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 Park History |
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Fossil Findings!
Fossil Findings
In the early 60’s baseball in Fossil Park was run under the St. Petersburg Recreation Department with a volunteer booster Board of Directors. A few years later Fossil Park became incorporated as an organization of it’s own with an elected President and Board of directors.
At that time there were 4 teams in the major division (8-12 year olds) with one field to play on. The field had no lights or fence and all games were played during the day. The Juniors played at what was then called Busch Complex. The concession stand was run out of the trunk of a car.
Under the leadership of Harold Croft, president, more fields and the concession stand were built in the early 70’s. Fossil Park baseball took off and has been growing steadily ever since.
Did you know? Charles Nagy, a pitcher with the Cleveland Indians last year, played in the majors at Fossil Park. Tom Hume played here through the seniors and went on to pitch for the Cincinnati Reds. He has retired but is still with the Reds organization. Steve Ripley and Augie Donatelli were players at Fossil Park who have gone on to be Major League umpires.
Digging up More Fossil Findings
According to the St. Petersburg budget for 1960-61 the grading and construction of a small and large field for Fossil Park cost $4832. These are the fields now known as the Front Field and the Junior Field. It is not known exactly how long construction took but Phil Whitehouse of the Recreation Department has a picture of the completed fields dated 1965. Some sources say even prior to the construction of the fields baseball was being played in the park as early as 1958.
Apparently, around the time of the construction of these fields was when Fossil Park also got it’s name. Where the pond is located now was once a shell pit. Members of a local shell association submitted letters to the city voicing their concerns against the demolition of the shell pit. It was considered a major archaeological dig site. As a result, the Smithsonian was eventually notified of the situation and they moved the pile to another location so they could sift through it.
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