When Little League baseball began to surge in popularity in the early 1950s, community members and a sponsor (Bar-S Foods Co.) made an offer to the Seattle Parks Board to help acquire and/or develop a new baseball field to support Little League baseball in our community. The current site of Bar-S Field was a meadow with salty marshes in the low spots. The meadow was acquired by the city to construct the sewage treatment plant. After construction, a portion of the meadow was not needed. Instead, the Seattle City Council authorized its use as a ballfield. It was named Bar-S Little League Field in recognition of the development work the company did to improve the site.
Out of these discussions, West Seattle Little League was formed in 1958. Since that year, West Seattle Little League has operated under an agreement with the Seattle Parks Department. Recognizing the unique circumstances and private resources that led to the construction of Bar-S Fields, this agreement provides priority use to support Little League baseball. With this agreement the majority of Bar-S Field’s operation and maintenance also falls to the volunteers of West Seattle Little League.
The design and construction of the new backstops, concessions building, bathrooms and storage building in 2011 was completely financed from money raised by West Seattle Little League. The majority of all improvements at Bar-S Field throughout the years have come from money raised by the members of West Seattle Little League, not from tax dollars.
The popularity of West Seattle Little League has continued to grow, expanding to offer a softball division in the spring of 2022.
West Seattle Little League is a 100% volunteer nonprofit organization serving over 1000 players throughout the community. Each spring, you will find Little League baseball and softball being played on fields throughout West Seattle.