Founder Paul Golis envisioned and created a town where "no child should have to walk more than 1/4 mile to school or a park."  There are now 21 neighborhood parks, 26 tennis courts, 5 pools, and 3 dog parks, along with 14 baseball fields & 9 soccer fields.

Our town was once host to the Raiders summer camp, and 2 famous minor league baseball teams:

The Redwood Pioneers and the
Sonoma County Crushers. 

Beloved in their heyday, they are now gone.  Both played at Rohnert Park Stadium, built in 1981 for the California League's Redwood Pioneers. 

In 1995, Bob Fletcher purchased the Sonoma County Crushers.  He wanted folks, especially families, to be able to see baseball the way it was in the 1940's, with low prices and easy parking.  Also, by requiring players to stay for the entire season, fans could count on someone to root for.  It was also a good place for the minimum of 6 rookies to get a start.

Viewers enjoyed not only the games, but also the goofy promotions between innings (kids racing down the baseline in inner tubes, for example), and the Abominable Sonoman.  Legend has it that grapes were always crushed by foot, and one year, a creature came out of the mountains to stamp grapes - thus the purple feet on the mascot.  Like the Sonoman, Fletcher hoped that the team would crush the competition, as the monster crushed the grapes.  They won the championship in 1998, and sadly folded in 2002.

Click here to see SPORTS photos