California fire destroys baseball field featured in ‘A League of Their Own’

A California baseball stadium featured in the hit Hollywood movie “A League of Their Own” was destroyed by a fire late Thursday, officials said.

The Jay Littleton Stadium in Ontario, California, caught fire around 11:30 p.m. local time and is a “total loss,” city spokesman Dan Bell said.

He said on Friday that the cause of the fire was unknown, but investigators were on the scene, adding that the stadium’s main stand was wooden and would likely have burned very quickly.

The loss of the stadium, which was designated a city historic landmark in 2003 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, is “devastating,” Bell said.

“This is where a lot of kids in the city have played, over generations… Little League baseball was played here, even the higher levels of baseball were played here, even at one point, some professional ball was played here. So this is a legendary stadium, not just in Ontario, but in the region and the country.”

According to Website The stadium’s grandstand, which was intended for baseball, was completed in 1937. In 1947, the Orioles made the stadium their home for one season. The stadium was one of the largest in the history of the game, measuring 402 feet from home plate to center field, seven feet deeper than Dodger Stadium.

The stadium has also been a favorite of Hollywood. Notable films filmed at the stadium include 1992’s “A League of Their Own,” starring Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna, and 1988’s “Eight Men Out,” starring John Cusack and Charlie Sheen. “The Babe Ruth Story” was also filmed there.

“If you look up and down the street, you’ll find baseball fans everywhere,” said Eastern Ontario League President Aaron Mathisen. NBC Los AngelesSome were in tears, he added. “This stadium was the heart of Ontario, this historic stadium, this place where our kids played. They won’t get a chance to play there anymore.”

Matthiessen described conditions at the park in recent years as “dilapidated” with a rising number of homeless people living there, but said there were signs of improvement at the baseball field.

“I have two young kids in our league, and it’s always been a dream for them to get the chance to play at Jay Littleton,” he said.