All Purpose Stadium Thread

[WSU151]

I've actually heard that about RFK. I've never been there so I couldn't compare it though.

A few years ago at the Pro Bowl I saw a guy get a REALLY nasty injury at Aloha Stadium because the platform he was walking on under the bleachers to get to his seats literally rusted out beneath his feet and he fell through.

And while I agree that Aloha Stadium is awesome because it's on Oahu, it's actually in a pretty inconvenient part of the island (Halawa) in comparison to where most people stay (Waikiki Beach).

They do have a pretty kick ass swap meet, though.

Well Aloha isn't the only odd stadium on Oahu either. Les Murakami Stadium has a pretty interesting (and large) design for a NCAA baseball park. But what really struck me about it was the odd infield with no dirt other than the mound and plate. I've since seen it copied by the Hillsboro Hops in Oregon. But this was the first park I ever saw with such a dirtless layout.

If there's no dirt other than the mound and the plate, what's that red stuff that stretches around from 1st to 3rd? Is it paint?

[Cosmic]

I've actually heard that about RFK. I've never been there so I couldn't compare it though.

A few years ago at the Pro Bowl I saw a guy get a REALLY nasty injury at Aloha Stadium because the platform he was walking on under the bleachers to get to his seats literally rusted out beneath his feet and he fell through.

And while I agree that Aloha Stadium is awesome because it's on Oahu, it's actually in a pretty inconvenient part of the island (Halawa) in comparison to where most people stay (Waikiki Beach).

They do have a pretty kick ass swap meet, though.

Well Aloha isn't the only odd stadium on Oahu either. Les Murakami Stadium has a pretty interesting (and large) design for a NCAA baseball park. But what really struck me about it was the odd infield with no dirt other than the mound and plate. I've since seen it copied by the Hillsboro Hops in Oregon. But this was the first park I ever saw with such a dirtless layout.

If there's no dirt other than the mound and the plate, what's that red stuff that stretches around from 1st to 3rd? Is it paint?

The field is synthetic grass, so the basebaths are likely just the same turf product in a different color.

[dfwabel]

For all the flak that the Oakland Coliseum, Candlestick Park, Tropicana Field, ect get for being dumps, they are all state-of-the-art palaces in comparison to Aloha Stadium. That place is BY FAR the biggest dump I've ever seen a game at.

Never been to Aloha, but the Citrus Bowl can hang with the sleaziest of sleazy dives.

I went to the 1997 Citrus Bowl. And I can completely agree with your comment. Not only the stadium, but that part of town seemed shady. Not sure if either have improved since then.

Citrus Bowl neighbourhood hasn't changed, but at the end of the month, the entire lower bowl will be demolished and rebuilt.

http://bungalower.com/2013/12/demolition-florida-citrus-bowl-reconstruction-begins-next-month/

[bosrs1]

I've actually heard that about RFK. I've never been there so I couldn't compare it though.

A few years ago at the Pro Bowl I saw a guy get a REALLY nasty injury at Aloha Stadium because the platform he was walking on under the bleachers to get to his seats literally rusted out beneath his feet and he fell through.

And while I agree that Aloha Stadium is awesome because it's on Oahu, it's actually in a pretty inconvenient part of the island (Halawa) in comparison to where most people stay (Waikiki Beach).

They do have a pretty kick ass swap meet, though.

Well Aloha isn't the only odd stadium on Oahu either. Les Murakami Stadium has a pretty interesting (and large) design for a NCAA baseball park. But what really struck me about it was the odd infield with no dirt other than the mound and plate. I've since seen it copied by the Hillsboro Hops in Oregon. But this was the first park I ever saw with such a dirtless layout.

If there's no dirt other than the mound and the plate, what's that red stuff that stretches around from 1st to 3rd? Is it paint?

The field is synthetic grass, so the basebaths are likely just the same turf product in a different color.

Exactly right. It's just field turf in basepath brown. As I said the Hillsboro Hops' (Diamondbacks Short Season A affiliate) new stadium that opened last spring has a similar setup.

Personally I'm not a fan of it (even less so than the older dirt islands around bases used in places like Toronto). But I understand why they'd do it in places like Hillboro or where Les Murikami is located on Oahu. The rain would make maintenance of even base islands a pain in the backside. That said I hope more MiLB teams don't adopt this long term.

[BigBubba]

The Blue Jays do that for their warning track area. It's not uncommon to see a new/visiting player tracking down a foul ball unexpectedly crash into the wall because they thought they were still running on the turf.

[cappital92]

Having the basepath turf brown would've been a great idea for the cookie-cutter/Astroturf generation of ballparks.

I've done a search and come up empty, but in the 80's, RFK Stadium had the Old Timers Classic baseball game. They just set up the field with the stadium in the football configuration. Thanks to the shortened park, 75 year old Luke Appling was able to hit a home run. I could've sworn I've seen a picture of RFK for that game.

[cmm]

[bosrs1]

Having the basepath turf brown would've been a great idea for the cookie-cutter/Astroturf generation of ballparks.

I've done a search and come up empty, but in the 80's, RFK Stadium had the Old Timers Classic baseball game. They just set up the field with the stadium in the football configuration. Thanks to the shortened park, 75 year old Luke Appling was able to hit a home run. I could've sworn I've seen a picture of RFK for that game.

It definitely would have been more visual appealing, but play wise I would have hoped they'd keep the dirt islands kinds of like what Kleenex Stadium (top) or Yokohama Stadium (bottom) in Japan have. That and Yokohama has to be one of the few artificial fields I've seen that actually has a grass like cut pattern in it.

[GriffinM6]

The fields at the Call Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach are all turf.

[ShlyKBMT]

The dirt colored turf is becoming more and more common.

Lamar University did it to the infield only a few years back. Only a small portion of the mound is dirt.

University of Texas. Dirt mound

[bosrs1]

Yeah it seems to be more widely accepted thing in college due to cost savings. That said, hopefully it stays out of the pros for the most part. Baseball is meant to be played on dirt and grass, not artificial infields. Though again one stadium in Japan takes it too far the other way...

Koshien Stadium in Hanshin is the only top level baseball park I can think of off hand that has an all dirt infield. I've seen plenty of softball and little league fields like this, but never top level pro parks.

[GriffinM6]

Wichita State has the ugliest field in D1 baseball. The dirt turf is dark brown. WTF?

[dbadefense1990]

Wichita State has the ugliest field in D1 baseball. The dirt turf is dark brown. WTF?

Maybe it's perception, but I always thought of dark brown infields as more common than people think, at least through my viewing experience. The most prevalent case is of how the dirt at Jacobs Field appeared to be "darker" than normal during its early days in the 1990s.

[pcgd]

JFK looks a bit like old Soldier Field.

The all dirt infield thing was fairly common in Japanese baseball for awhile, didn't realize most had switched today.

[WSU151]

Wichita State has the ugliest field in D1 baseball. The dirt turf is dark brown. WTF?

Looks like it might be black, to tie in to the logo. Seems like it's the same color as the WSU.

[BBTV]

Wait is that just brown astroturf? Is there at least dirt where the players have to slide?

[wonderbread]

Wait is that just brown astroturf? Is there at least dirt where the players have to slide?

fieldturf that has little rubber pellets but ya no dirt

[walby2]

JFK looks a bit like old Soldier Field.

JFK was such an odd beast. A giant stadium that stood for decades without any major, long-term tenants before finally deteriorating to the point where it had to be demolished.

[BBTV]

JFK looks a bit like old Soldier Field.

JFK was such an odd beast. A giant stadium that stood for decades without any major, long-term tenants before finally deteriorating to the point where it had to be demolished.

Talk about all purpose! I knew about the Army Navy, Stars, and the billions of concerts, but never most of this other stuff that occurred there. From Wikipedia:

JFK Stadium was built as part of the 1926 Sesquicentennial International Exposition. Originally known as Sesquicentennial Stadium when it opened April 15, 1926, the structure was renamed "Philadelphia Municipal Stadium"^[3] after the Exposition's closing ceremonies. In 1964, it was renamed John F. Kennedy Stadium in memory of the 35th President of the United States who had been assassinated the year before.

The stadium's first tenants (in 1926) were the Philadelphia Quakers of the first American Football League, whose Saturday afternoon home games were a popular mainstay of the Exposition. The Quakers won the league championship but the league folded after one year.

The Frankford Yellow Jackets also played here intermittently until the team's demise in 1931. Two years later the National Football League awarded another team to the city, the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles had a four-season stint as tenants of the stadium before moving to Shibe Park for the 1940 season, although the team did play at Municipal in 1941. The Eagles also used the stadium for practices in the 1970s and 1980s, even locating their first practice bubble there before moving it to the Veterans Stadium parking lot following the stadium's condemnation.

The stadium became known chiefly as the "neutral" venue for a total of 41 annual Army–Navy Games played there between 1936 to 1979, and during the 1960s it served as Navy's home field when they played Notre Dame.

A.F. “Bud” Dudley, a former Villanova University athletic-director, created the Liberty Bowl in Philadelphia in 1959. The game was played at Municipal Stadium and was the only cold-weather bowl game of its time. It was plagued by poor attendance; the 1963 game between Mississippi State and NC State drew less than 10,000 fans and absorbed a loss in excess of $40,000. The Liberty Bowl’s best game was its first in 1959, when 38,000 fans watched Penn State beat Alabama, 7-0. Atlantic City convinced Dudley to move his game from Philadelphia to Atlantic City's Convention Hall for 1964. 6,059 fans saw Utah rout West Virginia in the first Bowl Game played indoors. Dudley moved the game to Memphis in 1965 where it has been played since.^[4]

The stadium hosted Philadelphia's City Title high school football championship game in 1939 and 1978. St. Joe's Prep defeated Northeast, 27 to 6, in 1939. Frankford beat Archbishop Wood, 27 to 7, in heavy rain in 1978.^[5]

The stadium was home to the Philadelphia Bell of the World Football League in 1974; the team played at Franklin Field in 1975. In 1958 the stadium hosted a CFL game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders with proceeds from ticket sales going to local charities.

On September 23, 1926, an announced crowd of 120,557 packed the then-new Stadium during a rainstorm to witness Gene Tunney capture the world heavyweight boxing title from Jack Dempsey. Undefeated Rocky Marciano knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott at the stadium in 1952 to win boxing's heavyweight championship.

On June 26, 1957, a 150 lap NASCAR convertible race was held at the Stadium, which was won by Bob Welborn in a 1957 Chevrolet.^[6]

JFK Stadium hosted Team America's soccer match against England on May 31, 1976, as part of the 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament. In the game, England defeated Team America, 3-1, in front of a small crowd of 16,239. England and Italy had failed to qualify for the 1976 European Championship final tournament and so they joined Brazil and Team America, composed of international stars playing in the North American Soccer League, in the four team competition. Because Team America was composed of international players and was not the American national team, the Football Association does not regard England's match against Team America as an official international match.^[7]

JFK Stadium was one of fifteen United States stadia (and along with Franklin Field one of two in Philadelphia) inspected by a five-member FIFA committee in April 1988 in the evaluation of the United States as a possible host of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[8] By the time the World Cup was held in 1994, JFK Stadium had already been demolished two years prior.

[GeauxColonels]

This is interesting with the Superdome configuration for baseball

Another baseball look for the Superdome. I've been to a few baseball games there, one an MLB exhibition game on Easter Sunday between the Yankees and Cubs and the other a game between Tulane and LSU.

Basketball in the Superdome before it became common for Final 4s:

Final 4 seating configuration:

Concert setup:

And here's the Dome's setup for the Endymion Extravaganza - which is a combination parade and concert the Saturday night before Mardi Gras.