Stoney Hill park to become Jim Crosbie Field

By Chris Lewis  |  The Shoreline  |  Vol. 31 No. 48 (February 13 2019)

The baseball field located on Stoney Hill will soon have a new name, and one with a significant connection to the town’s history.
Last week, after considerable discussion in support of the idea, Conception Bay South council voted to change the name of the facility to Jim Crosbie Field.

Councillor Cheryl Davis, the chairperson of council’s recreation and leisure services committee, brought the motion forward.

The recommendation initially came from the Rotary Club of Avalon Northeast, which suggested the field be named after the long-time Conception Bay South resident. The recommendation was reviewed by the Town’s Honorary Naming Committee, which went on to recommend that the Town of Conception Bay South move forward with the idea.

Crosbie, who passed away in July of 2018, was a prominent member of the town’s sporting community, especially when it came to baseball. It was Crosbie who aided in the construction of the field at Stoney Hill through his involvement in having baseball become a part of the first Newfoundland and Labrador Games held in Conception Bay South in 1996.

“Because of Mr. Crosbie’s efforts, many teams from Conception Bay South were able to compete in provincial and Atlantic baseball championships,” Davis said, noting that Cosbie’s family have been very supportive of the idea. “He often financially supported many teams and kids from his own pocket. In Jim Crosbie’s world, no child was ever denied a game because the family couldn’t afford it.”

Crosbie, who was also known locally as ‘Mr. Baseball,’ was president of the Conception Bay South Baseball Association for a number of years.

“Having known Jim personally, and the work that he did with baseball, when this came forward to the committee it was basically a no-brainer that this would be our recommendation,” said councillor-at-large Rex Hillier. “I’m certainly glad to support this.”

Mayor Terry French felt similarly.

“I guess there may have been some people in Conception Bay South who played baseball before Jim Crosbie arrived, but to have our own field dedicated to the sport, and to see where the sport is today because of his efforts, is amazing,” French said.

“There are hundreds of kids involved in the baseball program in our town today, and Jim Crosbie’s fingerprints are all over it (the sport’s growth here). I certainly couldn’t think of a more fitting thing to be named after someone like that.”

The motion to change the field’s name carried unanimously. A date for the dedication ceremony remains to be announced.