When Paducahans think of Brooks Stadium, there is one man who comes to mind. Dr. Frank “Doc” Hideg was the keeper of Brooks Stadium, a man who believed in a baseball stadium from a long-gone era and kept it alive through the spirit of America’s pastime. And beside him was his trusty four-legged best friend, Moby.
He was the bridge between baseball and community.
On Monday, September 28, Doc’s family announced his passing at age 84. The news sent a heartbreaking shockwave through the baseball community. Former and current coaching staffs remembered him, and former players left comments on social media with their favorite American Legion Post 31 memories under his guidance from 1974 to 1997.
“Doc was always at the field. I’d stop by to check on things, and Doc was already there,” Paducah Chiefs Assistant General Manager and Brooks Stadium Commission member Greg Cannon said. “I’d be closing up for the night, and Doc was always one of the last to leave because he wanted everything to be just right.”
The first time I met Doc, I was still awkwardly green in sports reporting; Dugout Dish was still in its infancy, and I was eager to get any content for local media. Paducah Tilghman baseball was about to kick off its 2020 season, unknowingly a season that would never be, and I was invited to cover the program’s “Meet the Tornado.” He was there, just as Cannon stated, making his rounds around the stadium, conversing with parents, spectators, and players.
“[Doc] was so protective of the field. When to tarp, when not to tarp and let it get rain, and whether the field was playable or not,” Cannon said. “He’d travel all over the park talking to everyone. I don’t even know where to start on all the conversations about baseball. His knowledge of local ball was unmatched.”
I spent a lot of time at Brooks Stadium during the summer of 2020, even as the world shut down around us. The summer turned into fall and then into spring when Western Kentucky welcomed high school baseball back to Brooks Stadium in a sea of blue and white, with Doc perfecting the field ahead of the first pitch. I would learn there isn’t a Brooks Stadium without Doc Hideg. At some point, the two became one.
In the 1980s, Hideg saved Brooks Stadium from a demolition fate that many ballparks of its age have faced. After the stadium was condemned, Hideg secured labor and funding to restore and renovate the ballpark, helping preserve a piece of Paducah baseball history that could have disappeared forever. He would spend more than three decades meticulously maintaining the field.
That small kernel of love Hideg provided helped Brooks Stadium return to its glory and create generations of new baseball memories. The stadium became a home for Paducah Tilghman and, eventually, the revived Paducah Chiefs. It hosted KHSAA baseball, Ohio Valley Conference tournaments, college baseball, and professional exhibition games, including preseason matchups between the Evansville Otters and Southern Illinois Miners. I had the pleasure and honor of covering the latter in 2021.
For Doc, Brooks Stadium was never just a field with dirt, grass, and endless dreams of those in cleats. It had a purpose.
Even in his later years, Doc could be found on the field. Last fall, during a middle school baseball tournament, Doc was out there making sure the field was taken care of properly between games.
But that was Hideg. He showed up.
Even in sandals, as Paducah Chiefs graphics coordinator Victoria Caldwell recalled, he was at home plate raking out the dirt before baseball fans of all ages came to root for the Chiefs.
He showed up when the stadium needed saving. He showed up when the field needed water, a tarp, or a little extra attention. He showed up for Legion players who needed someone to believe they could play at the next level. And he showed up for generations of baseball players who may never have known exactly how much work went into giving them a place to play.
For more than 30 years, Hideg maintained the field he had fought to save. The City of Paducah still lists the stadium as home to the Paducah Chiefs, while the field carries his name: Doc Hideg Field at Brooks Stadium.
It is difficult to separate the man from the place because, for so many years, they were inseparable. And when the first pitch is thrown in the spring, everyone will remember Doc Hideg.
Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, at Brooks Stadium. A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026, at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in Paducah.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Child Watch-CASA of West Kentucky, P.O. Box 1262, Paducah, KY.
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