The six-acre Pershing Park includes two softball fields and one baseball field adjacent to eight hard tennis courts. Courts open to the public on weekends and after 5pm on weekdays. Four of the tennis courts are lit until 9pm Monday-Friday. The southern most court, closest to the ocean, has three blended line Pickball courts. Pershing Park is a city facility shared with neighboring Santa Barbara City College, which uses it for softball, baseball and tennis (for gym classes and intercollegiate athletics). The park has a large, free parking lot.

  • Features: Alcohol Not Allowed, Parking On Site, Parking On Street, Popular Event Venue, Restrooms, Sports Fields, Tennis Courts
  • Dog Policy: Dogs Allowed On Leash

History

The first baseball field was laid out at the site of what is now Pershing Park around the year 1900. The property was owned at the time by the Santa Barbara Electric Company. The park was named in 1919 after General John Pershing, commander of the victorious American Expeditionary Forces on World War One's western front. At that time there were many streets, schools, parks, and squares across the country named after General Pershing.

Pershing Park soon became a winter training site for Major Leaguers as well as players from the Pacific Coast League. New York Yankees star Babe Ruth made the first of two visits to Santa Barbara in 1924, drawing an overflow crowd of 1,500 fans to Pershing Park. He hit a home run. Ruth returned to Santa Barbara with Lou Gehrig on another tour in 1927, but rain turned Pershing Park into a mud puddle so they wound up moving the exhibition game to Santa Barbara High School's Peabody Stadium.

A semipro team called the Santa Barbara Cubs that began playing at Pershing Park in 1928.The team drew a 1,000 fans per game. After Laguna Park (since demolished) was constructed downtown, Pershing Park was converted into a home for men's and women's softball leagues. The current baseball diamond at Pershing Park debuted on February 21, 1973, when Santa Barbara City College played Cal Poly's junior varsity team.

Pershing Park is currently the home of the Santa Barbara Foresters, a sports team that was started in 1991, and is named after a team sponsored by the local Forester lodge in the 1950's. The Foresters began as a college summer team using metal bats, but soon switched to wood bats in 1996, when they joined the National Baseball Congress. As professional baseball uses wood bats and college baseball uses metal bats, teams like the Foresters provide an opportunity for college baseball players to gain experience using wood bats before signing with a professional baseball team. They have become one of the top semi-professional baseball teams in the country.