Groom Lake, Nevada is a salt flat in the Southern Nevada desert that is more commonly known as the spot next to the airfield of Area 51, an area of legendary UFO and alien-related conspiracies and investigations.
Officially, at least, Area 51 is simply a highly classified United States Air Force facility, with operations that are not made public whatsoever, which only intensifies the rumors of what’s really going on there. Allegedly, the USAF and CIA purchased the remote land for flight testing the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance rocket back in 1955. As for today’s operations at the base, well, that’s for our imaginations to try and figure out.
While Freedom of Information Act requests have allowed us to squeeze out minimal information, there is still an intense collective interest about the goings-on at Area 51, even if the official stance is that, of course, there is no extraterrestrial evidence being stored there (besides, that’s probably more likely happening in Hangar 18 at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio anyway).
But Wait, Why Is There a Baseball Field at Area 51?
Now, we do have some evidence of things happening at Area 51, thanks to Google Earth. And what has been found is a Groom Lake baseball field, probably right next to a warehouse storing the wreckage of a downed, now-vintage alien spacecraft. After all, where do you think the Las Vegas 51s (RIP) baseball team (a minor-league affiliate of the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, and now the Oakland Athletics) got their name?
This all begs the question: What is a baseball field – though it’s possibly more of a softball field – doing near the Area 51 facility?
The Las Vegas Sun would like you to believe the baseball diamond’s usage – which has some interesting dimensions, especially down the right-field line – dates back 1965, when it was used by Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Co. for company softball games (they fielded a team known as the 8-Ballers back then). But in 2008, intrepid reporter Brian Hilderbrand also contacted the public affairs office at Nellis Air Force Base to get some further insight on the usage of that mysterious field.
The response from the spokeswoman at the base?
“We can’t talk about anything that goes on out there.”
Additionally, a written statement from the Air Force went one step further, suggesting that revealing who – or what – plays at that field would amount to a breach in national security, which definitely doesn’t sound suspicious at all.
So Are Aliens Playing Softball at Area 51 or What?
An older satellite photo of the field, from 2013, suggests the field was in a bit of disrepair, with a giant brown spot in the middle of the outfield. However, a recent image shows the field with a lush, green outfield, signs of a well-curated field that is likely seeing plenty of use. I wonder how much a ball from an Area 51 game would be worth…
Who – or what – is using the baseball diamond at Area 51 remains to be seen, but if teaching aliens how to play America’s national pastime fosters a sense of camaraderie and connection that prevents our civilizations from destroying each other, we’ll certainly all take it. Just keep your eyes peeled for what might show up on the next satellite image of the field.
