Neighbors frustrated over foul balls from school baseball field hitting homes

Nate King has called Warren home for more than a decade. He loves the neighborhood, except when it’s baseball season.

“It's scary. You walk out your house and you hear 'crack' and start going like this," King said while ducking with his hands covering his head. "You don't want to get hit in the head.”

King lives on Common Road directly across from the De La Salle Collegiate High School baseball field. The backstop backs up toward the street, and King says foul balls end up in his yard so often that he collects them.

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“Some in my front, mostly in my backyard," he said while showing his box full of baseballs. "Side of my house, damaging property on a regular basis.”

Property damage includes the windshield of his truck, which was hit and damaged a few years ago, and the awning over his back patio, which was covered in tiny dents.

"This is where we live, we don't need to deal with this, with our property being damaged, with us being hurt,” King said. "It's a safety issue.”

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A few houses down, Tammy Johnson also has a collection of baseballs that she collected from just this past season.

“I have so many balls that I started putting where I found them and dating them," Johnson said. "Here's one from April.”

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She now has a "no trespassing" sign on her lawn, directed at players retrieving the balls. She says she no longer parks in her driveway after a car and a Harley Davidson motorcycle were damaged.

She says the school did pay the deductibles on their insurance. They paid the deductible for Nate's truck too.

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"We have been No. 1 been asking the school please put an overhang on the backstop," King said. "That would stop a lot of the foul balls.”

De La Salle’s Principal Brother Ken Kalinowski Fsc. spoke to me over the phone and says the school is aware of the concerns from neighbors and has been in communication with the city of Warren and Warren police.

He said the field has been there for decades and was there before De La Salle moved in. He also said they’ve covered the cost of damage from the foul balls, but instead of spending money to upgrade the backstop now, they’re raising money to build a new field with home plate in a different location. However, he said that process could take a few years.

“It doesn't have to be that big of a thing," Johnson said. "Just fix it, you know?”