction was started in March of 2008, and as you can see in this youtube video, the construction process was quick substantial. We ended up carving the field out of the landscape and removed over 100 yards of dirt. Although I had no idea how unlevel that ground was, it worked out perfectly on many levels to have the field embedded into to landscape.
The construction process took 4 months to complete from start to finish and Little Ebbets Field became a labor of love. The first official game was played in August of 2008 as several of my softball friends, kids and some select friends joined us for the unofficial opening day.
Little Ebbets Field was 25% of the size of Ebbets Field. It featured a 6 foot high wall that spanned from the left field corner to deep right center. It had a reverse fenway triangle. The left field corner was 87 feet from home that went to the deepest part of the park, 110 feet from home plate. Right Field featured a 13 foot high wall, that went from 75 feet from home to 110 feet at the deepest point. We had a manual scoreboard and hundreds of signs.
The field featured had base lines and a four foot warning track in the outfield.
The pitchers mound was made from the durable pro-mounds product and a wood platform. This was one way to not be too concerned with wear and tear over the years. The mound hardly showed any abuse 5 years after we installed it. The strike box was a custom made free standing 24 x 36 tin. Above the strike box a speed gun could have been installed to keep everyone in check.
The batter’s box featured a 6′ x 10′ Rust colored batters mat that was also built on a wood platform. We had a 10 foot high backstop behind home plate.
The outfield had bleachers that probably could have held 25 – 30 people.
Little Ebbets Field, the true opening day was on April 12 2009. We had almost 100 people show up that day to see the field and play Wiffle ball. Family, friends and new friends alike showed up to have a chance to see and play on this field. We had so many people come we had to make fields above the main field for people to play, we would have 3 fields all going at once. For all of 2009, that was the case people showed up every Saturday just to play Wiffle ball on little ebbets field.
Little Ebbets Field was featured in The Boston Globe, NPR’s The Story, Podcasts, NESN and listed amongst one of the top 3 Wiffle Ball Fields ever built. We hosted thousands of games over the years. Although we turned the page and sold the house in 2013, we think about the field and our many memories all the time.