Winter Chevrolet Stadium
Pittsburg, CA
Review by Mike
Winter Chevrolet Stadium was the home of the Pittsburg Diamonds of the independent Pacific Association from 2015-2018. The Diamonds, and the league they played in, have faded away, but this old ballpark is still standing, just south of a body of water worryingly called New York Slough, which feeds into Suisan Bay, which connects with San Pablo Bay and then on to San Francisco Bay. It’s all very confusing.
Equally confusing is when this little ballpark was built. The internet has little to say on the subject, but I found a single reference in a local newspaper reporting that the 2015 Pittsburg Diamonds were named after a team of the same name that played here from 1948 to 1951, so I’m going with 1948. I invite anyone who knows better to drop us a line.
A very friendly groundskeeper was kind enough to let me have a look around and I found a well-kept field overlooked by a worn, but sturdy grandstand built on a steel structure with wooden flooring and bleachers. A corrugated metal roof supported by four poles covers about half of the seating. The main grandstand is asymmetrical in that it sits behind home plate, makes a turn and continues a little way up the 1st base line, but there is no corresponding wing on the 3rd base side.
A free-standing aluminum grandstand sits farther along the 1st base line, meaning that there is no seating on the 3rd base side at all. This is probably a good thing as the field is oriented to the south-southeast and any seats on the left side of the diamond would stare right into the sun, no matter the time of day.
The wooden, field level covered dugouts are way down by the bases, but like the rest of this stadium they are solid. Chain link and netting protect everything beyond the playing surface down to the bases, especially important as the stadium resides in City Park and folks out and about might object to flying objects raining down from the sky while perambulating the many footpaths.
The ballpark is decidedly old and weatherbeaten, but the city has done a good job of keeping it in serviceable condition. It’s not a flashy old stadium that oozes history, but there is a stoic, working-class feel to it, reflecting the industrial history of the town, which was named in 1911 in honor of its more famous “h”-bearing counterpart in the East. Thanks again to the nice fellow who let me have a glimpse at a place that has likely remained virtually unchanged while the world around it has transformed a dozen times.
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2024
250
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