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Hebert Baseball Field History

According to the Stockton City Clerk's Office, the Oak Park Baseball Field existed as early as 1941. The naming of the field did not occur until 1950. At that time, the field was named in honor of Billy Hebert (Stockton City Council Resolution #17,377, September 18, 1950). Hebert learned to play baseball in the Recreation Department boys' league, then further developed his skills playing Junior Legion baseball for Karl Ross Post. Hebert was just starting on his way to a promising professional career in the California League when called to duty early in World War II. Hebert was the first player in the whole of organized baseball to give his life for his country when he was killed in action in the South Pacific Theatre of War. The ballpark was ravaged by fire in 1952 and the grandstands were reconstructed in 1953.

Remembering Billy Hebert by Tony Salin

I lived in Sacramento for several years and every once in a while I'd drive down to Stockton with my girlfriend and watch games at Billy Hebert Field. I don't think it ever occured to me to wonder who Billy Hebert was. Then a few years agao, while working on my book, "Baseball's Forgotten Heroes", a player I was interviewing mentioned Billy Hebert. The player, Pete Deas, was a teammate of Hebert's on the 1939 Ogden Reds in the Pioneer League. Besides being teammates, the two had been friends, and since Hebert had died during World War II, I realized that Deas was probably one of the few ballplayers remaining who remembered Hebert. Deas is now 84. From talking with Deas, checking newspaper clippings, and looking through information provided by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, I've been able to put together the following story about Billy Hebert.

Billy Hebert, born December 20, 1919, was a Stockton native with a burning desire to play baseball. The scrappy second baseman made a name for himself locally as captain of his hometown Karl Ross Post American Legion team. The year was 1936. Event though he was young, he showed poise and promise, and after convincing San Francisco Seals manager Lefty O'Doul that he had what it took to play pro ball, O'Doul gave the younster a tryout. Hebert, 16 at the time and only 140 pounds, was told to come back after he graduated from high school. But he made a favorable impression on O'Doul and Walter Mails during the tryout. Mails, a former big league pitcher, enthusiastically told Curly Grieve of the San Francisco Examiner, "I saw a kid today who will make a star some day." During the winter of 1937-38, Hebert traveled to San Francisco on Sundays to play in a high level semi-pro league called the Seals' Stadium League. Several players with pro experience were in that league, players of all ages such as Al "Pudgy" Gould, a pitcher who twenty years earlier had won nine games for the Cleveland Indians.