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ECHL Reading Fightin Phils

Plans unveiled for new Lauer\'s Park ball field

October 22, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Reading Fightin Phils News Release


READING, PA – Plans for a new youth baseball facility on the site of the old Lauer's Park stadium were revealed today at a luncheon at Lauer's Park Elementary School. The funds for the project will be raised by Baseballtown Charities, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization associated with the Reading Phillies, and granted to the Olivet Boys and Girls Club of Reading. The Olivets will oversee the construction phase of the project and lease the ballpark for $1.00 per year from the Reading School District.

The Lauer's Park site, chosen because it was once the home of a stadium that housed several Reading professional baseball teams from 1907-1941, is located across from the corner of North Third and Elm Streets behind the elementary school. Home plate for the youth field will be in what was center field at the old park.

The new field, Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer's Park, will be one of the leading youth facilities in the region. It will feature a 60-foot long covered grandstand that will accommodate approximately 160 individual seats; dugouts and bullpens; press box with public address system; concession stand; handicapped accessible restrooms; stadium lighting; and a 12-foot high outfield fence with asymmetrical distances ranging from 165-185 feet from home plate. The field will be a regulation youth diamond (60 feet between bases) and will be used primarily by the RBI Baseball League. Plans are also to use it for tournaments, girls softball, a community-wide home run derby and Reading Phillies youth baseball clinics.

"The goal of Baseballtown Charities is to provide more kids the opportunity to participate in America's national pastime," said Reading Phillies general manager Chuck Domino. "We feel this facility will allow the children of the Olivets, Police Athletic League, the Sixth Ward and Reading School District to play in a first-class baseball facility right in their back yards."

The stadium will be named in honor of current Lauer's Park elementary school principal Gordon Hoodak. Money for the naming rights was contributed by an anonymous donor. Other funding and sponsorships will be secured by Baseballtown Charities, which will also be committed to covering any shortfall for maintenance costs on an annual and perpetual basis.

The baseball park is the centerpiece of what is actually a three-fold project. The other components are the improvement and beautification of the embankment and sidewalk along N. Third Street and a new school playground adjacent to the ball field. These two endeavors will be funded by various civic groups.

"The Lauer's Park project will work because of the strong civic support that it is receiving from the Berks Economic Partnership, the Berks Business Executive Forum, the Berks County Community Foundation and the vested interest of the Reading Phillies, the Olivet Boys and Girls Club and the leadership at Lauer's Park Elementary School, " said Domino. "The overall project has a potential to be a model program for other areas of the City of Reading as well as similar social economic areas throughout the state."

The target date for ground groundbreaking is October of 2005 so that it can be completed by the spring of 2006.

Lauer's Park was the site of many historically significant baseball events, including the only nine-inning perfect game in Reading professional history (Jake Northrop - 1911) and George Quellich's record-breaking streak of 15 hits in 15 at-bats in 1929, which remains the longest such streak by any professional player. The park was also witness to some historic futility: the 1926 Reading Keystones own the mark for the lowest winning percentage of any minor league team ever (.194) and the ‘27 Keystones still hold the record for the longest losing streak (31 games) in International League history.

Lauer's Park was demolished in 1943 and the grounds sat vacant for eight years before they were turned into a municipal parking lot, an experiment which lasted until 1955. In 1960, Lauer's Park Elementary School was erected on the site.

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