Their field of dreams is turning into a field of angry screams.
The West Side Little League is about to be shut out — from the two baseball diamonds in Riverside Park where they play — by the city.
The city wants to park heavy machinery and equipment on them for four years as it rehabilitates the park’s 79th Street Rotunda complex.
The Little League uses the 77th Street ballfields almost nonstop on the weekends, said Debbie Kling, league president.
The kids playing there include 65 or so members of the organization’s special-needs division, which draws youngsters from beyond the Upper West Side. The League had 850 players last spring.
“I guess the thing that concerns me about this project is this length,” Kling said. “It’s not as if fields haven’t been closed in the past for renovations, but never this long. That is probably the most troubling aspect of this.”
Todd Wernstrom, an Upper West Side parent who coached six seasons for the West Side Little League, said the plan was a “disaster” and the loss of two fields would create a ripple effect.
“It’s nothing but a struggle to find fields. People have no idea of how much baseball is actually played at the youth level in this city … and there are so few fields,” he said.
The Department of Transportation’s $140 million project is expected to begin next year and include work to the historic rotunda, which was built in the 1930s and houses the Boat Basin Cafe.
The roof of the rotunda is a traffic circle that serves as the exit from the Henry Hudson Parkway at 79th Street.
The complex also includes a bridge over the Amtrak tracks at 79th Street, which will be rehabilitated.
Some cyclists are upset because the work will not include a protected bike lane for access to the Hudson River Greenway.
Community Board 7 is expected to issue its advisory opinion on Jan. 10, with one member already saying he would not support the project unless the staging area was moved from the ball fields, the West Side Rag blog reported.
A Parks Department spokeswoman said the agency had “explored various alternatives with DOT” but the ball fields were “the only feasible location.”
“We have been in touch with the West Side Little League regarding the upcoming closures, and we will work with them to relocate their games,” the spokeswoman said.