Fitzgerald Field notes San Mateo's Blues

The baseball diamond at Central Park was built in 1922 by city employee Tom Pearson. It became the first public recreation facility, in the first municipal park in San Mateo County.

Prior to this, baseball in San Mateo was played at the old corporation yards at what now is Martin Luther King Center. Light stands, facilitating nighttime baseball, were added in 1935. The field's dimensions include 294 feet along the foul lines, 368 feet to straight away center field. The grandstand, featuring an announcer's booth situated behind home plate, has a seating capacity of about eleven hundred. The field features a flag pole in left center field, a scoreboard behind the ivy-covered left field fence, plus a line of trees along the right field fence.

For 54 years, the baseball field at Central Park served as home field to San Mateo's one and only baseball team, the Blues. The San Mateo Blues played between 1924 and 1941, when baseball was suspended during World War II. A new Blues team resumed in 1948, playing under manager Paul Thiebaut until 1978. In his thirty years managing the Blues, Thiebaut reportedly never suffered a losing season.

In the first quarter of the twentieth century, barnstorming, semi-pro leagues, and local amateur teams proliferated throughout the United States. Clubs sponsored by cities, companies, factories, churches and charitable organizations could be found virtually everywhere. San Mateo's Blues started as a local amateur league in 1898, sponsored by the newspaper called San Mateo News Leadership.

They reemerged in 1924 in the new semi-pro California State League, playing against teams such as the Santa Cruz Padres, the Modesto Reds, the San Jose Consolidated Laundry Team, and the Aberdeen Black Cats.

In 1927, the team boasted an amazing record of 29 wins, 3 losses. Once, they nearly beat Lefty O'Doul's barnstorming San Francisco Seals from the Pacific Coast League. The Seals finally prevailed 3-2, but the Blues out hit them 8-3.

In the 1920's and 1930's, many considered the Blues among the finest semi-pro teams in Northern California, as they captured several California State League championships. In his 1936 column Sports Slant, Roger L. Williams remarked, "The Blues have been champion or runner-up so often that fans take it more-or-less for granted that they will win."

Some of the Blues best players included pitcher Gene Camozzi, outfielder Bill Lawrence, first baseman Marv "Freck" Owen, catcher Tom Casey, shortstop Barney Kearns, and pitcher Emmet O'Neill. The San Mateo Blues most famous figure, however, was Justin "Fitz" Fitzgerald, who managed the Blues from 1924 to 1935.

Born in 1893 and raised in San Mateo, Fitz played for University of Santa Clara, but signed with New York Yankees in 1911 right out of high school. A talented left handed outfielder, Fitzgerald unfortunately limited his career early when he permanently injured his arm throwing from center field. Despite his "dead arm", Fitz remained a strong hitter, runner, and fielder. He posted a .290 batting average in 1918, pinch-hitting for the National League Philadelphia Phillies.

Fitzgerald's displayed his best years as a player as right fielder with the San Francisco Seals. Recreation Park's short right field proved a perfect accommodation for Fitz's restricted throwing range. In his eight years with the Seals (1914-1918, 1920-1922) he had a lifetime average of .318, batting over .300 every year except the last. He won the PCL batting championship in 1916, and batted .336 in 1920. He also stole forty to fifty bases each year with the Seals. Fitz played with Portland and Sacramento before ending career in 1924.

After he finished managing the Blues, Fitz returned to Santa Clara to coach, and did some scouting for both the Detroit Tigers and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Fitzgerald married Salt Lake City's Ruth Wooley in 1919, whom he had met while playing ball there. Fitzgerald served as San Mateo city councilman from 1933-1937. He died in 1945 of stomach cancer, at the age of 52.

Peers and fans alike regarded Fitzgerald as a fine man as well as a great ball player. On Aug 21, 1960, more than one thousand of them turned out for the dedication of Fitzgerald Field at Central Park. Today, a plaque hangs on the wall outside the grandstand at Fitzgerald Field, to honor the man who brought San Mateo the Blues.