HAMILTON — As baseball's showy playoffs continued this week, the lost essence of the game sprouted behind an urban community center.

        The spot will be the home of Foundation Field, where ground was broken last month by Reds radio announcer Joe Nuxhall and other dignitaries.

        Described as the latest and best, the field will host Miami University Hamilton's baseball team and others. It will be built behind the Booker T. Washington Community Center at 1140 South Front St.

        The complex will also include expanded parking areas, upgraded Little League and T-ball diamonds, a new soccer field, landscaping, replacement fencing for the tennis courts and an endowment for future care.

        The field is another gift to the city from the Hamilton Community Foundation in recognition of its 50th anniversary. The foundation is also restoring the old American Legion building in Veterans Park and placing bronze sculptures in the new mini-park at High Street and Riverfront Place.

        Of all the gifts presented by the foundation, the field might be the most personal and enduring. After all, it will serve as an incubator of sorts at a time when baseball faces increasing competition.

        When I was growing up in Hamilton in the early 1960s, baseball had no real competition on a summer's day. Boys grabbed their gloves and played until they dropped into bed at night. But today, kids are just as likely to grab a basketball, or worse, a joystick to play computer games.

        When Mr. Nuxhall was growing up in the city in the early 1940s, he played on Hamilton's North End, where today a baseball complex is named in his honor.

        “I see a mound out there,” he told the groundbreaking crowd last month. “The North End didn't have a mound back then. Flat ground.”

        That didn't stop him from achieving baseball immortality as the youngest player to ever play in the major leagues — in 1944, when the pitcher joined the Reds at 15.

        Just as Mr. Nuxhall has brought pride to his hometown and awareness of the game for 54 years, so too will Foundation Field.

        LEBANON — The Queen City Brass, a horn quintet from Cincinnati, will perform at 3 p.m. Oct. 22 at Lebanon High School.

        Tickets are $10. Children through fifth grade are admitted free if accompanied by an adult. Admission for students in grades 6-12 is free. Information: 932-7376.

        Randy McNutt's column appears on Saturday. Contact him at 860-7118 or at The Enquirer, 4820 Business Center Way, Cincinnati, Ohio 45246.

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