In the late 1980s and into the next two decades, Heather Park Field was a hub of activity.
More than 500 kids suited up to play on 17 Prince George Youth Babe Ruth baseball teams.
Sluggers went long out of the park. Base runners stole second and home. They struck out at the plate. Pitchers worked on their fastballs.
Fans filled the bleachers, lined up at the concession stand. Red dirt was hauled in from Alberta for an above-average playing surface on the infield.
Then-Prime Minister Kim Campbell even visited in 1993 for the 14-15-year-old Babe Ruth provincials. She was supposed to only stay for 20 minutes. She wound up spending two hours amongst the fans.
Today, a young spruce tree grows behind home plate on the diamond where 14- to 15-year-old players used to play. The outfield fences are either broken or completely torn down.
Graffiti is scrawled across the back of the dugouts that are littered with garbage - broken plastic slurpee cups - and a crushed green beer can is buried in the grass on the faint outline between first and second base.
When long-time baseball supporter Shirley Gratton stopped by Heather Park Monday, she was disappointed in what she saw.
"I was distraught," she said Tuesday morning at the park in the Hart neighbourhood. "I'm more than disappointed at the destruction. They should just leave it alone. It was a fully-functional beautiful park and we were so very proud of it."
On all three diamonds at the park, home plate and the pitching mounds are overgrown with long, tall grass. One can barely see the lines between first, second and third base.
Alfalfa and clover grow out of cracks on the paved paths between the diamonds. Daisies grow behind the backstops.
Graffiti is scrawled on the shuttered windows of the once bustling concession at the central field house that consisted of a kitchen, washrooms, storage and score boxes. An underground sprinkler system always kept the fields in healthy shape. Now the paint is peeling and the sign proclaiming it home of Babe Ruth Baseball is fading.
Heather Park, formerly known as North Nechako Lions Park, was renovated in 1987 when close to $300,000 was spent to bring it up to standards that could host the Pacific Northwest Babe Ruth Regional championship in 1988 and provincial championships over the years.
Bernard Martin, a retired logger who was involved in Prince George baseball for at least 40 years, is sad too about the disarray of the park.
"It hasn't been used for at least three or four years, since the last time the Blue Jays had their [youth] baseball camp here," he said. "We can't really blame anybody. Baseball has decreased and there is nobody to keep it up. The bleachers [made out of treated, engineered lumber] are still in good shape, they should be able to be used somewhere."
The memories are endless for both Martin and Gratton.
They're not sure what the solution is.
"It'd be great to have a group come in and take it over," said Gratton.
Calls to the city were not returned by The Citizen's deadline on Tuesday.
