Ft. Lauderdale Stadium – The Ghost of Spring Trainings Past

The exterior of the Fort Lauderdale Stadium

Fort Lauderdale Stadium is located at 1401 NW 55th Street, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, just east of the Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport and north of Lockhart Stadium. Although the City of Fort Lauderdale operates the ballpark, the land it is on is part of the 64 acres that make up the airport. For almost 50 seasons,…

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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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Once Dodgertown Now Historic Dodgertown

Dodgertown, located at 3901 26th Street in Vero Beach, Florida, was the spring training home of the Brooklyn Dodgers commencing in 1948. The major league squad also trained in Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic in 1948, and from 1950 through 1957, the Dodgers’ big league club played their Spring Training games at Miami Stadium. Dodgertown was…

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