500 Cascade Pl, Taft, CA 93268
Overview
The Franklin Field Complex is home to two miniature replica baseball fields in which baseball enthusiasts will love. These incredible replica fields are located about 30 miles from Bakersfield, in Kern County, in the tiny town of Taft, which is best known for its oil fields. The two fields include a replica of Dodger Stadium named in honor of the famed dodger announcer and iconic baseball voice, Vin Scully. The second field, “Oil Field”, is a miniature version of the oldest baseball park in existence in Major League Baseball, Fenway Park in Boston, and includes a replica of the famous “green monster” in left field.
These incredible replica fields have been used as tee ball fields for the West Side Little League since 2015. In May of 2016, Vin Scully himself, made a visit to Taft. He would arrive to take part in the official dedication of Scully field and to interact with the community. Vin Scully’s 67 year Hall of Fame career and legacy were cemented a long time ago. This field is just another amazing way of carrying on his legacy and not forgetting someone who dedicated his entire life to one organization, but to so many different communities.
Scout’s Story/Our Day at Scully Field
Since I was a little kid, baseball has always been a huge part of my life. In the past few years, I had come across some amazing pictures of miniature, replica Major League Baseball fields that had been built for wiffle ball. I thought this was the coolest thing and I added a bunch of the fields to my list of places I hoped to visit one day. Scully Field, in Taft, California, is about 3 hours from my house in Southern California. I mentioned these replica fields to my wife, but she didn’t seem too impressed. I figured that if we were ever traveling near Taft one day, we could possibly stop.
As my wife, my daughter, Scout, and I had just finished up a trip to San Francisco we were making our way back home towards Southern California. It was now August and the day was excruciatingly hot. For some reason the two replica ball fields came into my mind. I typed the little town of Taft, into google to see how far it was from us. Surprisingly, it was only an hour away and only a mere 30 minute side trip from our route home. My wife reluctantly agreed to make the small detour to appease me.
Scully Field and Oil Field
As we pulled into the Parking lot at the Franklin Field Complex I was super excited to see the miniature replica of Dodger Stadium. I grabbed my daughter and my glove (yes, I do travel with my baseball glove) and headed for the field. The first thing I noticed was that there was a second miniature replica stadium. I was not expecting this and was delighted to see the green monster replica in front of me. I found this to be even more spectacular than the Dodger Stadium one.
A short time later my wife joined us on the fields in the sweltering heat. I threw my wiffle ball around and tried to let our 15 month old daughter, Scout, play for a bit.
Scout seemed very irritable and I thought maybe it was from being in her car seat, although the irritability seemed to have been a theme for a week or so now. As Scout ran around the field, she would suddenly stop and lay down and not want to play anymore. I figured with the heat, it was probably normal that she didn’t want to play too much. This, again, was abnormal for a kid who seemed to always have endless amounts of energy. I was so happy that we were able to stop here. I found it even more satisfying that it happened so spontaneously.
A Life Altering Moment
Later that evening, after arriving home, I went onto ESPN and found that Vin Scully had passed away at the age of 94. The irony and coincidence of having visited Scully Field earlier on this day, wasn’t lost on me.
The last part of my story is the hardest for me to write about. As my family and I have traveled, it was and had never been my intention to ever blog or write about my experiences or travels. That would all change in the matter of a few short months, as I attempted to cope with what was about to take place.
Over the following week, our daughter Scout, seemed to be progressively acting more and more unlike herself. Numerous emergency room visits led to no answers and a sense that doctors thought my wife was overreacting. Finally, on August 16, 2022, my wife would visit a doctor who would send her back to the emergency room and order scans of Scout’s abdomen. Two masses were found in Scout’s body. One in her liver and one in her rectum. We were immediately admitted to the pediatric floor and wouldn’t leave for a matter of months. Two days later, we were stricken with the news that the masses in Scouts body were yok sac tumors. At only 15 months old, Scout would be diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
Scout’s Journey
The following days consisted of complete chaos. We watched as the doctors did everything that they needed to do so Scout could start chemo as fast as possible, in order to shrink her tumors and save her life. It kills me looking back on this, knowing that my wife knew something serious was wrong. Unfortunately, the doctors as well as myself didn’t. Here I was, carting my daughter around on a trip, not realizing how much pain she was in and not knowing anything was seriously wrong. My worst imaginable fears had been realized and I could barely comprehend what was taking place. Scout’s fight against this horrible disease had begun. As parents, all we could do now was help Scout fight while hoping that somehow our baby girl wouldn’t be taken from us.
August 2, 2022
