Many amateur and professional baseball games were played at Miles Field in Medford, Ore., which was built because of the driving force of a single man.
The man, Claude “Shorty” Miles, was born at Fort Klamath in 1887. He moved to Medford in 1890. Miles loved sports all his life, especially baseball. He played on many baseball teams, was a pro in the 1900s when he was only 14 years of age, and later coached professionally.
Miles and his wife, Vada, had three sons, all of them active in sports. One of them, Danny, the successful basketball coach at the Oregon Institute of Technology for decades, says his dad built a complete baseball field in a cow pasture behind their Medford home. He said, “When somebody would hit a homerun, we’d drop our gloves and take off for the bridge to retrieve the ball from the river underneath.”
The father saw the need for a good baseball stadium where teams from all over could play. Through his efforts, a new stadium was built in 1951 after an old ball park was destroyed by fire. Upon his death in 1968, the stadium was named Miles Field in his honor.
Sources: Eggers, Kerry. “OIT’s Little General nears 1000-win.” www.pamplinmedia.com. Portland Tribune, 8 Jan. 2014. Web. 7 Feb. 2015; “Since You Asked: Miles Field was a ballpark, not an airport.” www.mailtribune.com. Medford Mail Tribune, 20 Aug. 2014. Web. 4 Feb. 2015; “Claude Reece “Shorty” Miles (1887-1968).” www.findagrave.com. Ed. David Bartlow. Find A Grave Memorial, 31 Oct. 2009. Web. 5 Feb. 2015.
