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Phoenix man turns pasture into ballpark Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Mike Weiser stands in the infield of the softball field he is creating on an old cow pasture between pear orchards and Interstate 5 south of Phoenix. A veteran shortstop in Medford's slow-pitch leagues, Weiser says he's always wanted his own place to play. By BILL KETTLER Mike Weiser will have a real "home field" advantage when the softball season opens this spring. The Phoenix man is building his own ballpark on an old cow pasture nestled between pear orchards and Interstate 5. He's cleared away the rocks and graded the field, sowed the outfield grass and set posts for the fences. He expects to play as soon as the grass fills in and he can cover the infield with smooth, hard clay. "I've always wanted my own place to play," he said. "I like to play ball, and I wanted a good field to play on." Rubberneckers on the southbound freeway lanes have a perfect view of Weiser's emerging ball field a half-mile south of the Phoenix interchange. In a tiny clearing between the orchards, right beside the freeway, the newly sown grass and the freshly set fence lines say "ball field" even without the finishing details. "People honk and wave all the time," he said. "I don't know who they are." The field came to Weiser in a vision last year when he was shopping for a house. He stopped in Phoenix one day to look at a house on a five-acre lot down at the end of Cabbage Lane. His kids saw a patch of rocks and weeds where they could ride their four-wheelers, but their 33-year-old dad had other plans. "Don't get used to riding out there," he told them. "That's where I'm going to put my softball field." A veteran shortstop in Medford's slow-pitch leagues, Weiser knew ball fields can be hard to find in the heat of the season. Dozens of teams jostle for space to practice. Some of the fields are in rough shape, and adults have to compete with youth teams for space. "Every time we showed up at a field, we found soccer players or a bunch of little girls," said teammate Billy Truax, also 33. "How can you tell a 9-year-old kid to get off the field?" Weiser, a Crater High School graduate, started shaping his field about two months ago with a 1949 Ford tractor and a grader blade he borrowed from a neighbor. When Truax and other old teammates realized he was serious, they pitched in, too. Most of last year's team came out to mix concrete and set steel posts for the chain-link fence that will enclose the field. The lot's eccentric shape demanded a scaled-down version of the irregular ballparks that are all the rage now in the big leagues. After walking the field countless times, Weiser finally settled on a layout that measures 335 feet down the left-field line, 300 feet to straight-away center, 250 feet to right center and 300 feet down the right-field line. He settled home plate near some tall cottonwood trees beside the freeway, thinking spectators would like some shade on hot summer days. The short fence in right-center field demands some unusual ground rules. Weiser said any ball hit to the right of a utility pole just outside the fence will be a ground-rule single. Weiser said he expects to invest at least $8,000 in his home field before it's finished. "It's a little expensive," he said, "but if I do it I'm gonna do it right." The expense doesn't bother his sweetheart, Martha McComas. "It's something he wanted to do," she said. "So I said, 'Let him do it.' I just didn't know we'd get it done for this season." With opening day still a few weeks away, Weiser hasn't found the right name for the new field, but naming rights might be available for the right price. "We're still looking for a sponsor," he said. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.