Thieves steal $100,000 in equipment from Rickey Henderson Field in Oakland

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- A field of dreams turned into a field for thieves this week after more than $100,000 worth of equipment was stolen from an Oakland baseball field.

"They came in with heavy duty power tools and cut all the locks," explained Oakland Tech's assistant baseball coach, Erik Housh. Housh believes thieves knew exactly what they were doing when they broke into Rickey Henderson Field Monday morning and stole thousands of dollars' worth of soccer and baseball gear from storage sheds. "We're missing all of our baseball bats, we're missing two sets of catchers' gear."

The thieves also managed to steal a truck and wood chipper, worth about $100,000, from a tree trimming company that was working at the school next door.

There's also damage to the field, from when the thieves drove the stolen truck off of the field, which created ruts in the grass. Housh says that could take a year to grow back and repair.

The field is used by baseball leagues all over the Bay Area and is the home field for Oakland Tech's baseball team. "It's my life. I'm out here pretty much everyday," said Julian Garrett, who is going to be a junior on Tech's varsity baseball team next year.

A nonprofit called Field of Dreams built Rickey Henderson Field 10 years ago. Now, players like Garrett work hard to maintain it and earn money to cover team costs, like all the equipment which was taken. "We hold fundraisers like the Christmas tree sale and things like that to earn the money to have that stuff and when somebody takes it, it kind of hurts."

Coaches and players are hoping to raise money to replace the stolen equipment.

Click here to donate to the team's GoFund Me page.

You can also donate on the Field of Dreams website by clicking here.