historical minor league ballpark names

[thehef]

I posted this on a thread in the bugs forum but it should probably also go here...

Originally Posted by thehef

For about 20 parks (covering about 35 city-team/years) where I was unable to find any information on a park's name, I used the format of [name of city] followed by "City Ball Field." for example, for the Franklin, VA teams that played from '48-'50, the ball park name I used was Franklin City Ball Field. If you know the actual name for any of these ballparks, please let me know!!!

For any minor league history buffs, I would invite you to open your MiLBTeams.csv file, and filter on ballpark names that include "City Ball Field." And if you happen to know the real name of that park, let me know!

For more background on this, see http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post4120945

[mitchkenn]

didn't open the CSV file. Just looked at the minor league ballparks for the year (1924) i am currently in my game. Found these that were incorrect:

Texas League:
Dallas Steers (called Steers Park in game)
park name: Burnett Field orig. Gardner Park (II) a.k.a. Steers Park, Rebels Park, Eagles Stadium
who used park: Dallas Steers/Rebels/Eagles/Rangers - Texas League (mid-1924 - 1942, 1946-1958)

Fort Worth Panthers (called Pather Stadium in game)
real name - Panther Park was the name of two ballparks located in Fort Worth, TX and was the home of the Fort Worth Panthers from 1911 to 1925.[1] It was originally called Morris Park during its first four seasons.

Houston Buffaloes (game uses West End Park)
real park: Buffalo Stadium a.k.a. Busch Stadium
Occupants: Houston Buffaloes – Texas League (1928–1942,1946–1958) (so possibly West End Park could be right for 1924, but couldn't find any info to confirm it.)

PCL:
Portland Beavers (game uses Lucky Beavers Stadium)
real ballpark: Vaughn Street Park remained the home of the Portland PCL franchise, the nickname of which changed several times before it settled on the Portland Beavers, until the mid-1950s.

Salt Lake City Bees (game uses Bees Ballpark)
real park: 1915 team used Bonneville Park - only ballpark name i found before 1994 Smith Park

Seattle Indians (park in game called Indians Stadium)
real park: Dugdale Field was located at Rainier Avenue and McClellan Street among the Italian truck gardens in Rainier Valley. The double-deck wooden grandstand could seat 15,000. It was built in five weeks!
After winning another pennant in 1918, Dugdale gave up control of the team. The Seattle baseball club entered the Pacific Coast League in 1919. They were renamed the Seattle Indians in 1922.

hope this helps some. will look at next few years, if/when i get a better chance.

[thehef]

If the name doesn't include "City Ball Field" then the name used in the csv file (and thus, used by OOTP) is most-likely the correct name, based upon the best sources that I could find.

I don't have my data files (with sources, etc.) with me at the moment, but for the ones you've listed above, most of those fall under this category from the list here - http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/boar...ml#post4120945:

Originally Posted by thehef

8. Several parks changed names, often based upon the name of their team and/or affiliate. A good example is the park in Columbus, OH originally known as Red Bird Stadium: Once the team became known as the Jets, the park became Jets Stadium. It was later renamed Franklin County Stadium, and then Cooper Stadium. I generally went with these names as they were known at the time, with the changes when they occurred (as best that I could determine). For various reasons, that simply made the most sense.

I'll check these later, though. Thanks!

(In addition, when researching these it was not uncommon to find two different sources indicating two different ballparks or cutover years, etc...)

[mitchkenn]

thanks for clarification on my above post ....

went through MiLB csv and found these - lots of others maybe 10 maybe 15, that i found no info on ...

---------------- named City Ball Field --- or at least has City Ball Field in title -----
Sioux Falls - Eastside Park (1936-1938)
Sioux City Falls Canaries (1939) Howard Wood Field
Ozark Cardnials - played in Hammond Field (1999-2004) also called Price Cutter Park
Kilgore Braves - Driller Park - is still a jewel supporting local high school and community college baseball teams. Built in 1947 from oilfield materials.

[thehef]

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

didn't open the CSV file. Just looked at the minor league ballparks for the year (1924) i am currently in my game. Found these that were incorrect:

Texas League:
Dallas Steers (called Steers Park in game)
park name: Burnett Field orig. Gardner Park (II) a.k.a. Steers Park, Rebels Park, Eagles Stadium
who used park: Dallas Steers/Rebels/Eagles/Rangers - Texas League (mid-1924 - 1942, 1946-1958)

Fort Worth Panthers (called Pather Stadium in game)
real name - Panther Park was the name of two ballparks located in Fort Worth, TX and was the home of the Fort Worth Panthers from 1911 to 1925.[1] It was originally called Morris Park during its first four seasons.

Houston Buffaloes (game uses West End Park)
real park: Buffalo Stadium a.k.a. Busch Stadium
Occupants: Houston Buffaloes – Texas League (1928–1942,1946–1958) (so possibly West End Park could be right for 1924, but couldn't find any info to confirm it.)

PCL:
Portland Beavers (game uses Lucky Beavers Stadium)
real ballpark: Vaughn Street Park remained the home of the Portland PCL franchise, the nickname of which changed several times before it settled on the Portland Beavers, until the mid-1950s.

Salt Lake City Bees (game uses Bees Ballpark)
real park: 1915 team used Bonneville Park - only ballpark name i found before 1994 Smith Park

Seattle Indians (park in game called Indians Stadium)
real park: Dugdale Field was located at Rainier Avenue and McClellan Street among the Italian truck gardens in Rainier Valley. The double-deck wooden grandstand could seat 15,000. It was built in five weeks!
After winning another pennant in 1918, Dugdale gave up control of the team. The Seattle baseball club entered the Pacific Coast League in 1919. They were renamed the Seattle Indians in 1922.

hope this helps some. will look at next few years, if/when i get a better chance.

Here's what I have on the parks you mentioned...

Early Texas League Dallas teams (that played under several nicknames) played at various sites in and around the city until setting into Gaston Park for the 1902 season. They moved into the first Gardner Park in 1915. It burnt down on July 19th, 1924 (and was by then known as Steers Park). They played one game at Riverside Park but otherwise finished the season at State Fair Racetrack...For 1925 they moved into the new Gardner Park, built across the street from the old one. This Gardner Park also took on the nicknames of the Dallas teams that played there (Steers Park through 1938, then Rebel Park)... Fire again struck, destroying the second version of Gardner Park sometime in 1940 (unable to find the exact date). The rebuilt Rebel Park was not ready for the beginning of the 1941 season, so the Rebels played their first three games at Katy Park in Waco. This third incarnation of Gardner Park became known as Burnett Field sometime between the '48 and '49 seasons, and was home to the Eagles/Rangers into the 60's.
(mostly sourced from the book: "Baseball In Dallas")

The Ft. Worth Panthers moved from Haynes Park to Morris Park for the 1911 season. Morris Park became known as Panther Park for the 1915 season. The Panthers then moved into a new Panther Park for the 1926 season. This park became known as LaGrave Field, after their owner who built it.
(mostly sourced from SABR ballpark pages that are now dead links)

Early Texas League Houston clubs played in Herald Park (aka Houston Base Ball Park, Fair Ground Park, and League Park). The Houston Buffaloes then played in West End Park from 1905 through 1927. They moved into the newly built Buffalo Stadium (aka "Buff Stadium") for the 1928 season, where they remained until Houston became a major-league city in 1962. (Buff Stadium was renamed Busch Stadium in 1958.)

For the PCL teams, I did not provide the parks for seasons prior to 1931 because my (old) MiLB teams source file didn't indicate that the pre-1932 PCL had any MLB affiliates. So, givin that...

Vaughn Street Park is the correct name for the Portland ballpark. Lucky Beavers Stadium is an aka that was likely in use at the time, when the team was also unofficially known as the Lucky Beavers.

For Salt Lake City, Bonneville Park (originally/known as "Majestic Park" 1915-16) is the correct name ("Bees Ballpark" was the name given in your game by OOTP, as the park name is blank in the csv)... Technically, though not practical, it might be more accurate to say that the team played "at the ballpark in Majestic (or Bonneville) park," since both "Majestic" and "Bonneville" reflected the name of the amusement park in which the ball field was located... At any rate, Majestic Park was renamed Bonneville Park in November of 1915. A new home, "Community Park," was built in time for the late-May opening of the 1928 season. This park became unofficially known as Derks Field (named after a sportswriter who was instrumental in SLC pro baseball) in 1946. However, just after the Bees finished their (successful) playoffs, Derks Field burned down on the night of 9/24/46. The new Derks Field was built on the same location and was home to Pioneer and PCL baseball in Salt Lake City through 1992.
(mostly sourced from Deseret News articles)

For Seattle, Dugdale Field was the correct park name ("Indians Stadium" would've been the name given in your game by OOTP, as the park name is blank in the csv)... Seattle teams played at Recreation Park from 1903 - and possible earlier - through 1906, and then at Yesler Way Park from 1907 thru 1912. They then played at Dugdale from the 1913 season until it burned down on July 5th, 1932. It stands to reason that they finished the season playing home games at Civic Stadium, as that was their home park from 1933 thru mid-1938, but I don't have verification of that. They moved into Sick's Stadium, which was built on the site of Dugdale, in June of 1938...

[thehef]

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

thanks for clarification on my above post ....

went through MiLB csv and found these - lots of others maybe 10 maybe 15, that i found no info on ...

---------------- named City Ball Field --- or at least has City Ball Field in title -----
Sioux Falls - Eastside Park (1936-1938)
Sioux City Falls Canaries (1939) Howard Wood Field

Right. Those are the park names I have and that are in the csv. It's only for 1935 that I was unable to find the name of the park, which is why "Sioux Falls City Ball Field" was used instead. The source for most of those Sioux Falls years was baseballreference.com, and they do not list a ballpark for Sioux Falls for 1935.

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

Ozark Cardnials - played in Hammond Field (1999-2004) also called Price Cutter Park

The only Ozark Cardinals team included in OOTP is the 1936 team. I was not able to find the ballpark for that team... I do have that the Springfield/Ozark Ducks played at Price Cutter Park from 1998-2004, but those teams were in various Indy leagues, and thus not in OOTP.

Originally Posted by mitchkenn

Kilgore Braves - Driller Park - is still a jewel supporting local high school and community college baseball teams. Built in 1947 from oilfield materials.

Yep, that's what I have. It's the 1936-1938 Kilgore teams where I was unable to find the ballpark name, and thus "Kilgore City Ball Field."