How to get there:

From RT 422 take the Penn Street exit across the bridge and into Reading (from there you make three lefts, just like rounding the bases)

Make a left onto 3rd Street

Make a left onto Buttonwood Street

Make a left onto 2nd Street

Lauer's Park Elementary School is halfway down the block on the left.  Gordon Hoodak Stadium sits behind the school.  There is a small parking lot to the left of the school.  

On June 3, 2006 Baseballtown celebrated the realization of a dream – the grand opening of Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer’s Park.  Jim “Mudcat” Grant, Al Downing and Mike Norris - all 20-game winners in the Majors - attended.  

The new $850,000 youth ballpark is nestled in a neighborhood that is quickly returning to its glory days. It sits on the grounds of Lauer’s Park Elementary School, named for the former stadium where Babe Ruth and Shoeless Joe Jackson both played. The original housed several professional teams and hosted barnstorming tours from 1907-1941. Reading’s own baseball legend, the late “Broadway” Charlie Wagner, former Red Sox pitcher and roommate of Ted Williams, began his career there. 

Gordon Hoodak Stadium at Lauer’s Park was built by Baseballtown Charities and will be the home field of the Olivet Boys and Girls Club’s RBI leagues and the school. Hoodak is the current and long-time principal of Lauer’s Park Elementary School in the Reading School District. He has dedicated his adult life to youth and education, and has dreamed of building a stadium in Lauer’s Park for years. An anonymous donor covered nearly a quarter of the stadium’s cost to have it named after Hoodak, making it a real dream come true for Hoodak as well as the children.

The Reading Phillies trademarked the name Baseballtown in 2002 then began Baseballtown Charities, a non-profit 501(c)(3) entity, in its name. Its goals are to honor Reading’s rich baseball history and secure its baseball future by giving more kids the opportunity to play and learn from the game’s life lessons. Gordon Hoodak Stadium does both. 

The Reading and Berks County based Olivet Boys and Girls Club RBI baseball and softball leagues have witnessed tremendous growth since Baseballtown Charities’ inception.

The Olivet Boys and Girls Clubs operate out of neighborhood based facilities, public housing, Reading School District buildings and even a former synagogue. Of the Club’s 7,000+ members, 73% come from families that live at or below the poverty line.

In association with