Kosinski Fields

Kosinski Fields is a complex of four city-owned ball fields and part of the Chester Creek Sports Complex, designed by landscape architect Robert Droll and the firm, USKH. Kosinski Fields are situated in a complex that includes the Ben Boeke Ice Arena, Mulcahy Stadium, Robert O. Robertson Stadium, and Sullivan Arena. The complex is conveniently located just south of Anchorage's downtown and well-served by the major thoroughfares and a joint parking lot that provides access to the various sports facilities. The ballfields are just off of A Street and may be accessed by motorists heading northbound towards Anchorage or southbound on the Seward Highway. The Fields consist of three baseball and one softball diamond first installed in 1970. Only one diamond is regulation-sized, the southeast baseball field. The diamonds are popular with local Little League, American Legion, and high school baseball teams. All are grass with dirt infields; a chain-link fence separates the respective fields. In addition to dugouts that rest just off to the side of the field's baselines, each field also has a section of bleachers along the first and third base sides that may accommodate a couple of dozen observers. There are no overhead lights or spotlights, but the long days of summer provide plenty of natural light to play ball well into the evenings, a novelty unique to Alaska.  

Kosinski Fields was named for Bernie Kosinski in 1974. Kosinski, who died in a swimming accident that year, was a longtime employee of the Anchorage Daily Times. He began his newspaper career as a sports editor and was later promoted to general manager. He was an avid sports fan and starred for Anchorage’s old industrial baseball league. The fields, carved out of a birch forest on the north bank of Chester Creek, catered to younger residents in the growing city. The decade of the 1970s witnessed explosive growth in Alaska as men and women from around the Lower 48 flocked to the state to build the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and work in the oil industry. Those who settled in Anchorage and raised families in the community demanded the same kinds of amenities found elsewhere. The ballparks and other athletic facilities built in these years responded to this growing demand.