Pastime Field Baseball FieldPastime Field Diamond

Location: End of Valley Way, which is off of Mountain Ave

Pastime Field Flag and ScoreboardDescription:

Pastime Field offers a well-maintained public baseball field. Nestled within the trees, it is a picture-perfect nature area of serene beauty. This field is perfect for those who want to practice their skills, either by themselves or with a group. It's also a great place to catch a local little league game and cheer on the youth of Mendham Borough. Pastime Field has a lot of extra green space surrounding the baseball diamond and connects to Patriots Path, so it is the ideal place to throw a frisbee or enjoy a picnic while walking throughout town on Patriots Path.

The baseball field is public and can be reserved by clicking here.

History:

The Pastime Club, a non-profit organization, was founded on June 22, 1915. The founding members, believing that some of the life’s best lessons could be learned through participation in athletics, adopted the motto: “Progress in Sports.” As a civic and fraternal organization, the club’s mission is to promote youth athletics within the local community.

Mendham Pastime A's vs. Velox A.C. from Newark circa 1906The Pastime Club began sponsoring a semi-professional baseball team when it was founded in 1915. The Pastime Athletics (The A’s) competed in the Morris County Majors League. The team was very competitive, boasting thirteen league championships, including a pair of three-peats in the 1990s (1991-1993 and 1995-1997).

In addition to being quite successful locally, the A’s were linked to Major League Baseball via a number of former players. Most notably through Jeff Hall, who played for the A’s from 1996 to 2010. He was drafted out of Rochester Institute of Technology by the Boston Red Sox in 1980. A knee injury unfortunately derailed his career in AA ball, just before he was about to be sent to AAA. In addition, Rick Sofield and Paul Mirabella, both of whom had solid major league careers, at one time donned the A’s uniform and proudly represented the team. Lastly, while at Columbia and looking to maintain his eligibility to play for the Lions, Lou Gehrig played against the A’s under the pseudonym of Lou Long. Aptly named, his moniker was derived from the length of many of the balls he hit.

Games were played May through August, with most home games taking place on Pastime Field. Unfortunately, the Morris County Majors Baseball League ended in 2019, but the field is still used and open to the public today while being maintained by the Pastime Club.

 

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