Phoenix Municipal Stadium
Phoenix, AZ
Review by Gary
Phoenix Municipal Stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, or Phoenix Muni, as it’s called by the locals, opened on March 8, 1964 as spring training home to the San Francisco Giants with Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays hitting the first home run on that day. The Giants trained at Phoenix Muni until 1981 until the Oakland A’s took over these hallowed baseball grounds as their spring home in 1982. The Athletics remained until 2014 when they migrated to Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium. The Phoenix Firebirds of the Pacific Coast League played here from 1966-1991.
The ballpark holds 8,775 fans and is nicely situated within the picturesque Papago Mountains. Phoenix Muni offers great views of the action from foul pole to foul pole. There is no seating in the outfield other than a raised deck in right field. Above the left field fence, fans are treated to a series of billboards that display the jersey numbers of all ASU alumni to have played in the majors. A copious list of ASU’s College World Series teams and champions is displayed in right field. The history of pro baseball in Phoenix is etched in concrete along the left field concourse. A tasteful display of former players, coaches and ASU’s former home, Packard Stadium, can be found behind the first base stands.
The lively crowd attending this Saturday ballgame in February may or may not have realized that they were sitting beneath light poles that also shone upon the likes of Vic Wertz, Mel Ott, Bobbie Thompson, and Willie Mays many decades ago. These fans were cheering for either the visiting Ohio State Buckeyes or the hometown Arizona State Sun Devils in a Pac12 college baseball game. The light poles were the very same ones that rose above the Polo Grounds in New York from 1940 until 1964, when Horace Stoneham, the Giants owner, shipped the light poles to Phoenix right before the Coogan’s Bluff stadium was torn down.
The Polo Grounds stadium lights were separated from the light poles and while ten of the poles made the move to Phoenix Muni, the actual lights were installed at Bowman Field in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where they illuminated the players below for 23 years at the then-home of the Double-A Williamsport Mets.
A graceful concrete roof protects the fans around the infield from the Arizona sun, although the most notable feature, other than the vintage light poles, must be the Frank Lloyd Wright-esque designs that adorn the walkways under the stands and on the support buildings. Designed with natural rock and concrete, these blend smoothly with the native landscape to create a uniquely “Arizona” feel.
Phoenix Municipal Stadium’s only tenant since 2015 has been the Sun Devils and the ballpark is decorated in ASU’s familiar maroon and gold colors. It is an inviting place to catch some college baseball under the Arizona skies and Polo Grounds light towers.
2024
2024
241
244
Where They Played Before
Packard Stadium
Before moving to Phoenix Muni full team in 2015, the Sun Devils played at Packard Stadium on the ASU campus for 40 years. The stadium still stands, but the field is used as storage space for the campus maintenance department.
