Derby Aldermen Vote to Move Baseball Field to Chatfield Street

By Jean Falbo-Sosnovich
Register Correspondent

DERBY >> It’s a homerun for Derby sports, as the Board of Aldermen Thursday (Feb. 23) voted in favor of relocating the existing high school baseball field not too far from its home base, rather than across town.

The aldermen voted based on the recommendation from the Baseball Field Relocation Committee to relocate the baseball field, located next to the football field at the Leo F. Ryan Athletic Complex, to Chatfield Street, where the softball field currently is located.

The baseball field will remain on the school campus, which is what many people pushed for, rather than two other unpopular options that were on the table, Witek Park and Bradley School.

The baseball field, which is not regulation size, needs to be moved to make way for a major athletic complex makeover, which will include construction of an artificial turf field, multi-purpose field and eight-lane rubberized track at Ryan Field. The state Bond Commission approved $2.9 million in funding for the makeover.
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Granite plaques installed at Witek Park in Derby

Private First Class Frank P. Witek of Derby, a Marine, was killed in action in World War II.  He was the only Medal of Honor recipient in the Valley. The park on Academy Hill Road next to the reservoir was built in his memory.

The granite plaques replace the original bronze ones stolen by vandals last year. Local veterans' groups and city officials plan to rededicate the monuments in a ceremony at 11 a.m. Sept. 22.


The third plaque features a citation by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that details how Witek lost his life in the battle of Finegayan on Guam, Aug. 3, 1944.  

Photos by Patricia Villers