Low-Income Suburb Home To Youth Baseball Field

FORD HEIGHTS, IL -- The children involved with baseball in Ford Heights will now have a field of their own and won't have to travel great distances to compete in the sport.

The first youth baseball field built in Ford Heights, a project of many organizations and governmental entities, was completed last week. It was a collaboration that took years of planning by the Cook County Sheriff's Office, Cubs Charities, the Baseball Tomorrow Fund, James McHugh Construction Co., the Ford Heights Park District and others.

The field opens in one of the nation's poorest communities. In 1987, Ford Heights was dubbed as the "poorest suburb in America."

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“Prior to this field, these kids had to travel miles away to play baseball. Thanks to everyone who came together and put in more than a year and a half of work, the children of Ford Heights now have a field of their own and this community, that has seen so much hardship, has a symbol of hope that it deserves,” Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart said.

A youth baseball team formed in Ford Heights in 2014, but the costs associated with having to travel to wealthier suburbs nearby had a negative effect on participation, according to a news release from the Cook County Sheriff's Office. Still, local leaders are partners were able to quadruple the number of participants since the team formed.

Among those who funded the project was Major League Baseball player Jason Hammel. The Kansas City Royals pitcher donated $11,000 he won in charity contests.

Photo courtesy of the Cook County Sheriff's Office