Behind the Valley of the Moon: Arnold Field

Baseball and gridiron action under the lights has been going steady there since 1952.|

No discussion of the history of baseball in Sonoma Valley can be complete without mention of Dave and Don Eraldi, whose menswear store has been a Plaza fixture here for decades.

That glow in the sky to the north of Sonoma’s Plaza most spring and summer evenings and on Friday nights in the fall is probably from Arnold Field, where local teams, including the professional baseball team, the Sonoma Stompers, and our youth leagues and Sonoma Valley High School Dragons play baseball and football. Depending on the director of the wind, the game announcements can be heard from several blocks.

Baseball and gridiron action under the lights has been going steady there since 1952.

It was Dave and Don who made it possible.

Arnold Field was built on land originally acquired by the Sonoma County Veterans Committee and where our local Veterans Memorial Building was built. In 1949, the county offered the City of Sonoma a 99-year lease at the rate of $1 per year for 12 acres of that site for recreational purposes.

The Sonoma Valley Athletic Club, a group of softball players led by Dave and Don Eraldi, sought to build a new town ball field there and organized a campaign to raise $25,000 selling “Friendship” bonds at $10 a share as an “investment in the community.”

My father, Robert Lynch, was the publicity chairman for the drive. It was a long campaign. In February 1950, Sonoma Valley mourned the passing of one of its most famous citizens, General H.H. “Hap” Arnold, the founder of the modern United States Air Force.

In March of 1950, the groups had reached the halfway mark of $12,500, and it was decided to name the field in honor of the late General Arnold. By July, the campaign had raised $20,000 and the volunteers got busy clearing and leveling the land.

In December, the community announced that the $25,000 goal had been reached. Lights were ordered.

It was a community labor of love, with virtually all of the construction done by local resident volunteers. Many Sonoma Valley businesses also donated materials. In two years, the field was completed. By June of 1952, the first baseball and softball games were being played there, and in October, SVHS varsity football coach Ed Edsall led his Dragons onto Arnold Field for the first game under Sonoma’s own Friday night lights.

The field still carries on today, still operated by volunteers from the Sonoma Valley Athletic Club. Don Eraldi, who chaired the SVAC for decades, still supports the field that he and his brother Dave brought to life for all of us to enjoy.

This passage was excerpted from Bill Lynch’s new book, “My Sonoma: Valley of the Moon.”

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