Coates Avenue Fields Get Facelift

A once dim and overgrown part of Bristol Township is seeing new light.

The Coates Avenue baseball fields, now acquired by the Bucks County Legends traveling baseball team, had been left abandoned for years before President Mike Cox plead with township council to let him use them, and on March 25, he was given that chance.

“If I quit trying to get these kids fields now, then I’m a hypocrite. These kids are our future,” Cox said at the March 25 council meeting.

Cox, who had unsuccessfully reached out to other local organizations when the team lost their fields late last year, said the players now use the fields nearly every night of the week.

“We know it needs work,” Cox said when the teams first acquired the fields. “But it’s nothing we’re afraid of, we’re not afraid of hard work.”

On April 4 work on the site began, when 20 volunteers came out to the fields to clear trash, weeds and brush. According to Cox, 30 cubic yards were removed from the area during cleanup.

The organization also cleared access roads, repaired gates and rebuilt new dugouts.

The teams, which had their first games April 11, plan to use the fields for the next four months.

Cox, who has built great relationships with the property neighbors, has received generous donations from the owner of the nearby industrial park and a donation including a flag and flag pole from his neighbor, DV3.

“I want to bring these kids down to meet those heroes, just to see why we can even play baseball,” he said of the men of DV3.

At Thursday nights council meeting, Cox held a presentation before council to give an update on the fields, during which he made two requests of council; first to have a  a Bristol Township flag hang below the American flag on the property, and second to name the front field the ‘Bob Lewis Memorial Field’.

Lewis, who was the council president until his passing, was an avid lover of sports and local organizations. He passed away of natural causes at the age of 76.

Council, which will discuss plans to name the field, requested they table the idea to alert Lewis’ family.

“He was a hero and it would be my honor,” said Cox.