Breukelen Ballfields

Coach Rosado Field

This text is part of Parks’ Historical Signs Project and can be found posted within the park.

What was here before?

Before this area of East New York was developed in the mid-20th century, the site that is now Coach Jose Rosado Field was a marshy extension of nearby Fresh Creek. Over the next two decades, the marshland was filled south of the development, and farmland to the east was folded into the growing city.

East New York became a vibrant center of housing, commerce and industry, and its parks important spaces of leisure and sport. Development largely stopped to the west at 105th Street and to the north at Stanley Avenue. The city acquired the property in 1950 for public housing, which was completed in 1952.

How did this site become an amenity?

The New York City Housing Authority leased the site to NYC Parks for free starting in 1957. This park was built at the same time as the public housing development, to serve the neighborhood’s new residents. Formerly known as P.S. 260 Playground, in 1985 the site was renamed after the neighboring public housing development Breukelen Houses. It features baseball fields, a dog park, playground, and handball courts, among other recreational facilities.

Who is this amenity named for?

In 2022, the field closest to the intersection of Glenwood Road and Louisiana Avenue was named to honor Jose Rosado, a dedicated supporter of youth baseball programs in this park for more than four decades.

Rosado was born in Puerto Rico in 1945 and moved to Canarsie when he was seven years old. He earned a certificate in counseling from Queens College and became a Drug Education Counselor with the NYC Board of Education’s SPARK program, through which he worked with students from JHS 218, William Maxwell Vocational High School, and Canarsie High School. He was also active as a member of Brooklyn’s Community Board 5 and volunteered in his community.

Rosado founded the Latin Souls Baseball Organization in 1973, which he managed for 46 years. These successful Little League teams, which served youth between six and eighteen years, have won many championships and received recognition from elected officials at the city and state levels.

Rosado died in 2020 and is remembered for the positive impact he had on generations of youth in this neighborhood.