79-565: RE/MAX Field (formerly Edmonton Ballpark , and Telus Field ) is a baseball stadium in Edmonton , Alberta, Canada. It has been home to several minor league baseball clubs; its last affiliated tenant was the Edmonton Trappers , a AAA Pacific Coast League club. It was also home to the Edmonton Capitals , an independent team that has been inactive since 2011. The Edmonton Prospects of
158-414: A baseball stadium because it shares characteristics of other stadiums . A baseball field can be referred to as a diamond. The infield is a rigidly structured diamond of dirt and grass containing the three bases, home plate, and the pitcher's mound. The space between the bases and home is normally a grass surface, save for the dirt mound in the center. Some ballparks have grass or artificial turf between
237-463: A cantilevered upper deck seating area that hung out over the lower seating area. Although it did not use reinforced concrete in its construction, Baker Bowl is considered the first of the jewel box parks. The first to use reinforced concrete was Shibe Park , which opened in 1909, also in Philadelphia. The upper decks were typically held up by steel pillars that obstructed the view from some seats in
316-565: A road team and plan to move to the Spruce Grove Metro Ballpark in 2024. The Edmonton Riverhawks of the West Coast League will be the main tenant at RE/MAX Field beginning with the 2022 season. RE/MAX Field uses natural grass in the outfield and FieldTurf in the infield; originally AstroTurf was used, before replaced in 2005 and again in 2021. Artificial turf was chosen for lower maintenance costs, because it allows for
395-435: A " warning track ". In the 1937 refurbishment of the original Yankee Stadium , a running track that ran the perimeter of the field was incorporated into the field of play as the first warning track. MLB formalized the warning track as a requirement in 1949. Beyond the outfield fence in professional parks is an area called the batter's eye . To ensure the batter can see the white ball, the batter's eye contains no seating and
474-406: A better drainage system so the infield can return to a playable state quicker than a grass infield would, and to minimize damage to the infield when concerts are held at the stadium. The park has ground-level luxury suites with box and general seating built on top. The Home Plate VIP Lounge on the main concourse is located directly behind the plate, incorporating a bar and a restaurant with a view of
553-453: A few outfields were even lined with hedges rather than normal fences or walls. The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome , when set up for baseball, had a 23-foot (7.0 m) right field "fence" that was actually a relatively thin blue plastic sheet covering folded up football seats. It was often called a "baggie" or "Hefty bag". Some ballparks have irregularly shaped fences. Ballparks may have round swooping fences or rigidly angled fences, or possibly
632-745: A rookie) and 100 RBI. Kittle maintained his home run power, but after 1983 his batting average declined and his strikeouts increased. Kittle left the White Sox after 1986 and played part of 1986 before being traded midway through a game to the New York Yankees ; he played the ensuing 1987 season with them. Kittle then played 1988 with the Cleveland Indians. He briefly returned again to the White Sox in 1990 , sharing playing time at first base with Carlos Martínez . He batted .245 with 16 homers and 43 RBI but struck out 77 times in 277 at-bats through
711-473: A rugby venue in New Zealand with an ETFE roof allowing grass to be grown indoors, or NFL stadiums like State Farm Stadium and Allegiant Stadium , which allow the grass field to be grown outside and then rolled indoors for games), the first generation of indoor parks predated such abilities. Since there was not enough light to grow grass, artificial turf is installed, and this affected the game. Artificial turf
790-435: A set or two of aluminum bleachers on the first-base and third-base sides. Distinctive from "goal games" such as football and basketball , which have fixed-size playing areas, the infield is the only rigidly laid-out part of the field. Like its English relative, cricket , there is significant flexibility in the shape and size of the rest of the playing area. Baseball leagues may specify a minimum distance from home plate to
869-566: A significant change in direction or irregular angle. For example, the center field stands and the left field stands at Fenway Park meet at an uneven angle, creating an indentation (called "the triangle") that angles sharply back into the stands. In Citi Field and Oracle Park , part of the right field fence juts unevenly into the outfield as if the builders were trying to create an unpredictable ricochet effect for balls hit against it. Some "retro" parks, such as Globe Life Park in Arlington , throw in
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#1732851656657948-472: A similar boom. One of the first major league ballparks to be called a "stadium" was actually the Polo Grounds, which was temporarily renamed Brush Stadium from its reconstruction in 1911 until the death of owner John T. Brush in the 1920s. By then, the most famous baseball "stadium" of them all had been constructed: Yankee Stadium . From that point until the retro building boom of the 1990s, the suffix "Stadium"
1027-452: A sudden and small inward turn (often referred to as a jog) just to give a little quirkiness to the design. Milwaukee's Miller Park was designed, with the help of former player Robin Yount , to promote extra base hits . Originally (mostly in the old jewel box parks) these variations resulted from the shape of the property where the park was constructed. If there was a street beyond left field,
1106-473: Is bordered by fences of varying heights. The infield fences are in foul territory, and a ball hit over them is not a home run; consequently, they are often lower than the outfield fences to provide a better view for spectators. Sometimes, the outfield fence is made higher in certain areas to compensate for close proximity to the batter. In many parks, the field is surrounded by an area roughly 10 feet (3.0 m) wide made of dirt or rubberized track surface called
1185-456: Is darker in color. The batter's eye area can be anything from a dark wall to a grassy slope. Most major league ballparks are oriented with the central axis (home plate through second base through center field) of the playing field running toward the north or east or some direction between. Major League Baseball Rule 1.04 states that it is "desirable" (but not required) that the central axis run east-northeast (about 22 degrees north of east). This
1264-471: Is harder, and thus a ball hit on the ground moves faster and bounces higher. This, coupled with the usually dull white or gray roofs that could camouflage a fly ball, causing what Twins fans called a "dome-field advantage". A park of note is Olympic Stadium in Montreal. The park was designed with a large tower that loomed over top. Cables came down from the top of the tower to connect to the large oval center of
1343-417: Is little consistency in the choice between "Field" and "Park". For example, Houston's Minute Maid Park was originally named "Enron Field". Seating area design of stadiums is affected by many variables, including required capacity, audience access, and road traffic. Early ballparks like Elysian Fields were a far distance from the city center. Each game was an event, and fans traveled by public transit to watch
1422-418: Is to prevent the setting sun from being in the batter's eyes. In practice, major league parks vary up to about 90 degrees from east-northeast in either direction, but none face west, except for a few which are oriented just slightly west of straight north. (Left-handed pitchers are called "southpaws", and indeed the pitcher's left hand is toward the south in the usual park layout, and this has often been cited as
1501-537: The Fort McMurray Giants played their inaugural season at the then Edmonton Ballpark. In May 2017 the stadium was renamed RE/MAX Field by the Edmonton Prospects; gaining naming rights and naming the park after the team's sponsor, RE/MAX , for three years. On May 20, 2020, Baseball Edmonton Inc., a group led by former Edmonton Oilers player Randy Gregg , reached a deal with the city of Edmonton to lease
1580-614: The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis , which instead of a rigid masonry roof was covered by inflatable fiberglass sheeting, held up by air pressure. A drawback to this design, at least in Minnesota's severe winter climate, was revealed when the dome collapsed three times in its first three years of operation due to accumulated snow. The Tokyo Dome has a similar roof; due to Tokyo's considerably milder winter climate, that stadium has not had
1659-555: The Kingdome , whose formal name was "King County Domed Stadium", and the Metrodome, for which the Minneapolis highway signs directed the driver to "Metrodome Stadium". The retro era of the 1990s and early 2000s saw some venues return to using "park" in a stadium's name, even in domed structures such as T-Mobile Park and American Family Field (which opened with the name Miller Park). There
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#17328516566571738-596: The Oakland Coliseum being the last one in use. The Athletics moved out of Oakland Coliseum in 2024 and have temporairy moves into West Sacramento 's Sutter Health Park for three seasons as a new dedicated facility of their own is built in Las Vegas. Their former co-tenants, the NFL Oakland Raiders , moved to Las Vegas in 2020 & into Allegiant Stadium . Note: To reduce redundancy, this table does not list
1817-719: The Western Canadian Baseball League (WCBL) were the main tenant from 2012 to 2019. The ballpark was mostly unused in 2020 and 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic , but the Edmonton Riverhawks of the West Coast League have been the main tenants since 2022. The facility is in the North Saskatchewan River Valley , in the neighbourhood of Rossdale . Opened in 1995, Telus Field replaced the 60-year-old John Ducey Park (formerly Renfrew Park ) on
1896-557: The IBAF World Cup Women's baseball in the summer of 2004 and from July 25 to August 3, 2008, the park held the IBAF AAA World Junior Championships for the 7th time since it started in 1981. Despite Telus's naming rights expiring in 2009 the stadium continued to use the name Telus Field until opening the 2016 season as Edmonton Ballpark, or simply Ballpark. Being displaced by the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire ,
1975-656: The Metrodome's snow-related issues. Ron Kittle Ronald Dale Kittle (born January 5, 1958) is an American former left fielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB). He was known for his home run hitting power, and was named the 1983 AL Rookie of the Year . Kittle played for the Chicago White Sox (1982–86, 1989, 1991), New York Yankees (1986–87), Cleveland Indians (1988) and Baltimore Orioles (1990). He batted and threw right-handed. Kittle
2054-495: The White Sox again for the 1991 season. On a pitch during the season, he swung on it and blacked out. A doctor's examination found that if he kept trying to play, he would run the risk of paralysis. Wanting to see his children grow up with an able-bodied dad, he elected to retire in August of that year. Kittle appeared in 843 games over the course of his 10–year MLB career. He recorded 176 home runs and 460 runs batted in. In 1998, Kittle
2133-399: The baserunners, generally with gestures or shouts. As the baserunner faces away from the outfield when running from second base to third, they cannot see where the ball is and must look to the third base coach on whether to run, stop, or slide. Farther from the infield on either side are the dugouts, where the teams and coaches sit when they're not on the field. They are named such because, at
2212-464: The bases, and dirt only around the bases and pitcher's mound. Others, such as Koshien Stadium in Hyōgo Prefecture , Japan, have an infield of entirely dirt. Two white lines extend from the home plate area, aligned with the first and third bases. These are the foul lines or base lines , usually differentiated by referring to them as the first base line, or the third base line. If a ball hit by
2291-429: The bases: an urban location, with plenty of parking and public transportation available. The first professional baseball venues were large wooden ballparks with seats mounted on wood platforms. Although known for being constructed out of wood, they featured iron columns for better support. Some included one tier of inclined seating, topped with either a flat roof or, in some instances, a small upper tier. The outfield
2370-422: The batter lands outside of the space between these two lines or rolls out of this space before reaching first or third base, the ball is "foul" (meaning it is dead and the play is over). If it lands between or on the lines, it is "fair". At the end of the lines are two foul poles, which help the umpires judge whether a ball is fair or foul. These "foul poles" are actually in fair territory, so a ball that hits them on
2449-810: The constraints of actual city blocks, often resulting in significantly asymmetrical outfield dimensions and large outfield walls to prevent easy home runs. Notable examples included League Park in Cleveland, which had a 40-foot (12 m)-tall wall in right field, and the Green Monster , the 37-foot (11 m)-tall left field wall at Fenway Park in Boston. Notable exceptions include Shibe Park and Comiskey Park , which were built on rectangular city blocks that were large enough to accommodate symmetrical left and right fields. Other sports, such as soccer and football , were often played at these sites (Yankee Stadium, for example,
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2528-511: The designers. New "retro" parks, which try to recapture the feel of the jewel box parks, are often designed to have these quirks. Baseball was originally played in open fields or public parks. The genesis of modern baseball is conventionally connected with Elysian Fields in Hoboken, New Jersey , a large public park where the businessmen of New York City gathered from time to time to play organized baseball games and cricket matches, starting around
2607-472: The distance to the left field fence would be shorter, and if the distance was too short, the fence would be higher. For example, in the old Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., part of center field had to be built around a cluster of apartment houses and the result was a rather large angular indentation in the left-center field fence. Now, these variations are mostly influenced by the specifications and whims of
2686-509: The earliest baseball stadiums that incorporated this type of design was Cleveland Stadium (built 1932), which featured an oval grandstand that was more friendly to goal-centered sports like football. A park built to suit all sports well, which was co-owned by the teams or the city, seemed advantageous to all, especially because it was less expensive to maintain one stadium rather than two. Some parks that were originally built for one sport were renovated to accommodate multiple sports. The shape of
2765-410: The elements. Besides the drawbacks of the cantilever design, there were other issues with these parks. With few exceptions, seating was angled to face the center of the field of play, rather than home plate. The furthest seats in these parks were 500 feet (150 m) or more from the plate. The capacities of these stadiums were larger than previous baseball stadiums. Typical game attendance did not fill
2844-491: The fans had difficulty seeing over the football benches. This was evident in the movable seating sections in RFK Stadium. The first ten rows of the football configuration were practically at field level, and fans in those sections often stood up on their seats to get a better view. Other stadiums overcame this simply by covering those seats, not bothering to sell them. Despite being cost-effective, these problems eventually caused
2923-646: The field from seats inside and outside. The lounge includes trophies and pictures of early Edmonton baseball teams. The capacity of the stadium is 9,200. The dimensions are 340 feet (104 m) to left field, 378 feet (115 m) to left centre, 420 feet (128 m) to centre field, 395 feet (120 m) to right centre and 320 feet (97.5 m) to right field. The stadium concourse features pictures of historic moments in Trapper history, including Ron Kittle 's 50-home-run season. There are also pictures from every Trapper championship and trophies. Concerts have been held at
3002-508: The first four months of that season. Kittle was acquired by the Baltimore Orioles from the White Sox for Phil Bradley on July 30, 1990. He was resentful of the trade which brought forth the possibility of Frank Thomas being promoted from the minors. In need of a right-handed power hitter, the Orioles received a player with a $ 550,000 salary as opposed to the $ 1.15 million that Bradley
3081-596: The first indoor sports stadium ever built, was built to escape the hot and very humid climate of Houston and the Kingdome was built to escape Seattle's constant fall and winter rains. In Japan, domed stadiums were built to escape frequently rainy climates, as well as extreme snowfall in Sapporo. There is little to no natural light in these parks, necessitating the use of one of the most distinguishing aspects of an indoor park: artificial turf. While technology now allows for grass to be used in indoor venues (see Forsyth Barr Stadium ,
3160-404: The fly is a home run (if hit on the bounce, it is instead an automatic double). On either side of home plate are the two batter's boxes (left-handed and right-handed.) This is where the batter stands when at bat. Behind home is the catcher's box, where the catcher and the home plate umpire stand. Next to the first and third base are two coaches' boxes, where the first and third base coaches guide
3239-399: The foul poles and did not completely enclose the field. Plans were made to enclose the grandstand and build a dome, but engineers discovered that the structure could not handle the load of the proposed dome. Thus, the area behind the outfield fence remained open. One major innovation of the multi-purpose parks was the cantilevered upper deck. In earlier ballparks, the columns used to support
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3318-426: The game. With the growth of professional leagues, and consequent growth in the quantity of games, each game became less of an event, and fan convenience became more important. Many professional ballparks were built either near the city center, or in working-class neighborhoods, based on the expected economic level of the average fan. Consequently, the classic ballparks typically had little space for automobiles, as it
3397-425: The grandstands are notably smaller, proportional to expected sizes of crowds compared with the major leagues. The seating beyond the outfield fence generally differs from the grandstand, though some multi-purpose or jewel box parks have the grandstand surround the entire field. This area could contain inexpensive bleacher seats, smaller grandstands, or simply inclined seating. In local ballparks, there are often simply
3476-440: The indoor stadiums of the multi-purpose era in this section. *A baseball-only ballpark converted to a multi-purpose stadium. **A football-only stadium converted to a multi-purpose stadium. ‡ denotes stadium is also a retractable-roof ballpark An important type of ballpark is the indoor park . These parks are covered with a fixed roof, usually a hard concrete dome. The reasons to build indoor parks are varied. The Astrodome ,
3555-414: The last one, Oriole Park V, burning down in 1944. The earliest ballparks built or rebuilt of reinforced concrete , brick, and steel are now known as the jewel box ballparks or classic parks . Two-tiered grandstands became much more prevalent in this era, as well. The Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, which opened in 1895, was the first to use steel and brick as the primary construction materials and included
3634-443: The lines, 258 ft (79 m). to right and 280 ft (85 m). to left. In contrast, the deepest part of center field was nearly 500 ft (150 m). from home plate. Older ballparks, such as Fenway Park , were grandfathered in and allowed to keep their original dimensions. Also, new parks have sometimes received special dispensation to deviate from these rules. For instance, the second Yankee Stadium , built 2009, used
3713-452: The lower level. However, because of the supports used, the upper decks could come very close to the field. The two-tiered design was the standard for decades, until the New York Yankees built Yankee Stadium . To accommodate the large crowds Babe Ruth drew, Yankee Stadium was built with three tiers. This became the new standard until some recently built parks reverted to two, including PNC Park in 2001. Most jewel box parks were built to fit
3792-592: The mid-1840s. The name "Field" or "Park" was typically attached to the names of the early ballparks. With the beginnings of professional baseball, the ballfield became part of a complex including fixed spectator seating areas, and an enclosure to restrict access to paying customers, as with a fairgrounds. The name "Grounds" began to be attached to ballparks, starting with the Union Grounds in 1862. The suffixes "Field" and "Park" were still used, but many professional ballparks were "Grounds". The last major league "Grounds"
3871-465: The minors combined from the span of 1981 to 1982. He made his MLB debut at nearly 25 years old in September of 1982. Kittle was a popular player on the 1983 " winning ugly " Chicago White Sox when they won 99 games and made their first playoff appearance since the 1959 World Series . That season, Kittle was selected an All-Star and won Rookie of the Year honors after hitting 35 home runs (club record for
3950-529: The nearby Kane County Cougars , then a Florida Marlins Class A team. The ad mimicked the highly successful Converse ads where Larry Johnson starred as both himself and "Grandmama." Kittle resigned his position in 2001. Kittle was married from 1984 until 2010 and has two children. Kittle's memoirs, Ron Kittle's Tales from the White Sox Dugout , was published in 2005. Co-written with Bob Logan, who also co-wrote Michael Jordan 's book Come Fly with Me ,
4029-541: The next couple of years, he served as an ironworker while trying to build his body back up, trying to defy the expectations of his doctors that said he would never play baseball again (due to his injury, he could no longer hit from both sides of the plate). A few years later, he took a suggestion to play summer ball, doing so with the American Hellinic Educational Progressive Association. One of his towering home runs went far enough from
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#17328516566574108-414: The outfield fences. Generally, the higher the skill level, the deeper the minimum dimensions must be, to prevent an excess of home runs. In the major leagues, a rule was passed in 1958 that compelled any new fields built after that point to have a minimum distance of 325 feet (99 m) from home plate to the fences in left and right field, and 400 feet (120 m) to center. (Rule 1.04, Note(a)). This rule
4187-439: The park to land on Interstate 294, "500-plus feet away". Bill Veeck , then owner of the White Sox, heard about the home run and gave him a tryout. He signed with the White Sox in September 1978. Kittle hit 50 homers in the minor leagues with the Edmonton Trappers and has his jersey retired in Edmonton at Telus Field . He was voted winner of 1982's Pacific Coast League Most Valuable Player Award . He hit ninety home runs in
4266-552: The parks generally depended on the original use. Ballparks that were renovated to accommodate football, like Candlestick Park and Anaheim Stadium , were usually asymmetrically shaped. Football stadiums that were renovated to accommodate baseball, like Sun Life Stadium and Mile High Stadium , were usually of a rectangular shape, though Mile High actually started its life in 1948 as a Minor League Baseball park known as Bears Stadium. Parks that were built to serve both were usually circular and completely enclosed on all sides. These were
4345-490: The parks that gained multi-purpose parks the reputation as bland cookie-cutter structures. The first of these parks was DC Stadium (renamed RFK Stadium in 1969) in the District of Columbia . RFK is unique in that it hosted two different baseball teams , and that it was the first to originally be intended for multiple sports. A notable variant among the cookie-cutter stadia was Shea Stadium . Its grandstand extended just beyond
4424-451: The parks to become unfashionable. The multi-purpose architecture reached a climax when Toronto's SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) opened in 1989. It had state-of-the-art amenities including a retractable roof, hotel, and a restaurant behind the outfield from where patrons could view the games. Rogers Centre was renovated into a baseball only stadium from 2022 to 2024. There are no more purely open-air multi-purpose parks still in use today, with
4503-417: The professional levels, this seating is below the level of the playing field to not block the view from prime spectator seating locations. In amateur parks, the dugouts may be above-ground wooden or CMU structures with seating inside, or simply benches behind a chain-link fence. Beyond the infield and between the foul lines is a large grass outfield, generally twice the depth of the infield. The playing field
4582-401: The roof. This oval center was supposed to be lifted by the cables, opening the park up if the weather was pleasant. However, the mechanism never worked correctly, and what was supposed to be a retractable roof was initially not used, then used for only a short period of time, and later replaced with a permanently fixed roof, making the stadium a strictly indoor facility. Another notable park was
4661-548: The same dimensions as the original Yankee Stadium . The heights of the fences can also vary greatly, the most famous example being the 37-foot (11 m)-high Green Monster in Fenway Park 's left field. Such tall fences are often used to stop easy home runs in a section of the ballpark where the distances from home are shorter, or where there is little space between the field and the street beyond. Some in-play scoreboards and high fences reached 50 to 60 feet (18 m), whereas
4740-501: The same site. The stadium's naming rights were purchased by the Telus telecommunications company in September 1995 for a 14-year deal. It has 12 feet (3.7 m) walls all the way around except in centre field, where the batter's eye is a 34-foot (10 m) green monster which is the third highest wall in professional baseball. Three players, Matthew LeCroy , Michael Cuddyer , and Todd Sears have hit home runs over it. Telus Field held
4819-426: The source of the appellation. But this is most likely a false etymology , or partly so, as "southpaw" for left-handers has been in use since at least the mid 19th century, and applied to boxers.) Today, in Major League Baseball , a multi-tiered seating area, a grandstand , surrounds the infield. How far this seating extends down the baselines or around the foul poles varies from park to park. In minor league parks,
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#17328516566574898-469: The stadium for ten years. Gregg said that his group would try to secure an agreement for a second WCBL team to play at RE/MAX field, but he hoped the Prospects would continue to play there as well. However, the owner of the Prospects claimed the ongoing negotiations regarding their use of the field "[seemed] fraught with challenges." Gregg also outlined several possible plans to expand use of the field throughout
4977-455: The stadium on occasion: Baseball stadium A ballpark , or baseball park , is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part based on the placement of bases, and the outfield is where dimensions can vary widely from ballpark to ballpark. A larger ballpark may also be called
5056-401: The stadiums. Due to the rectangular shape needed for football or soccer, outfield dimensions were generally symmetrical, and even seats at field level down the lines could be far from the action. Multi-purpose stadiums also posed issues for their non-baseball tenants. The "cookie-cutters" with swiveling, field-level sections proved problematic. Because the front rows were too close to the field,
5135-417: The suburbs and bought cars, the lack of parking became an important issue. Some ballparks remedied this problem through the construction of parking garages in the vicinity, or building new ballparks with ample parking. Others built ballparks in the suburbs, typically with large parking areas. The ballpark/stadium thus became an "island" in an "ocean" of parking space. The modern "retro" trend seeks to cover all
5214-532: The symmetrical, multi-purpose, "cookie-cutter" stadiums. Since the opening of Camden Yards, many other "retro" stadiums have been built, each with asymmetrical fences. These distances vary from park to park, and can even change drastically in the same park. One of the most famous examples is the original Yankee Stadium, whose odd-shaped plot of land caused right field to be over 100 feet (30 m) shorter than left, although this difference lessened over time. The rectangular Polo Grounds had extremely short distance down
5293-465: The team signing him to a contract in 1976, and he would go to play with baseball in Clinton, Iowa . On his first baserunning play trying to score a run, he broke his neck when the catcher landed on him. For the rest of the year, he tried to play on what later diagnosed as a broken neck, complete with three crushed vertebrae and a cracked spinal cord. He had his discs fused while having his spine stabilized. For
5372-427: The upper decks obstructed the view from some seats in the lower deck. In the new design, the upper decks were extended upwards and the columns were removed. However, even though the extension counterbalanced some of the weight, the upper decks could no longer extend as close to the field and had to be moved back. Also, the roofs could no longer be as large, and often only covered the top 15 or so rows. This exposed fans to
5451-904: The wooden stands aged and dried. Many parks caught fire, and some were leveled completely. This problem, along with the popularization of baseball and expectations for long-term use of the parks were major factors that drove the transition to the new standard materials for ballparks: steel and concrete. Some famous wooden parks, such as the Polo Grounds III in New York and National League Park in Philadelphia, burned and were rebuilt with fire-resistant materials (Polo Grounds IV and Baker Bowl). Others were simply abandoned in favor of new structures built elsewhere. These new fire-resistant parks often lasted for many decades, and (retrospectively) came to be known as "jewel boxes". There are no more professional ballparks in existence left with this architectural trend, with
5530-456: The year, including the inclusion of minor baseball leagues, collaborations with local cultural and music groups, and an indoor attachment under the left field bleachers to allow for greater use of the facility during the winter. Baseball Edmonton Inc. advocated for the stadium to be included in the planned redevelopment of the Rossdale neighbourhood. The Prospects played the 2021 and 2022 seasons as
5609-532: Was also a manager for the minor league Schaumburg Flyers . The son of a steelworker, Kittle planned to work with his dad after high school, complete with being given his own ironworkers apprentice union card after graduating. However, he was enticed to seek out a tryout camp that was being held in La Porte, Indiana by the Los Angeles Dodgers . An ideal showing from the 18-year-old eventually led to scouts from
5688-399: Was bordered by tall walls or fences covered in advertisements, much like today's minor league parks. These advertisements were sometimes fronted with bleacher seats, or "bleaching boards". Wood, while prone to decomposition, was a relatively inexpensive material. However, the use of wood as the primary material presented a major problem, especially as baseball continued to thrive. Over time,
5767-782: Was designed to accommodate football). In contrast to the later multi-purpose parks, the seats were generally angled in a configuration suitable for baseball. The "retro" ballparks built in the 1990s and beyond are an attempt to capture the feel of the jewel box parks. The only jewel box parks still used by Major League Baseball are Fenway Park and Wrigley Field . From the 1960s until the arrival of retro parks in 1992, baseball built many multi-purpose ballparks . Also derisively known as "concrete donuts", "cookie-cutters", or "giant ashtrays", they were usually tall and circular or square structures made entirely of, usually bare, reinforced concrete. The parks were built to hold baseball, but also were able to host other sports, such as football and soccer. One of
5846-506: Was earning. Baltimore general manager Roland Hemond was criticized by the Daily Press for bringing on too many ex-White Sox like Kittle, Greg Walker , Kevin Hickey , Tim Hulett and Dave Gallagher . He became a free agent again in the off-season when the Orioles, who had earlier signed Dwight Evans , elected not to exercise the option on his contract on December 15, 1990. He returned to
5925-441: Was expected that most fans would take mass transit to the games, a situation that still prevails at Boston's Fenway Park and Chicago's Wrigley Field , for example. Some early ballparks, such as Brooklyn's Eastern Park , were abandoned because the trolley lines did not go out far enough and the team was not performing well enough for people to tolerate the inconvenience. As fans became more affluent, and especially as they moved to
6004-521: Was hired as the first manager of the non-affiliated minor league Schaumburg Flyers of the Northern League . During the early years of the Flyers franchise, Kittle did a series of TV commercials to promote the team, using the gimmick " Ma Kittle ," where he played both himself and his "Ma Kittle." The ads were successful at sparking some initial interest in the team as the Flyers hoped to steal away fans from
6083-474: Was passed to avoid situations like the Los Angeles Coliseum , which was 251 ft (77 m). down the left field line. However, with the opening of Baltimore's Camden Yards (1992), the "minimum distance" rule began to be ignored. One factor may be that the quaint, "retro" look of Camden Yards, with its irregular measurements, proved to be very popular, along with a traditionalist backlash against
6162-545: Was the Polo Grounds in New York City, which was razed in 1964. The term " stadium " has been used since ancient times, typically for a running track and its seating area. As college football gained in popularity, the smaller college playing fields and running tracks (which also frequently had the suffix "Field") gave way to large stadiums, many of them built during the sport's "boom" of the 1920s. Major league baseball enjoyed
6241-483: Was used for almost every new major league venue, and was sometimes applied to the old ones, such as Shibe Park , which was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1954. The suffix "Dome" was also used for the indoor stadiums constructed from the 1960s onward. The official names of those arenas also often included the word "Stadium", such as the Houston Astrodome , whose formal name was "Harris County Domed Stadium" in 1965;
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