Back in 1975 when Caltrans was wrapping up the Glendale Freeway route 2, running between the 134 near the Eagle Rock Mall and the 210 near Vago Hills hospital, the NSAA had an interesting idea. We had been playing over-the-line and softball games for about 16 years by then and, with a great roster of players, chances looked pretty good that we might keep it going for a while. For sure, our biggest problem was a field. We had used Wilson and Glendale College fields and some parks along the way but ONLY after the Little League, the T-ballers, the JC footballers and the Armo soccer players were done using them. In short, we ALWAYS had to play second fiddle to whom ever was out there-- as their permit trumped our gritty determination every time. By 1975 we were pretty sick of it.
The general area where this story takes place.
Then somebody came up with the brilliant idea of buying our own field.
Caltrans was in the process of selling off the excess freeway land that they acquired under
eminent domain but didn’t actually use. It was being auctioned off cheap as the land was
undesirable for 99% of uses. It was odd shaped, right next to the freeway, under power
lines or, in some cases, with no drivable access to it. Besides that, most of it wasn’t flat,
but part of a canyon or hillside and covered with sage brush.
But the NSAA in those years was blessed with a whole bunch of guys working in the trades
and other guys who had some extra money laying around. We thought we could easily buy
a patch of ground, grade an area about 100 yards square or thereabouts, plant grass, put
up a fence, put in some sprinklers and knock out an all grass ball field perfect for our
style of play. Plus, it seemed especially likely that years later we could sell it to the
City of Glendale for a huge profit. Especially given the fact that Glendale has always had
the fewest number of parks per 1,000 people of any city in LA County. How could this miss?
What most of the potential sites looked like.
Guys who were ready to pitch in, pony up and/or provide skilled labor included
Commish, Boomer, TomK, Jimmy Bond, Bif, Jack W, Ronnie Combs, Norm, Junior Boothe and Dave. We were ready to roll--- tracking the auction pages in the paper and driving
out to inspect potential locations. We looked at a bunch of them but alas, none seemed doable.
Some of the land was sheer vertical, almost none had water available, and only a few had access
roads. But the clincher was, should we build it, “Who’s gonna volunteer to mow this bad boy every week?”
Needless to say, regrettably, we never got it done, but had we, it would have undoubtedly been a winner all
the way around. We could have had a flat, smooth and titty ball field at our disposal for as
long as we wanted, then we could sell it to the City for a windfall profit. Sweet, but I
do believe the best part of all would have been showing up to the field at around 5:30pm and
be greeted by some ego sick T-Ball coach who was out there using it with 20 grab-ass little kids,
who would then offer up, “We’ll be done by 6:30.”
Postscript=== On Wednesday, 6/16/10, the NSAA lost the Wilson field due to graduation. Verdugo Park was occupied
by the Little League, La Canada High also had graduation and Oak Grove park had soccer. Hence our games were
cancelled. This never would have happened had we built "Nassau Field".
What Nassau Field might have looked like had we pulled the trigger.