Council compromises on renaming of baseball field

By Jean Cole

For the Enquirer

Hartselle City Council members have reversed their decision to rename an existing high school baseball field after celebrated coach William Booth.

The field was already named after another celebrated coach, Reuben Sims. The council decided Tuesday to name the field after both coaches, making it Sims Booth Field.

Complaints from the Sims family prompted the change.

At its Sept. 10 meeting, the council voted unanimously to change Reuben Sims Field, located at Sparkman Park, to William Booth Field. Booth, who died in May, was the winningest high school baseball coach in state history. As a result, Councilman Dwight Tankersley had proposed renaming the field after him. Council President Kenny Thompson and council members Virginia Alexander, Ken Doss and Tankersley approved the renaming. (Councilman Chuck Gill was unable to attend the meeting.)

However, no one thought to discuss the matter with the family of the late Reuben Sims before proposing the change. On Tuesday night, about 20 members of the Sims family attended the council meeting to show their displeasure with the name change. After the council president conferred with family members prior to the meeting, the council compromised and named the field after both men.

Thompson, as council president, apologized to the family and said the matter should have been discussed with them before a vote was taken on the proposed change.

“I was insensitive, and I apologize,” he said. “I should have called Don (a relative of Sims) and asked him because we have been friends for years and years.

He also said, “I hope we all learned a lesson; I know I have.” Sims Before the vote, Sims’ niece, Kathy Goodwin, addressed the council and told members the field was named after her uncle in 1975.

“We would not have baseball in Hartselle if it had not been for Reuben,” Goodwin said. “That’s the way I feel. … I loved coach Booth. He worked for my dad when I was growing up. But I don’t believe he would have agreed to take one man’s name off something that was worked for and sacrificed for in so many ways.” She, too, suggested putting both names on the field.

“You all can fix this, and everybody can be happy,” she said. “I definitely think something in this town needs to be named after Coach Booth, but you don’t take somebody else’s name off of what they stood for.” She said Sims “was Hartselle baseball.” After the council unanimously agreed to rename the field Sims Booth Field, applause broke out in the chamber.

Finally, Beth Sims Bell asked to address the council and gave an overview of her father’s work.

He was a student at Morgan County High School as a pitcher and an outfielder when he caught the eye of a professional scout for the Cincinnati Reds. He was offered a contract, but World War II came knocking and Sims ended up in the Army. He lost his right eye when a bomb was thrown into the building where he was standing. When he returned home, he finished high school then college and began his career having lost the chance to play for the Reds.

Bell said her dad was quoted as saying, “There wasn’t much for the kids to do. No community center or organized recreation, and baseball was my game.” In 1947, he is credited with bringing the American Legion baseball league to Hartselle. He also played key roles in setting up the groundwork for Connie Mack and Babe Ruth baseball leagues.

“My dad brought baseball to any boy who wanted to play,” Bell said. “He played everybody on the team whether they had talent or not.” He even taught a boy whose arm was disabled how to handle his glove so he could fulfill his dream of becoming a pitcher, she said.

His motto was “you win some, you lose some and some get rained out,” Bell said. He was most proud of the boys who came up in life with two strikes against them and managed to make their lives meaningful, she said.

As a member of the Parks and Recreation Board, Sims was instrumental in getting the ball field park built and in getting the southeast Babe Ruth tournament to the city, which is when the field was named after him. He said that when they named the field for him, he was overpaid.

She said the field that Booth won so many games on was there because of her father’s hard work and dedication.

Booth Booth was a math teacher but was also a celebrated baseball coach. The Alabama Sports Hall of Famer led his teams to nine state titles, five state championship runnersup and 21 area championships during his 36-year tenure as varsity coach from 1988 until his death on May 15 at age 79, according to the Sept. 10 resolution renaming the field and a May 16 story in The Decatur Daily. He became Alabama’s winningest high school baseball coach when he reached 648 wins in 2006, a title he continues to hold. He has 1,217 career wins against 518 losses.