Iowa town hoping to breathe new life into rundown baseball field – WOWT

PISGAH, Iowa (WOWT) — The tiny Iowa town of Pisgah is home to the Fill Er Up and Keep on Trucking Café, it’s also home to the Pisgah Baseball Field; The field and especially the grandstand have seen better days.

Organizers in the town of about 250 people are trying to raise money so the field can be used by the next generation of baseball players. Tony Nuzum played ball there years ago.

“It was probably one of the nicest fields around back in the 80’s you know the grandstand was really nice it was covered the dugouts were covered it was a nice field to play on,” said Nuzum.

Nobody plays there now, the grandstand which was built in the late 1930’s or 40’s, has been condemned. It will soon be demolished and needs to be rebuilt. The field also needs work, and a new scoreboard and lights.

“I come from a baseball family and it’s like my dad was saying from the grave, ‘you gotta do something,’” said organizer Joyce Hall.

Joyce Hall is one of the organizers, together with city officials, business and civic leaders she’s hoping to raise money through their Safe at Home campaign.

Pat Barry is helping to rebuild the grandstand and freshen up the ball field; Pat has children who play baseball.

“I want them to play here. I played here when I was a kid and this is home field to me,” said Barry.

People who live in the town told WOWT 6 News they believe this is the first time since 1914 that they haven’t played ball on this field. Over the years a lot of teams played a lot of baseball there, some players even made it all the way to the big leagues.

“We’ve had two people that played on this field who were drafted by the New York Yankees: Loren Babe and Bob Wilsee. I know Lauren played in the early 50’s and he played with Micky Mantle,” said Hall.

Right now little Carter Freihage runs and dreams of playing baseball on this field. His mom Jennifer Freihage is hopeful that dream will come true soon.

“Hopefully next year he’ll get to play here,” said Jennifer.

She’s hoping carter will be the next generation to play in this Grand Ole Park and the next ballplayer to be Safe at Home.

The people of Pisgah believe they need about $30,000 to rebuild the Old Grandstand and ball field.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Safe at Home campaign is asked to send checks or money orders to the Community Bank in Pisgah at 120 First Street P.O. Box 157 Pisgah, Iowa 51564.