Owners Say Ball Field Has to Close

Citing concerns about liability, the owners of a vacant downtown lot that has been transformed into a field for pelota Tarasca, a traditional Mexican ballgame, vowed Wednesday to close the parcel and keep players away.

Tye Rubins, who represents the real estate limited partnership that owns the land, said the group will bring in security guards this weekend to keep players and spectators off the land near 2nd Street and Lucas Avenue.

“We don’t want to, but we have to,” said Rubins, general partner of Toluca Station Associates. “In today’s times, in this city, if someone gets hurt, a lawyer is going to be there to sue. It’s sad, but true. Would you let them play in your backyard?”

Rubins said he found out about the games after an article appeared in The Times.

Councilman Mike Hernandez, who until Wednesday thought the lot was city-owned, had backed the playing of pelota Tarasca there. Now he says he is trying to find another field for the ballplayers.

“That the community got together to play this game is a positive thing and I think we need to continue it,” Hernandez said. “I want to get together with the leaders of the game and work something out.”

On the field Wednesday afternoon, as word spread that the lot would be shut down, eight players and five spectators gathered briefly in stunned silence before resuming the game.

“We all feel bad,” Daniel Guzman, 21. “We all feel very bad.”

Player Adrian Pineda said: “We come to play and we come to watch--not to sue.”

Toluca Station Associates bought the lot from Union Pacific Transportation Co. in 1985, Rubins said. The group spent $250,000 and five years trying to develop a low-income housing project for the site. The project had the backing of City Councilman Howard Finn, but when he died in office in 1991 the plan died too, Rubins said.

Since then, the lot has been rented to film companies for several movies, including “Colors,” “Tough Guys” and “Predator 2.” Vandals have decorated the lot with some of the most colorful graffiti in the city.

Even Rubins admires the graffiti. “I have no problem with that graffiti,” he said. “I consider it art.”

In December, part of the lot was transformed into a playing field for pelota Tarasca, an ancient game that is named after the Tarascan Indians and played in the southwestern Mexico states of Michoacan and Guerrero.

On weekends, the game attracts a loyal following of spectators. Die-hard players gather for games throughout the week.

Rubins said a property manager who works for the owners checks the field on weekdays but never mentioned that the game was being played there. On weekends, the games begin after 3 p.m.

Hernandez said he is looking into several alternative sites for the game. One is the so-called Field of Dreams soccer field on Beaudry Avenue, which is not used on Sundays.

And Hernandez said he plans to meet with Rubins next week to see if the plans for developing the site can be revived.

Meanwhile, Rubins expressed concern that his group would be considered the bad guys. “I don’t want protest going on over there,” he said. “I don’t want another People’s Park, like in Berkeley.”