During 1938 and 1939 the Red River Lumber Company experienced a lot of labor strife. Due to a strike in February 1939, Red River closed the mill. A unique thing happened at that time, Westwood would soon have a baseball park.
One of the effects with the mill closure was that residents were now without their regular wood supply for heating, for those who did not have steam heat. The idle strikers volunteered to cut trees on forest service land for firewood. They established a wood lot on the lower end of Birch Street, adjacent to the current VFW Hall.
Jim Travers came up with the idea they could use some recreational outlet to dispense with their extra energy. On the property they were using as the wood lot was a partially destroyed house caused by a fire some time ago. Travers and Earl Yaber came up with the idea to transform the property into a baseball park, and the other strikers were supportive of the project. The AFL union asked Red River if they could lease the property for that, and the company consented. In no time at all, the volunteers quickly cleared the property, removing the old building and hauled in 200 loads of decomposed granite from Fredonyer Summit to spread over the baseball field. In short order the property was transformed into a ballpark that could accommodate 600 people, along with parking, drinking fountains, rest rooms, an enclosed press box and seventeen flood lights. Nearly 500 men and women contributed to the cause.
On Sunday, June 12, the first softball games were held. First up was the Westwood AFL, who lost to Susanville’s Model Laundry by a score of 7 to 8. The next match was between the H.S. Anderson Club and Fruit Growers’ Story Club, which Anderson prevailed in the tight match that went into four extra innings with a score of 14 to 13.