Hi Corbett Field
is a baseball field located in Tucson, Arizona. The stadium holds 9,500 people. It is the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies.
|
HI CORBETT FIELD TICKETS
|
Venue history and statistics
Built in 1937 for the Class D Tucson Lizards (Arizona/Texas League), Hi Corbett Field was originally called Randolph Municipal Baseball Park.
[1] It was renamed in honor of
Hiram Stevens Corbett (1886-1967),
[2] a former Arizona state senator who was instrumental in bringing spring training to Tucson, specifically by convincing
Bill Veeck to bring the
Cleveland Indians to Tucson in 1947. Veeck owned a ranch in Tucson at the time, and players sometimes rode Veeck's horses after the games.
Hi Corbett was remodeled in 1972 and renovated in 1992, 1997 and 1999. It is part of a larger city park complex, Gene C. Reid Park (which also includes the
Reid Park Zoo) and Randolph Park, located between Broadway Boulevard and 22nd Street in midtown Tucson.
The main playing field's dimensions are as follows: 348 feet in Right Field, 392 feet in Center Field, and 366 feet in Left Field, with a "Green Monster" fence in Center Field. The ballpark currently has a capacity of 9,500, including 598 box seats, 8,350 reserved seats, and 562 bleacher seats. There are also two ancillary fields for use in spring training, but these make no provision for spectators.
The main stadium building is located at .
Teams
Hi Corbett served as the spring training home of the
Cleveland Indians from 1945 through 1992. Parts of the 1989 movie
Major League
were filmed at Hi Corbett Field. This production used members of the
University of Arizona baseball team as extras.
Since 1993, Hi Corbett has been the pre-season home of the expansion Colorado Rockies, who moved into Hi Corbett with their inaugural spring training.
Hi Corbett is also closely associated with minor league baseball. Aside from the Lizards, the
Tucson Cowboys (Class C;
Arizona-Texas League) played at Hi Corbett intermittently from the late 1930s until 1958. The
Tucson Toros (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) played there from their inception in 1969 until 1997. The largest Tucson Toros crowd at Hi Corbett was 12,863 on May 17, 1981 against Salt Lake City. In 1997, the Toros essentially exchanged ownership and franchises with the nearby
Phoenix Firebirds, so that the ex-Toros played in
Scottsdale Stadium as the Firebirds, and the ex-Firebirds played at Hi Corbett as the Toros. In 1998 the Phoenix team relocated to
Fresno, California and was renamed the
Fresno Grizzlies,
[3] and the Tucson Toros became the
Tucson Sidewinders, and played in the new
Tucson Electric Park.
[4]
The
Arizona Fall League, a short season league for major league
prospects, fielded a team at Hi Corbett in 1993 and 1994, known as the
Tucson Javelinas. The team relocated to
Peoria, Arizona in 1995 (becoming the
Peoria Javelinas) to limit travel distances to the
Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area.
USA Baseball was headquartered at Hi Corbett from 1997-2003.
In 2004 Hi Corbett became home to the
Arizona Heat women's professional
softball team. Their season runs from June to August, at the height of the "Arizona heat."
In addition to the large number of visiting teams that have appeared there as part of regular league play, Hi Corbett has hosted exhibition games featuring the
Colorado Silver Bullets,
Houston Astros and
University of Arizona, among others.
Baseball Hall of Fame members who played at Hi Corbett include
Mickey Mantle,
Willie Mays,
Ted Williams and many others.
Future
In 2007, the Rockies asked for a package of improvements to Hi Corbett potentially totaling $10-20 million under the threat of a possible move to
Goodyear, Arizona. In response,
Pima County is planning to charter a regional sports authority possibly funded by tourism and other taxes.
[5] Such authority would have to be approved both by the
Arizona Legislature and voters of the county.
In 2009, the
Tucson Toros will return after an eleven-year absence; playing as members of the
Golden Baseball League, the new Toros will once again make Hi Corbett Field their own home ballpark.
[6] [7]
References
- Field of memories, if not field of dreams
- Index to Politicians: Cooperrider to Corby
- [1]
- Team History
- Pima County moves closer to forming sports authority
- Golden Baseball League Expands to Tucson
- Tucson Toros make their return home to Hi Corbett next year