Crocker Renovation

Hello SFYBL Community:

The SFYBL Baseball Committee is reaching out to you for two reasons.

First: to tell you about a very exciting new project being planned for the existing baseball complex at Crocker Amazon.

Second: to ask for your help to make this wonderful plan happen.

We’re happy to announce that the San Francisco Giant’s Community Fund has made a VERY generous offer to The City to partner with SF Rec and Parks to do a complete makeover of the baseball facilities at Crocker.

As most of you know, the baseball fields at Crocker are showing their age. Did you know that when Crocker was first designed it included 11 baseball diamonds!

But the park has adapted over the years to the varying interests of San Franciscans. A football field was added in the 50’s. And then soccer. The soccer fields got a MAJOR upgrade some years ago which completely changed the vibe at Crocker. Long time community members can remember when Crocker was not a place one felt safe going to. Active sports facilities make parks feel safer and bring the community together.

Now it’s baseball’s turn! And boy do we need it. Please check out these wonderful renderings produced by the Giants. By tearing down the antiquated stadiums and rejiggering the space, SFRPD and The Giants will be creating 5 new state of the art synthetic turf fields and one natural grass field where currently there are 5 woefully dusty fields. The 5 artificial turf fields will have state of the art lighting so that they can be utilized much more frequently during our sometimes rainy and dark spring season. The fields will also features fences, scoreboards, dugouts and bullpens. But of course these fields won't just be used by SFYBL. They’ll be used by SF Little League, SFUSD Middle Schools in the Fall and SFUSD High Schools in the Spring. And myriad other leagues, youth and adult, all year long including Jr. Giants and the Giants Academy. This project returns Crocker to the baseball Mecca it was originally designed to be with no changes to the existing soccer complex. The addition of TWO new and revamped dog areas. For every tree they remove (most of the old eucalyptus trees are hazardous and blowing over with age) they will be replacing it with TWO new trees. There will be a new restroom building, an area dedicated to picnicking and small performances, and the park paths will be repaved to replace the current uneven surfaces. After an initial neighborhood meeting, the Giants even agreed to add more parking to ease neighbors concerns about too many cars on the local streets.

As they say, It is a Win-Win-Win

But, of course, this is San Francisco and as is typical with most projects there are a couple of small but VERY vocal groups trying to derail the project. Some of it is NIMBYism. Some concerns about shared spaces. And some out dated information about the type of artificial turf that will be used.

Some of this opposition is very organized and sending out misleading messages. Some of you may have already seen them. They are urging folks to reach out to the Rec and Park Commission as well as City Supervisors and complain about the project.

So, we are reaching out to the SFYBL Community and asking YOU to reach out to those same representatives and CELEBRATE the project. Don't hate on the opposition. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. We just need to make sure that the powers that be realize that there are WAY more of us that want to do something good for baseball and The City than there are folks trying to stop it. But EVERYONE receiving this needs to respond. We have to support each other.

Please use the attached support letters to write a brief letter expressing your support for the Renovation of the Crocker Baseball Fields and send it to: supportcrocker@sfybl.com Our preference is that you use the draft support letter bullet points to customize your own letter, because the commission gives more weight to individualized letters. But something is better than nothing so please use the pre-drafted form letters if you don’t have the time or ability to draft your own. Or just a note that says:

"Hello:

I am writing you today to express my support for the baseball field renovation project that has been proposed for the Crocker-Amazon Sport Complex."

LET’S MAKE THIS HAPPEN!

Finally: Let us hear from you! Please fill out this VERY BRIEF followup form so we can track our progress. HERE

SFYBL Baseball Committee

CROCKER PETITION

CROCKER RENOVATION SLIDES

CROCKER SUPPORT LETTER - PARENT OF PLAYER

CROCKER SUPPORT LETTER - PLAYER

CROCKER SUPPORT LETTER - COACH

DRAFT SUPPORT LETTER - BULLET POINTS

CURRENT FACTS ABOUT MODERN TURF FIELDS