Everett Memorial Stadium

Everett Memorial Stadium
Location 3900 Broadway
Everett, Washington
Owner Everett School District
Operator Everett School District
Capacity 3,682 Baseball Stadium
12,000 Football Stadium
Field size Left Field – 330 ft (101 m)
Center Field – 395 ft (120 m)
Right Field – 330 ft (101 m)
Surface Natural grass (1947–2017) Artificial turf (2018–present)
Construction
Opened 1947 (1947)
Expanded 1998
Tenants
Everett AquaSox (NWL, 1995–present)
Everett Giants (NWL, 1984–1994)
Everett Reign (WFA, 2013–present)

Everett Memorial Stadium is an outdoor stadium complex in Everett, Washington, primarily used for football and baseball. Opened in 1947, it has been the home field of the Everett AquaSox, a minor league baseball team in the Northwest League, and its predecessor the Everett Giants, since 1984. Since 2013, the football stadium has also been home to the Everett Reign, a women's football team. Remodeled in 1998, it currently has a seating capacity of 3,682 for baseball and 12,000 for football.[1]

It is also home to the Puget Sound Festival of Bands, an annual marching band competition. The 20-acre (8.1 ha) complex includes the football and baseball stadium, and is owned by the Everett School District, whose schools use the two stadiums for their athletic programs.

History

The stadium sits on land donated by the Everett Lodge of Elks 479 to the Everett School District in 1947, dedicated in memory of Everett citizens who died during military service in World War II.[2]

The first professional team to play at the stadium was the Everett Giants, playing in the Northwest League of Class A baseball. The first Giants game held at the stadium was played against the Bellingham Mariners in front of a crowd of 3,527 on June 19, 1984.[3]

On June 17, 1987, with 3,122 fans watching, Ken Griffey, Jr., playing for the Bellingham Mariners, hit his first professional home run over the left field wall, with the ball landing in the street approximately 387 feet from home plate. A plaque on the sidewalk marks the site just outside the left field wall.[4]

The baseball stadium underwent extensive renovations in 1998, at a cost of $5 million. The upgrade increased capacity by 1,400 seats to the present 3,682, built a larger concession area, and installed new lighting.[5] The renovation was funded by a motel-hotel tax approved by the Washington State Legislature in 1994.[6]

On October 17, 2017, citing the poor field conditions of the natural grass when the stadium was used by the Everett High School and Everett Community College baseball teams, which rendered the field unusable for baseball games played by both schools (although the latter school did play two games out of 22 that they had scheduled at the stadium in 2017), the natural grass field would be switched to an artificial surface. The surface switch received approval from the Aquasox parent club, the Seattle Mariners. Work on replacing the field began on October 31, 2017,[7] and was completed in April 2018.[8] It is one of three ballparks in the Northwest League to have an artificial turf field (the Eugene Emeralds' PK Park and the Hillsboro Hops' Ron Tonkin Field are the others).[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Everett Memorial Stadium Minor League History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 5 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "In 1947 Everett Memorial Stadium was dedicated to veterans" (PDF). Everett School District. November 11, 2015. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  3. ↑ Rockne, Dick (June 20, 1984). "Crowd runneth over as Everett welcomes pro ball". The Seattle Times. p. E1.
  4. ↑ Cotterill, TJ. "Minor league treasure: Ken Griffey Jr. was both the superstar and The Kid". TheNewsTribune.com. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  5. ↑ Brennan, Melanie (June 16, 1998). "Aquasox – Everett Stadium More Fan-Friendly". The Seattle Times. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  6. ↑ Brooks, Diane (August 2, 1994). "Giants Will Be Up First for Share of Hotel Tax". The Seattle Times. p. B1.
  7. ↑ https://www.milb.com/aquasox/news/aquasox-baseball-field-gets-a-makeover/c-260521840
  8. ↑ Petrowski, Don (April 15, 2018). "Prep baseball gallery: Hawks top Everett in Friday game at renovated Everett stadium". MLT News. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  9. ↑ Patterson, Nick (October 17, 2017). "Everett Memorial Stadium's baseball field converting to turf". HeraldNet. Retrieved April 17, 2018.

Coordinates: 47°58′01″N 122°12′11″W / 47.967°N 122.203°W / 47.967; -122.203

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.