City gives baseball park to CPS

Sep. 20—Murray-Pixley Park at Legendary Legion Field will be under new ownership.

Claremore city councilors approved giving the baseball field to Claremore Public Schools during the regular meeting Monday night.

"We love our relationship with the school, we love our relationship with the baseball team," City Manager John Feary said. "We love the strong heritage and history that used to be Legion baseball, which is all the gone in the state of Oklahoma."

Claremore Public Schools superintendent Bryan Frazier said they are so excited.

"We're thrilled," he said. "This is going to be huge for us."

Feary said the conversation to transfer ownership of the baseball field began two years ago.

Feary said the school district wants to make investment in that facility, but City Attorney Bryan Drummond said the district cannot invest into a facility that they do not own.

Frazier said they are excited about the potential for future improvements such as expanding the parking lot, installing a new scoreboard and installing artificial turf.

"We will keep the feel of the park," he said. "I mean, that feel is very unique. It does have an aura about it — it has a minor league feel to it and we will keep that. Always."

Frazier said tradition is important to him and the community and they want to keep that in place.

Frazier said the park has great character and is one of the best fields in the state, but by turfing the field, they would be more likely to be able to host playoff tournaments — because the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association selects sites that have turf, because of the flexibility it provides in the event of rain.

"Turf is becoming more and more relevant and prevalent in high school programs," he said.

Feary said having the ability to host playoff tournaments will greatly impact the community.

"Claremore has a long proud history of baseball," Feary said.

There are some stipulations in the agreement, Feary said.

"The agreement is fairly simple," he said. "The agreement states that they cannot change the name without written consent of the city. They have to maintain the facility in a good standard. And if they ever want to divest themselves of the facility or sell the facility, it comes back to the city at no cost whatsoever."

Feary said this is a typical sale with no money involved — since a political subdivision can give property to another political subdivision.

Feary said the city pays an average of $35K-50K — in field maintenance and all utilities — on the facility that does not generate revenue.

Oliver Mouton was the original owner of the land where the baseball field stands today, J.M. Davis Arms & Historical Museum Executive Director Wayne McCombs said. In the 1930's, Mouton donated the land to the city with the stipulation that the city needed to turn it into a baseball field, McCombs said. In 1947, with the help of the American Legion, the land was turned into the American Legion Park, he said. In January 2022, the park was renamed to Murray-Pixley Park at Legendary Legion Field.