Raybestos Memorial Field

RAYBESTOS MEMORIAL FIELD
Stratford, Connecticut

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All That Remains are the Memories . . .

By BOB BAIRD (Sept 2018)

Raybestos Memorial Field. Wow, what a place. Growing up in Stratford, having played on the field, participated in Boys Scout jamborees on the outfield grass, attended the annual Fireworks display and Connecticut Yankees drum and bugle corps performance to celebrate the Fourth of July, and finally, having watched the Raybestos Brakettes and Raybestos Cardinals display their fantastic softball skills first as a fan and for 20 years as a beat sports writer for the defunct Bridgeport Post, are memories that will never be erased.

The 1950's, 60's, and 70's were simply wonderful. Raybestos Field was where it all happened. It was a many-time season-ending destination for softball teams. The winds of change roared through this little valley, bordered by Patterson Avenue and Frog Pond Lane, midway through the 70's, culminating in its demise in the late 1980's.

The Cardinals folded first, meaning the Brakettes, who were born along with the field in 1947, weren't far behind. The combination of the retirement of William S. Simpson, the proverbial God Father of Softball and founder, sponsor, and guardian angel of the Brakettes, the departure of all but a few members of the 1975 team to the fledgling International Women's Professional Softball Association, along with the decision to close Stratford's Raybestos-Manhattan, Inc., plant located on the south side of the railroad tracks in 1984, was a portent of things to come.

There were no more ASA National Tournaments after the 1976 championships, followed by the departure of the renowned Raybestos Brakettes following the 1987 campaign to their current location in the south end of Stratford at Frank DeLuca Hall of Fame Field.

Never more!

Back in the day (I love that saying) Raybestos Memorial Field had no equal. That was a different era. No cell phones, no Internet, no turf fields, or four-field complexes. The older generations refused to believe that Raybestos Memorial Field paled in its comparison to the facilities and stadiums that are in abundance around the country.

Today's softball venues can't hold a candle to the Raybestos Memorial Field I fondly remember. The history, tradition, nostalgia and the giants of the game who left it all on this field will never be duplicated.

That venerable edifice, nurtured and protected for decades by CT ASA Hall of Fame groundskeeper the late John Pekar, now resembles Sherwood Forest where the mythical Robin Hood and his Band of Merry Men ruled.

Unlike those fictional stories, resulting in movies by Errol Flynn and company, everything about Raybestos Memorial Field was real. For me, and thousands of others, that's how it will remain forever.

(Baird recently concluded his 31st year as the Stratford Brakettes general manager. It was his decision to relocate the Brakettes to DeLuca Field, one that looks pretty good today.)

click for Raybestos Memorial Field dedication Program

click image to zoom in on field

Stratford hosted the Men's World (National) Tournament in 1952 (above) and 1962.

New concrete bleachers were constructed for 1958, the year Raybestos Memorial Field hosted the Women's World (National) Softball Tournament for the first of what would be 11 times ('58, '59, '60, '62, '63, '65, '67, '68, '70, '73, '76). The crowning achievement was hosting the 1974 Third Women's World Tournament.