Hi Corbett Field
Tucson, AZ
Review by Mike
Hi Corbett Field is the home of the University of Arizona Wildcats, but they are just the latest in a long line of tenants at this historic ballpark. In 1946, spurred by their contempt for racial segregation in Florida, Bill Veeck and Horace Stoneham, owners of the Indians and Giants, decided to relocate their pre-season homes to Arizona. The next year, Veeck would integrate the American League by signing Larry Doby. The Giants went to Phoenix and the Indians moved into Hi Corbett Field in Tucson, which had opened in 1937.
Hi Corbett hosted the Indians for 45 years and then the Rockies for another 18. The AAA Tucson Toros played here until 1997. Two years after the Rockies headed for Scottsdale, Arizona University came in and took over the ballpark and they’ve done a lovely job and making it their own while preserving the history.
This is a big stadium, seating 9,500, and it is divided into three sections. The original ballpark is a large, concrete and steel grandstand that wraps around from 1st base to 3rd base, The seating is mostly aluminum benches, with smaller areas of fixed-back “premium” seating. The look of this stand is quirky, with the seating rising high up along the base lines, but squatting lower behind home plate, like a bird lowering its head while raising its wings up high.
The press box and, perhaps a few suites, are housed in a building at the back of this lower center section and a rectangle of roof extends out over the seats right in front of it. The roof is a nice looking feature, but probably only shades less then 10% of the seats in the stadium. After a gap, two large steel and aluminum bleacher sections extend down each line towards the foul poles. These are massive bleachers and the overall impression of this old ballpark is BIG.
The snazzy Arizona logo is everywhere, on the outfield fence, along the concourse, in decorative striping and on the training facility just beyond the right field fence. There are historical plaques, retired numbers and a large display in the outfield detailing the success of Arizona baseball through the years.
On the night I attended, the Wildcats were facing their chief rivals for the conference championship, Oregon State. There was a big, lively crowd on a hot evening in May. The food was good and reasonably priced, the atmosphere electric and Hi Corbett Field was as relevant on this day as it was on that historic day when Bill Veeck made a stand against racism by moving his Cleveland team across the country to this venerable ballpark.
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2024
260
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