- • Old ballpark has s een the greats When the Onéonta Yankees take the field Monday night to open the home portion of their 1970 . New York-Pennsylvannia league season they will be play. ing on hallowed ground. Damaschke Field, re-named last season in honor of the man who has served Oneonta recreation for nearly a half-cenury - E.C. 'Dutch' Damaschke - was opened in 1905 on Memorial Day as Elm Park. Some of the greatest names In baseball, names lige Babe Ruth and Rogers Hornshy, appeared in the lineups of teams having performed on the historic field down 'through the years' of semi-pro baseball and the visits of wandering bands of big. leaguers picking up some offseason change. The present steel grandstand was erected in- 1938 and the lights about the same time as Oneonta prepared to enter the Canadian-American League which Red Sox clubs were to dominate for many seasons. The lighting has been n improved -on several occasions over the years. Oneontans are proud of the • Damaschke Field facility and nobody is prouder than head Scholastic and- collegiate baseball and : football teams have played there many times and the • park was the scene two years ago of the first International: soccer match belween college teams ever played in New York State outside the metropolitan area. A G GWAY YOUR HOME & GARDEN VALUE STORE groundskeeper Fran Lee - who has babied that particular piece of real estate for many, many years, Damaschke Field is also the home of the : : : :Oneonta Indians football team, Oneonte: United soccer team and the Hartwick College baseball team.
