San Bruno Youth Baseball diamond gets facelift with major help from San Francisco Giants

The day after Wood earned the win Monday night in San Francisco’s 6-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals, the left-handed pitcher was introduced as a guest speaker by Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming, who emceed the event, and was joined by San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina, KNBR radio personality Brian Murphy, and Giants general manager Scott Harris.

Giants mascot Lou Seal was even in the house. But the star of the event was absolutely the new digs.

“I think it’s magnificent,” Lorry Greenberg said of the new field. “It’s more than I anticipated. I didn’t know they’d put this much work in.”

Lorry Greenberg is the widow of Bob Greenberg, who died after a battle with cancer in 2006 just days before the field was originally dedicated in his honor. The two served in turn as commissioners of the San Bruno Junior Giants for 27 years, until Lorry recently retired from the position.

With her retirement, the diamond received quite a facelift. On Sunday, May 22, the San Bruno You Baseball league held its Junior Pee Wee championship game on the old diamond. On Monday, May 23, construction crews broke ground on the remodel that was completed in a matter of weeks.

The concourse was modernized with a new fence, new dugout covers, a fence extension down the first-base line, and new ADA accessible bleachers. But the most striking change is the field itself, which has been leveled off and surfaced with new infield dirt made of Pac-Bell Mix, the same dirt used at Oracle Park, giving the diamond a red hue from its mix of high grade volcanic cinder fines and clay.

“And they paid for everything,” Lorry Greenberg said.

Flemming served as an exceptional emcee, opening with an introduction of Medina, who as a member of the San Bruno City Council in 2006 attended the original dedication of Bob Greenberg Field.

“A day like this we came together, light, sunny, to dedicate this field to Bob,” Medina said during his address.

With more than 100 youth players from the San Bruno Junior Giants at the event, Medina referred to Wood as the personification of baseball dreams coming true.

“This is that dream,” Medina said. “And it can come to a reality.”

The San Bruno Junior Giants were founded in 1994, but the Greenbergs were integral to the growth of the San Bruno Youth Baseball for much longer than that.

Chris Sherry, a former San Bruno Youth Baseball coach who joined the league in the 1980s, recalled how the league flourished over the years.

“Tremendously,” Sherry said. “From the amount of support and Lorry’s vision … it started off with a couple teams to really reaching the entire city.”

By the early 1990s, San Bruno Youth tee ball alone had upwards of 20 teams. It was in 1993 the Greenbergs were approached to spearhead a Junior Giants organization in town. Lorry Greenberg’s answer was a quick “no.”

“’Oh, heck no,’” Lorry Greenberg said was her precise answer. “We didn’t want any part of any bit of extra work.”

In 1994, however, the Greenbergs agreed to take on the organization.

Having taken over as commissioner in 2006, Lorry Greenberg retired this year. Now serving as co-commissioners are Newton Ong and Daryl Chin.

Greenberg Field has come a long way in a short time. Sherry recalled the shortstop position resembling more of a golf sand trap than a baseball infield. With the leveling of the grounds, that is no longer an issue.

“It turned out real nice,” said Lynn Berliner, who has worked with the San Bruno Youth Baseball for 50 years. “It needs watering, of course.”