HISTORICAL BASEBALL SITES OUTSIDE KANSAS (alphabetical by state)
Latest update: 16 May 2017. I have visited the sites in italics. [All photographs by Mark Eberle.]
This list emphasizes historical baseball fields in states adjacent to Kansas (which are easy for me to visit), and other sites around the country of historical significance (for example, Wrigley Field). Other sites are added as I have opportunities to visit them.
1) Stan Galle Field, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama (1889)
Historical Baseball Ground. Oldest college baseball ground in continuous use.
2) Copper King Stadium, Douglas, Arizona (1913, 1948)
Historical Baseball Park. The field was first used for a professional game on 6 November 1913, when the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox played game number 19 of their "Round the World" tour. The first minor league team in Douglas (the Miners) began play in 1915. In the 1920s, the Douglas Blues included players from the 1919 Chicago "Black Sox" who had been accused of throwing the World Series and were banned from organized baseball (major leagues and affiliated minor leagues). Their inclusion on the roster for the Douglas Blues gives special meaning to the name "outlaw league" for this independent minor league. The current grandstand was constructed in 1948 for fans of minor league teams from 1948 through 1958 (Miners in 1948 and Copper Kings in 1949–1958). Used primarily for high school games after this, it was the summer home of the Douglas Diablos (Independent, Pecos League) in 2014.
3) Warren Ballpark, Bisbee, Arizona (1909, 1937)
Historical Baseball Park. In 1913, the New York Giants and Chicago White Sox played game number 20 of their "Round the World" tour at this baseball field. The original wooden grandstand was replaced in 1937 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) with a concrete and metal grandstand (of the same dimensions as the original) covered by a wooden roof and still having wooden bench seats. The park was home to minor league teams from 1928 through 1941 and 1947 through 1955. Most recently (2014), it was the summer home of the Bisbee Blue (Independent, Pecos League); the "blue" refers to local turquoise gemstones. [I attended a minor league game here on 9 June 2014 between the Bisbee Blue and the neighboring Douglas Diablos.]
Warren Ballpark
4) Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois (1914)
Historical Baseball Park. Originally used by a Federal League team in 1914–1915, its first name was Weeghman Field. It is the longtime home of the Chicago Cubs (Major League Baseball).
5) Bosse Field, Evansville, Indiana (1915)
Historical Baseball Park. The ballpark is the third oldest in regular use for ballgames (after Fenway Park and Wrigley Field) and the fourth oldest overall (including Rickwood Field). Bosse Field (pronounced "bossy") underwent renovations in 1930 (including its brick veneer) and 1957 (including new wooden seats). With its historical attributes, the ballpark was used as a location for the movie A League of Our Own in 1992. The park was home to minor league teams periodically from 1915 through 1984. Since 1995, the park has been the summer home of the Evansville Otters (Independent, Frontier League). [I attended a minor league game here on 31 May 2016.]
Bosse Field
Bosse Field
6) Wahconah Park, Pittsfield, Massachusetts (1919)
Historical Baseball Park. One of the oldest remaining ballparks in the USA, it features a wooden grandstand. Home plate faces west, sometimes resulting in a "sun delay". Summer home of the Pittsfield Suns (Futures Collegiate Baseball League).
7) Blues Municipal Park, Kansas City, Missouri (1903)
Historical baseball Ground. Site of the second baseball field known as Association Park in Kansas City, it is now a public park with a small baseball diamond not far from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. However, no interpretive panels are present to recognize the importance of the site to baseball history in Kansas City. Blues Park was the home field of the Kansas City Blues (American Association) and Kansas City Monarchs (Negro Leagues). To determine the city champion in the 1921 post season, the Blues defeated the Monarchs in a best of 9 series, winning 5 of 8 games. The following year, the Monarchs beat the Blues in 5 of 6 games. This was the last interracial matchup between the Kansas City teams. In 1923, both teams started playing games nearby at 22nd Street and Brooklyn Avenue in what would become Municipal Stadium (marked with interpretive panels). The Blues were replaced by the Kansas City Athletics in 1955 at the same time the storied Monarchs were fading with the gradual integration of baseball. [I attended Kansas City Athletics' games at Municipal Stadium in the 1960s.]
Blues Park
I have also visited the sites of several other historical baseball fields in Kansas City, none of which had historical markers when I visited in 2013. The Kansas City Antelopes was an amateur team that played from 1866 through the mid-1870s at Exercise Field, now the site of the Sprint Center. The National League of professional baseball was organized in 1876, but Kansas City's first professional baseball team was the 1884 Kansas City Unions (referred to as the Kaycees by out-of-towners and as the Cowboys by some historians). The team was part of the short-lived Union Association, a major league (in name, if not in quality) that lasted only that single season. The KC Unions played on Athletic Field (Athletic Park) at what is now a commercial area (with one of Kansas City's many fountains) at the intersection of Southwest Boulevard and Summit Street (west of I-35 exit 1). In 1886, one of several teams known as the Kansas City Cowboys played in the National League on a trial basis and was forced to sell its players back to the league the following winter, replaced by a team in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This version of the KC Cowboys played at the first baseball field to be called Association Park (also known as League Park) and sometimes referred to as the Hole, because it sat 25 feet below street level next to a hill. The field was west of the current intersection of The Paseo and Independence Avenue; part of the area is now Belvidere Park. In 1914–1915, the Kansas City Packers played in the Federal League (a major league competing with the established National and American Leagues) during the 2 years it existed. The KC Packers played at Gordon and Koppel Field at the current intersection of The Paseo and Emanuel Cleaver II Boulevard along Brush Creek, where home run balls sometimes splashed down. Part of the area is now Thomas J. Kiely Municipal Park.
8) Carl Lewton Stadium, Carthage, Missouri (1938)
Historical Baseball Park. The ballpark was previously referred to as either Municipal Stadium or Rock Stadium. The uncovered grandstand was built of locally quarried rock and concrete by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The park was home to minor league teams from 1938 through 1941 and 1946 through 1951. The stadium was named for a local teacher, coach, and umpire.
Carl Lewton Stadium
9) Clemens Field, Hannibal, Missouri (1924, 1937–1939)
Historical Baseball Park. First built in 1924, the ballpark was named for native son Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain). A fire destroyed the original grandstand in 1936, but it was rebuilt by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) between 1937 and 1939. The grandstand is constructed of steel and concrete. It is covered by an asphalt roof supported by steel columns. The grandstand steps and bleacher seats consist of concrete poured into a steel shell. The bench seats have been replaced with folding stadium seats (metal frames and plastic seats). Many old ballparks were constructed near streams or railroads or both, as is the case for Clemens Field. The black locomotives of the slow freight train in the third photo below are passing between the stream and the ballpark during a game, almost within touching distance of the stone wall surrounding the playing field. The park was home to minor league teams from 1947 through 1948 and 1952 through 1955. Now the summer home of the Hannibal Cavemen (Prospect Collegiate Baseball League). [I attended a collegiate summer league game here in July 2015.]
Clemens Field
Clemens Field
Passing Train at Clemens Field
10) Liberty Park Stadium, Sedalia, Missouri (1937)
Historical Baseball Park. The beautiful, covered, wooden grandstand constructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) includes architectural details that give the exterior an idyllic ambiance well suited to an old, rural ballpark. Now called Dey Field at Liberty Park Stadium, it is the summer home of the Sedalia Bombers (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas — MINK — Collegiate Baseball League). If you love baseball and are in the vicinity of Kansas City or Columbia, Missouri, attending a collegiate league game at this park is a wonderful experience. [Joe Tomelleri and I attended a collegiate summer league game here in June 2014.]
Liberty Stadium
Liberty Stadium
11) Phil Welch Stadium, St. Joseph, Missouri (1939)
Historical Baseball Park. The steel and concrete grandstand, with a roof over the central section and a brick backstop, was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The stadium is named for the former mayor of St. Joseph (1936–1946). Minor league teams played here periodically from 1939 through 1954 (Western Association) and 2006 through 2007 (Independent, American Association). Now the home of the St. Joseph Mustangs (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas — MINK — Collegiate Baseball League). [I attended a collegiate summer league game here in July 2015.]
Phil Welch Stadium
Phil Welch Stadium
12) Anderson Field, Neligh Park, West Point, Nebraska (grandstand 1931 or 1932?)
Historical Baseball Park. The park has a wooden grandstand along the third base line. It originally extended down the first base line, as well, but that section was struck by lightning and burned. The lower 4 rows of seats have backs. Summer home of the local town team—the West Point Bombers. [I attended a game here in July 2016 and enjoyed conversations about local baseball.]
Anderson Field
Anderson Field
13) Eaton Field, Graves Park, Wakefield, Nebraska (1943)
Historical Baseball Park. Eaton Field is one of the most unique baseball parks. The "grandstand" behind home plate consists of 3 tiers of grass and low retaining walls of concrete. There are a number of stadium seats acquired from various historical ballparks across the United States (e.g., 2 pairs of Wrigley Field seats are in the foreground of the photo below). The park is landscaped with flower gardens and mature trees.
Eaton Field
Eaton Field
14) Heyne Memorial Field, Pender, Nebraska (19??)
Historical Baseball Park. The grandstand is concrete with a brick façade painted white. The central grandstand is flanked on each side by open, concrete bleachers.
Heyne Memorial Field
Heyne Memorial Field
15) Sam Crawford Field, Wahoo, Nebraska (field 1932?, grandstand 194?)
Historical Baseball Park. The Wahoo Athletic Association donated the property to the city for a baseball field in 1932. The current grandstand was constructed of concrete enclosed with brick after the Second World War. The ballpark was named for native son Sam Crawford in 1957, who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame that year; he threw out the ceremonial first pitch. in 2011, seats salvaged from Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha were installed in the central section of the grandstand. The ballpark is the summer home of the local town team—the Wahoo Wombats. [I briefly peaked in at the end of a game in July 2016.]
Sam Crawford Field
Sam Crawford Field
16) Spear Memorial Athletic Field (Hog Yard), Scribner, Nebraska (19??)
Historical Baseball Park. Located at the local fairgrounds, the ballpark is known locally as the Hog Yard. The wooden grandstand has backs on its seats similar to those at Anderson Field in West Point, Nebraska. The exterior of the grandstand was recently enclosed with metal siding. The ballpark is the summer home of the local town team—the Scribner Hogs. [I briefly peaked in during a game in July 2016.]
Hog Yard
Hog Yard
17) Joe Bauman Baseball Stadium, Roswell, New Mexico (19??)
Historical Baseball Ground. In 2004, the Roswell city council dedicated Fair Park Field (adjacent to the city fairgrounds) to Joe Bauman Baseball Stadium. The stadium lacks a grandstand but has covered metal seating that extends from dugout to dugout. Bauman (1922–2005), a left-handed first baseman, began his professional baseball career in 1941 but missed the 1942–1945 seasons. In 1946 and 1947, he played for the Amarillo Gold Stars (Class C, West Texas–New Mexico League) and advanced to the Hartford Chiefs (Class A, Boston Braves) for most of the 1948 season, which also included one game and only one at bat (no hits) for the Milwaukee Brewers (AAA, Boston Braves). He then left organized baseball for 3 years but came back in 1952 to play in New Mexico for the Artesia Drillers (Class C, Longhorn League). After hitting 50 and 53 home runs for Artesia in 1952 and 1953, he purchased his contract and moved to nearby Roswell, where he bought a gas station and played 3 seasons for the Roswell Rockets (Class C, Longhorn League). In 1954, he was 32 years old when he won the Longhorn League triple crown: .400 BA (199 hits in 498 AB), 72 HR, and 224 RBI in only 138 games (he could launch home runs into the rodeo grounds beyond the right field fence in the background of the photo below). He had a .916 slugging percentage. He bested the previous home run record for organized baseball of 69 set by Joe Hauser with the Minneapolis Millers (Class AA, American Association) in 1933, which was tied by Bob Crues with the Amarillo Gold Stars in 1948, the year after Joe Bauman left Amarillo for Hartford (Crues also batted .404). Bauman played for the Rockets only 2 more years before retiring in Roswell. The ballpark is now the summer home of the Roswell Invaders (Independent, Pecos League). [I attended a minor league game here on 10 June 2014 between the Roswell Invaders and the Alpine (Texas) Cowboys.]
Joe Bauman Stadium
18) Oscar Huber Memorial Ballpark, Madrid, New Mexico (1920, 1928, 1935, 2015)
Historical Baseball Park. Madrid was a company-owned coal-mining town. In the early 1900s, Oscar Huber was the manager and later owner of the coal mining company. This was the first lighted ballpark in New Mexico and possibly west of the Mississippi River. The field was constructed by the Madrid Employees Club in 1920. The grandstand was built in 1928, and the mining company provided electricity to the ballpark lights (and all of the homes). The Works Progress Administration (WPA) added stonework in 1935. The Madrid Employees Club supplied team uniforms and equipment; the coal company paid for the team's transportation. In 2000, Madrid Cultural Projects was formed to save the ballpark and other historical structures in town. Renovation of the ballpark began In 2010 with the building of a replica grandstand that was rededicated in May 2015. The field and original sandstone walls remain.
19) Bill Doenges Memorial Park Stadium, Bartlesville, Oklahoma (1908, 1916, 1930)
Historical Baseball Park. The ballpark was first established in 1908–1909. A wooden grandstand was built, with a wooden fence around the field that featured changeable billboard ads. In January 1916, these lands were sold to the city of Bartlesville, and lights over the field were first used on 13 October 1916. In 1930, a new municipal stadium was built, which included a concrete grandstand that forms a shallow arc behind home plate and a concrete outfield fence (the concrete fence also encloses the broader ballpark). In 1997, Municipal Athletic Field was renamed for Bill Doenges, a longtime supporter of local American Legion baseball. Renovations beginning in 1998 included new seats (with seat backs), new sunken dugouts, new lights, the metal roof, and improvements to the field, among other projects. Additional open, metal bleacher seats sit along the base lines. The ballpark was home to minor league teams from 1931 through 1938 and 1946 through 1952.
20) Homier Field, Kingfisher, Oklahoma (19??)
Historical Baseball Park. The seating consists of 2 covered, wooden grandstands, one on each baseline, with a freestanding concession stand in the center, with a press box perched on top. The fences down the foul lines are chain link, but the outfield fence is vertical, wooden boards painted green (white on the outside), with taller boards in center field.
21) Red Rock Stadium, Ackley Park, Elk City, Oklahoma (1939)
Historical Baseball Park. Situated along the north side of old Route 66, the grandstand, dugouts, and most of the outfield fence were built of cut red stone by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The foul lines are chain-link fence, while the rock wall encloses the broader park. The seating is concrete with wooden benches. The roof over the grandstand and its supports are metal of more recent construction.
Red Rock Stadium
22) Clyde Allen Field, North Bend, Oregon (1947)
Historical Baseball Park. I used to live in North Bend, so this ballpark gets a special mention. On my return visit in July 2014, the assistant coach of the local American Legion baseball team kindly gave me a quick tour of the facilities and the park history. He was at the park early, as the team was preparing to play in the state tournament. Clyde Allen Field was home to the Coos Bay–North Bend A's of the Northwest League (Oakland A's, Class A) in 1970–1972. This was shortly after the major league A's I had followed in my youth moved from Kansas City to Oakland, but the minor league A's brief stay in North Bend was ending as my family moved from Kansas to Oregon in the summer of 1972. The wooden grandstand is uncovered, which might seem somewhat surprising on the rainy Oregon Coast, but the area experiences a natural break from the rain during the summer. The folding seats in the front rows came from Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium in Georgia, where Charlie Finley had earlier considered moving the Kansas City A's. The original lockers ran in parallel rows facing each other but separated by a wall, creating two long, narrow rooms. The wall has been removed, and I was standing with my back against the opposite row of lockers to take the third picture below. The hometown A's used one narrow room, and the visitors used the other. Clyde Allen Field still hosts high school games and local summer leagues.
Clyde Allen Field
Clyde Allen Field
Lockers, Clyde Allen Field
23) Kiger Stadium, Klamath Falls, Oregon (1948)
Historical Baseball Park. Construction began in late 1947, with a goal of opening in spring 1948 for the Class D Klamath Falls Gems, the Far West League affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. The team led the league in attendance in 3 of the 4 years they were in the League, and they won the Far West League's final championship before the league folded after the 1951 season. The reborn Klamath Falls Gems is a collegiate summer league team playing at the historical ballpark, along with other local teams. The wooden grandstand is flanked on each side by wooden bleachers.
Kiger Stadium
Kiger Stadium
24) Kokernot Field, Alpine, Texas (1947)
Historical Baseball Park. The stadium was built by rancher Herbert Lee Kokernot Jr. for his semiprofessional baseball team. The stones used for the grandstand and outfield wall were quarried at the Kokernot Ranch, and the "06" brand for the Kokernot Ranch is used throughout the stadium as decoration. It also serves as the logo for the Alpine Cowboys of the Pecos League (Independent League), who use the park during the summer. The Sul Ross State University baseball team also uses the ballpark.
Kokernot Field
Kokernot Field
25) Olympic Stadium, Hoquiam, Washington (1938)
Historical Baseball Park. As perhaps befitting the Pacific Northwest Coast, the covered, truncated U-shaped grandstand (seating capacity of more than 9,000 with a roof all the way around) is one of the largest wooden baseball grandstands still in use. The exterior is faced with cedar shingles. Home plate originally was where the right field foul pole is (the angle in the second photo = the entrance in the first photo), which placed the plate near the center of the grandstand. The grandstand now fronts most of the right half of the outfield, the first base line, and only a small part of the third base line. Grays Harbor Class A (short season) minor league teams played here from 1976 through 1979, and the Grays Harbor Gulls of the unaffiliated Western League used the ballpark during the 1990s. It is now used for a variety of activities (including baseball).
Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium
Olympic Stadium
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