A ball field for children almost went bust until caring volunteers saved it.

The city of Philadelphia also stepped in and now, the children can play ball again.

"We were real nervous if we were going to have a season," Victor Martinez Jr., of Nelson Northstars Little League, said.

But panic quickly turned to prayers answered in a matter of days for the Nelson Northstars Little League.

Temple University student volunteers came out Friday to turn the otherwise diamond in the rough into something that sparkles by opening day for hundreds of little leaguers in one of North Philly's roughest neighborhoods.

"Once they get on this field I'm here to show them. Whatever they need done," Martinez said.

A week ago, the season looked like it was going to be done. Broken glass and trash were on the field, trees were growing in right field and a sunken dirt path ran through the outfield. A neighborhood that also includes cocaine baggies littered in the grass.

"They're doing their thing, doing their drugs, shooting up, leaving their syringes right under the bleachers," Martinez said.

But then the volunteers and the city stepped in this week and put down new infield dirt and raked away what those who dump on the field in the off-season left behind.

Ten years ago, then Mayor Ed Rendell turned the vacant rubble-filled lot into a baseball field. The outfield was green then, the infield was pristine. But instead of fielding grounders, it began to field other things, like trash and drug paraphernalia.

View Images

"In a matter of three years the field was let go. Nobody cared about it," Martinez said.

Martinez and Anthony Washington cared and so did David Broida, who came in from the suburbs, and secured uniforms and equipment for the season, which were leftovers from other organizations that no longer needed them.

"My mom taught me this is what you're supposed to do with your time, so this is what I do," Broida said.

"It's going to be a great season," Martinez said.