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Greenfield Baseball at Hammer
An Injunction has been filed against the City of Pittsburgh to stop Greenfield Baseball for getting a permit issued next year for Hammer Field. So we would like all of you to call your Councilperson and the Mayors Service center to save Hammer Field.
Thank You Greenfield Baseball Association Board of Directors.
Piitsburgh Tribune Review
Little League parents warn a lawsuit could force their children off Bud Hammer Field in Greenfield if the city of Pittsburgh yields to the complaints of a resident.
Citing noise, traffic and damage to his property from baseballs that fly over the 10-foot fence at the edge of the park, Barry Carb asked a judge to issue a temporary injunction preventing the city from granting any more permits to the Greenfield Baseball Association, which hosts Little League games for children ages 5-12.
"If that happens, that will basically shut down Greenfield baseball," said Dara Pegher, the parent of a 14-year-old player.
"It's not that I'm after the little kids, it's just that this baseball association has grown," Carb said Tuesday night.
In the lawsuit filed May 18, Carb complains of broken windows, unruly crowds and a mass of cars that choke his street and cut off access to his house. The suit also seeks $25,000 in damages from the city.
A hearing is scheduled for Aug. 6 in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.
Pegher, who lives across the street from the field, said Carb should have thought about the fallout of living next to a baseball park before he moved into his house. Hammer Field was built in 1960 — long before Carb chose to move into the area, she said — and the association goes back even further, to 1951.
Carb said he moved into the neighborhood in 1985.
Association President Gary Moser said Carb did not make enough of an effort to resolve his concerns with the league before going to court, but he faulted the city for "bending" to Carb. The Department of Public Works removed some speakers on a public address system the field once had and built a taller fence at the field this spring after previous court complaints from Carb.
"It seems like every complaint he makes, they do whatever he asks," Pegher said.
Carb said he believes other residents are bothered by the games but are not willing to speak out. "I spent 4 1/2 years in the Marine Corps. I'm not going to back down from anybody."
The association will finish its last tournament of the season this week.
Moser said Carb's allegations, including that the elementary and middle school students hit about 250 baseballs into his yard each season, are incorrect.
"We don't have 250 home runs up here in three years," he said.
If the association loses the use of the field, the children would suffer most, he said.
"Their fathers have played here, their uncles have played here and now they're playing here. It's just one big happy place. I don't get it."
Jul 28, 2009 11:11 pm US/Eastern Battle Brewing Over Baseball Field In Greenfield Reporting
Ralph Iannotti GREENFIELD (KDKA) ? A homeowner whose backyard is adjacent to the outfield wall at Bud Hammer Field in Greenfield is seeking a temporary restraining order against league play at the field.
A hearing on Barry Carb's complaint is scheduled for next Thursday, August 6.
"[The] Greenfield Baseball Association has grown this into a money-making proposition – he just took over this neighborhood," Carb told KDKA-TV.
He says there are too many games, too many cars, too much noise and too many baseballs still ending up in his backyard, even though the city spent $27,000 last year to put up a 20-foot fence to try to prevent the balls from falling onto his property.
Supporters of Hammer Field have collected nearly 300 signatures so far and hope to have more than 500 by the time of next week's hearing.
"We're just not going to roll over, we're going to fight for our field, whatever we have to do," Gary Moser, the president of the Greenfield Baseball Association, told KDKA-TV.
Lawsuit Threatens To Bench Greenfield Little Leaguers
Posted: 11:59 pm EDT July 28, 2009
Updated: 10:47 am EDT July 29, 2009
GREENFIELD, Pa. -- A lawsuit is threatening to bench little league baseball players in Greenfield.
The Greenfield Baseball Association runs Bud Hammer Field, but Barry Carb, who lives next to the field, said the league has gotten too big and doesn't fit into the neighborhood anymore.
"I can't sometimes leave my place or can't get in. The traffic congestion is so horrific, it's like running a gauntlet all day, all summer," said Carb.
He's asking for a temporary restraining order against future permits for the league.
However, Scott Gormley, of the GBA, said the community needs the field.
"This is a community field. The kids are up here. They are having a good time, and we are keeping them from doing bad things in the street," said Gormley.
Parents have collected signatures to save the field.
The two sides will be in court on Aug. 6. WPXI
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