Connie Mack Field

Connie Mack Field
Mack Field
Full name Connie Mack Field
Former names Municipal Athletic Field (1924–1926)
Wright Field (1927–1952)
Location West Palm Beach, Florida
Capacity 3,500
Surface Grass
Construction
Opened October 1924
Demolished February 1992
Tenants
St. Louis Browns (AL) (spring training) (1928–1936)
Philadelphia Athletics/Kansas City Athletics (AL) (spring training) (1946–1962)
West Palm Beach Indians (FECL) (1940–1942); (FIL) (1946–1954); (FSL) (1955)
West Palm Beach Sun Chiefs (FSL) (1956)
West Palm Beach Braves (FSL) (1965–1968)

Connie Mack Field was a ballpark in midtown West Palm Beach, Florida which was the long-time spring training home of the Philadelphia Athletics and Kansas City Athletics.

The stadium was built in 1924 and initially named Municipal Athletic Field hosted its first event, a football game, in October 1924. The first baseball game was played in December.[1]

It was renamed Wright Field in 1927 for West Palm Beach City Manager George C. Wright, then was renamed Connie Mack Field in 1952 in honor of long-time Philadelphia Athletics manager and owner Connie Mack and was replaced in 1962 by West Palm Beach Municipal Stadium although the grandstand remained until 1973. Thereafter, the ball field itself remained and was used regularly by neighboring Twin Lakes High School.

In 1992 it was all bulldozed for a parking garage for the new Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts where there is a tribute display in the garage by main elevator.[2]

The grandstands originally held about 2,000; black fans were allowed to watch from a small section in the right-field corner. Total capacity was about 3,500.[3]

Record attendance for baseball was on March 20, 1949 when 6,988 fans saw the A's defeat the Brooklyn Dodgers in a spring training game, by a 6-0 decision, which featured Jackie Robinson on the field and then-Secretary of State General of the Army George C. Marshall in attendance.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Eliot Kleinberg (2009-06-18). "Honor To Field's Namesake Was Posthumous". Retrieved 2009-09-22.
  2. ↑ Kleinberg, Eliot (2006). Palm Beach Past: The Best of "Post Time". Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press. p. 51. ISBN 1-59629-115-X.
  3. ↑ Eliot Kleinberg (2007-12-26). "Mack Field Hosted Baseball Greats". Retrieved 2009-09-22.
  4. ↑ McGowen, Roscoe (1949-03-21). "Mackmen triumph over Brooklyn, 6-0". New York Times. p. 27. Retrieved 2009-09-22.

Coordinates: 26°42′26.35″N 80°3′40.43″W / 26.7073194°N 80.0612306°W / 26.7073194; -80.0612306


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