Not only was it the league season’s first official game between the Auburn Dixie Youth Wildcats “White” versus Wildcats “Gold”, it was the first
game ever played at the City of Auburn’s new ball field.
And the crisp, fall weather added a nice touch to what history will remember as a great evening for baseball.
Play ball! New field pushes city to big league status
The two teams took to the field on Friday, Sept. 9, after a prayer, a pep talk from their elders and a ceremonial first pitch.
The Barrow Journal fielded questions from Auburn Dixie Youth League president Bob Vogel, who called the event a milestone for the city of Auburn.
Still a work in progress, the fields at the Parks Mill Road location will eventually be five total, and the one existing diamond still has plenty of work before it is complete. Work on the dugouts still needs to be done and a scoreboard needs to be added. A permanent scorekeeper’s box is also still needed.
And even after four more fields are built at the location, the arena would still need a concession stand, restrooms, batting cages and a playground to be considered complete.
Read the full story in the Sept. 21 issue of the Barrow Journal.
Photos by Katie Cofer
The Barrow Journal fielded questions from Auburn Dixie Youth League president Bob Vogel, who called the event a milestone for the city of Auburn.
Still a work in progress, the fields at the Parks Mill Road location will eventually be five total, and the one existing diamond still has plenty of work before it is complete. Work on the dugouts still needs to be done and a scoreboard needs to be added. A permanent scorekeeper’s box is also still needed.
And even after four more fields are built at the location, the arena would still need a concession stand, restrooms, batting cages and a playground to be considered complete.
Read the full story in the Sept. 21 issue of the Barrow Journal.
Photos by Katie Cofer
As for the new Dixie Boys Field. We as a park had no control over what was built and where. When the discussions were first brought to the table about it 5 years ago, plans were for it to be on the piece of property behind the Softball and Major/Minor fields. 2 years ago, the City made an announcement that a whole new park will be built at the Parks Mill location with the 300'field being the first one to be built. THIS IS THE CITY OF AUBURN... NOT ADY. We have been promised in an E-mail from an official with the city that work will continue on the rest of the new fields through 2012. If that happens it is yet to be seen. We have also been told that most of the scoreboard, Scorers Table and Dugout work should be done during October... Once again, The taxpayers of the City Of Auburn need to be beating the doors down to city hall.
Now for the old park on Mary Carter Rd... The City of Auburn mows the grass in the "common areas" and that is about all. The flooding??? The city was the one that put up the curbing in the parking lot. The park pays for ANYTHING that has to be done maintenance wise for the park. Well, guess what??? That $$$ comes from the registration fees that each player has to pay. Well, you add the cost of the uniform, baseballs for each game and umpires, that does not leave much money left except for what we might make selling the food and drinks in the concession stand. The same concession stand that we are stuck in 5 nights a week, including the times that our children are playing their games 80% of the time..
So, if you would like to be on the Board, let us know. I will gladly vacate my position so I can have some sort of life and maybe get home before 10pm more then once a week. I will tell you that both McDonald's and Prisoner Trash Clean-up experience is helpful...
Finally onto the SELF APPOINTED BOARD, I have worked my tail off for this park for four years in the board and a year of just volunteering my time before that and have seen only a handful of people want to help out. Now I'm going out on maternity within the next two weeks and if you are not one of those parents that complain about the concession schedule (never mind joining the board) i would greatly appreciate if you worked the concession in my absence.
As you can clearly read mr whitehead most of my above comment is issue with city of Auburn not ADY. But since it sounds as though you no longer enjoy your board position(a great example of why there should be terms on board seats) i will explain my above comment. NEVER once did I say that the board doesn't sacrifice or that they are doing a bad job. On the contrary I know the thankless sacrifices that go into volunteering and I greatly appreciate anyone who gives their time. I simply stated that they could use some fresh ideas and that they are self elected. Correct me if i am wrong about that point. In all my years at ADY i have never been given notice of an upcoming election for a new board member or been given the option to vote for a board member. Also I am never made aware that there is an opening on the board i just hear through the grapevine that there is a new board member. For future reference where are you posting those notices? Were any of YOU elected by the ball community or simply by the board? I didn't leave because " things weren't going my way or because my child is better". My child still plays at ADYand will continue to play there because that is where his friends are. And I have worked concession and come to clean-up days but honestly the board is not very welcoming and most of the time in MY experiences they aren't even nice. Which is why I said they are going nowhere with their self elected board. I volunteer with many organizations AND all the groups my children are involved with. People WILL volunteer if you can get some fresh smiling faces on the board. If you're not on the board you're treated as an outsider by the board members. Doesn't really make people want to come help. If someone no longer enjoys being on the board or they start to feel separated or above instead of part of the community that they serve they should really step down so they don't take out their resentments on that community.(another reason positions should have a "term".) People WILL volunteer if the board is more welcoming. my point about the fields was that they won't have any pony players if they don't take care of the larger community of younger players. MY THOUGHT is that if the younger players continue to leave at the current rate Auburn(the city) will stop pumping money into a failing organization and the other fields will never be built. I certainly appreciate everyone who volunteers there time. NEVER said I didn't! In closing if you don't enjoy your VOLUNTEER job anymore then you should step down.