In October 2022, the City of Dublin completed the final phase of the 61-acre Fallon Sports Park. The sports park now includes four lighted synthetic turf soccer fields; four lighted bocce ball courts; two playgrounds; two picnic shelters; a premier cricket field with five pitches; a multi-use, five-bay batting cage facility; four lighted tennis courts; four lighted basketball courts; two lighted softball fields; four Little League baseball diamonds; four sand volleyball courts; restrooms; a concession booth; and a new, 90-foot lighted baseball diamond.

In May, the Dublin Leprechauns baseball team was welcomed to Dublin and its new home at Fallon Sports Park. The team, which relocated from Santa Rosa earlier this year, competes in the Pacific Division of the Pecos League, a professional independent league founded in 2010. League officials said Dublin was "the best spot to relocate the now-former Santa Rosa Scuba Divers because of its robust and satisfactory playing field at Fallon Park," according to Pleasanton Weekly reporter Nicole Gonzales.

"The reception we have received in Dublin has been second-to-none," according to Pecos League President Andrew Dunn in a press release from the league. "Our goal is to build something great; high quality baseball for the community and a place for players to get a chance to advance in the game of baseball. Dublin is an ideal place for us."

League officials say the Dublin Leprechauns Professional Baseball Team is searching for Host Families for its 2023 season. "Players travel from all over the United States to spend a summer here with the Dublin Leprechauns," according to officials. "A vital part of a successful season is to have host families provide housing for the players, giving them support and a family atmosphere for the summer."

The Pecos League is an independent baseball league that is not affiliated with Major or Minor League Baseball. Its first season was played in 2011. The league's Pacific Division includes the Bakersfield Train Robbers, Dublin Leprechauns, Lancaster Sound Breakers, Martinez Sturgeon, Marysville Drakes, Monterey Amberjacks, San Rafael Pacifics, and Vallejo Seaweed.

The arrival of professional baseball to Dublin adds to the long history of the sport in California. The Sacramento Base Ball Club, formed in Sacramento in 1859, was the first active California team, according to The Golden Game author Kevin Nelson. "More teams began to crop up with exhibition games being played mostly in Sacramento and San Francisco," according to the Northern California Baseball history website. "In 1869, after the linking of the Union and Pacific Railroads, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, a team of paid professionals, steamed into San Francisco for a series of exhibition games pitted against the Bay Area's best teams. The Stockings crushed the Eagles 35-4, humiliated them a second time before annihilating the Pacifics, and were leading the Atlantics 76-5 before the game was mercifully halted after five innings."

For more information about the Dublin Leprechauns, please visit www.dublinleprechauns.com.

For more information about Fallon Sports Park, please visit www.dublin.ca.gov/facilities/facility/details/Fallon-Sports-Park-22.