Jacksonville’s Wolfson Park Now the NFL Jaguars’ Practice Field

Deadball Baseball

Jacksonville Baseball Park was located at 1201 East Duval Street in Jacksonville, Florida, just northwest of the former Gator Bowl. Constructed in 1954, the ballpark opened in March 1955, hosting a spring training game between the Washington Senators and the Cincinnati Reds. That same month, the ballpark hosted another spring training game between the soon-to-be…

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Plant Field and the Roots of Spring Training in Tampa, Florida

A postcard about the Florida State Fair

Plant Field was located near the northeast intersection of North Boulevard and West North B Street in Tampa, Florida. Constructed in the 1890s, the athletic facility was on the grounds of the Tampa Bay Hotel and included a variety of athletic fields, including horse racing, for guests of the hotel. Plant Field was named after…

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Sarasota’s Ed Smith Stadium Redux

The front façade of the Ed Smith Stadium

Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida, is not a lost ballpark. However, the stadium as it existed in when it first opened in 1989 is long gone, replaced with a strikingly different ballpark that calls out for a deadballbaseball then and now comparison. Ed Smith Stadium as it exists today is modern, yet seemingly from…

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Baseballs and Superbowls – Tampa’s Al Lopez Field

Al Lopez Field was located at the intersection of North Himes Avenue and West Woodlawn Avenue in Tampa, Florida. From 1955 to 1959 it was the Spring Training home of the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox relocated to Payne Park in Sarasota, Florida, in 1960. From 1960 until 1987 Al Lopez Field was the Spring Training…

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The Nashville Sounds of Silence At Greer Stadium

The Hershel Greer Stadium

Hershel Greer Stadium, home of the Nashville Sounds, currently is located at 534 Chestnut Street, in Nashville, Tennessee, just two miles south of downtown Nashville. Greer Stadium was constructed by the City of Nashville in 1978 on land that was once part of Fort Negley, a Civil War fortification once occupied by Union Troops. Fort…

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Crosley Field and the Corner of Findlay and Western

The corner of Findlay Street and Western Avenue hosted professional baseball from 1884 until June 1970. Home of the Cincinnati Reds, the earliest ballpark incarnation at that corner, League Park, lasted until 1900, when the grandstand was destroyed by fire. Portions of League Park undamaged by the fire, mainly seating in right field (the former League Park…

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