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NEW WATERFORD, N.S. — When Sophia Hillier decided to research the history of baseball in New Waterford for her heritage fair project, she never expected to discover a “diamond in the rough.”

As the nine-year-old began looking for information about the Jerry Marsh Ball Field, much to her surprise, she learned the 107-year-old New Waterford field was the second-oldest baseball field in Canada.

Hillier and her father, Chris, began searching online for older ball fields and found only one documented field older than the Plummer Avenue facility – the 140-year-old Labatt Memorial Park in London, Ont.

“We had no idea at all,” said the Grade 4 student at Greenfield Elementary School, who also plays mosquito baseball in New Waterford.

“I really like baseball and with the summer coming and the season starting up, I thought it was a good idea to do baseball as my heritage fair project.”

Chris Hillier, the president of the New Waterford Minor Baseball Association, was surprised with the findings.

“We heard stories about the field and about the (Cape Breton) colliery league and whatnot, but we didn’t realize how old it was until Sophia and I started looking at other fields and realizing the unique situation,” said Hillier.

“Once we found out the age of it and then tried to compare it to other fields, we couldn’t really find any other comparisons, so we thought this would be something special for the community and baseball fans on the island.”

Sophia Hillier, left, and father Chris Hillier are shown in the press box overlooking the Jerry Marsh Ball Field in New Waterford. The Hillier family have discovered the field is the second-oldest ball field in Canada. They've applied to have the field recognized as heritage status

In the late 1930s, although not named the Jerry Marsh Ball Field, the field was the home of the New Waterford Dodgers, a club which played in the Cape Breton Colliery League.

The league featured local baseball players as well as import players. One of those import players was Jack Barry of New York, who reportedly seen action in Major League Baseball.

The 1959 New Waterford Giants, who were the first senior club from Cape Breton to win a Maritime championship, also called the iconic field home.

“I imagine home plate has moved a little bit, but when you look out there (at the field) and picture in your head over 107 years ago players were playing here – it’s awesome,” said Hillier.

“It’s amazing that the field has been able to survive just as a baseball field for that amount of time.”

In July 1992, the field was renamed the Jerry Marsh Ball Field in honour of Jerry Marsh, a former mayor of the Town of New Waterford.

The field underwent extensive renovations, which included new dugouts, fencing and drainage system upgrades, prior to the 2011 Canadian Big League Baseball Championships, which was hosted at the field by the Cape Breton McNally Dodgers.

With the age of the field in mind, the Hillier family began pitching the idea of having it designated as heritage status to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.

“I think when we think of heritage things we think of buildings, but this (the field) has such an amazing history and has been a centre of the community for so long, that’s another aspect of heritage,” said Chris Hillier.

Having the field designated as heritage status won’t happen overnight.

Rick McCready, CBRM heritage officer, confirmed the field is mostly owned by the federal government and not the municipality.

“It was originally DEVCO property and is now owned by the Public Services and Procurement Canada,” said McCready in an email statement on Friday.

“The Municipality does not register federal properties as heritage properties – there is no point in registering the municipally owned portion as a heritage property and leaving the rest unregistered.”

Discussions have taken place between the municipality and federal officials regarding the transfer of the property to CBRM.

“This may happen later this year,” said McCready. “We will revisit the issue of heritage status for the Jerry Marsh Ball Field when the property is transferred to CBRM.”

Chris Hillier hasn’t heard any negative comments regarding the possibility of the field being recognized with heritage status.

“The people we’ve talked to think this is an excellent idea and are surprised that it took this long to get here,” he said. “It was like a sleeping beauty in our yard that we weren’t sure about, but now that we have some information about it, it’s nice to get recognized.”

Today, the Jerry Marsh Ball Field continues to be one of the most used ball fields in the municipality, something Chris Hillier is proud to see.

“Our midget team will play quite a few games here this year and the bantam team may play a few games here as well,” he said. “At the end of the year, we all have our teams’ year-end parties here and we play baseball with the kids on the field.”

The New Waterford Minor Baseball Association will also hold its annual New Waterford Credit Union Minor Baseball Weekend at the Marsh Field during the Coal Dust Days Festival, July 20-22.

Chris Hillier hopes the field will be designated as heritage status by next summer.

“I think this would be something that everyone could celebrate,” he said. “We will for sure have a special ceremony if this happens.”

jeremy.fraser@cbpost.com

Twitter: @CBPost_Jeremy