Holman Stadium (Nashua)

Last updated

Holman Stadium
Historic Holman Stadium
Holman Stadium, Nashua NH.jpg
Holman Stadium (Nashua)
Location67 Amherst Street
Nashua, New Hampshire 03064
Coordinates 42°46′8.71″N71°28′23.50″W / 42.7690861°N 71.4731944°W / 42.7690861; -71.4731944
Owner City of Nashua
Capacity 2,800
Field sizeLeft Field: 307 ft
Center Field: 401 ft
Right Field: 315 ft
SurfaceGrass
Construction
OpenedSeptember 23, 1937
Renovated2002
Tenants
Nashua Silver Knights (Futures Collegiate Baseball League) (2011–present)
American Defenders of New Hampshire (Can-Am League) (2009)
Nashua Pride (Atlantic League/Can-Am League) (1998–2008)
Nashua Hawks (North Atlantic League) (1995–1996)
Nashua Pirates (Eastern League) (1984–1986)
Nashua Angels (Eastern League)
(1983)
Nashua Dodgers (New England League) (1946–1949)

Holman Stadium is a baseball stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire. It was constructed in 1937, as a multi-purpose stadium, by the City of Nashua. The official seating capacity is 2,800 people. Holman is the home of the Nashua Silver Knights of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League.

Contents

History

The city-owned stadium is named for Charles Frank Holman, who contributed $55,000 for the project. Holman Stadium, which also was funded by the federal Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression, was dedicated to the youth and people of Nashua in memory of Holman's parents. Philip S. Avery, a Nashua native, was the architect. The original Holman Stadium was a plain seating bowl in which fans sat on bleachers and concrete steps. It was used for baseball and football. The stadium has hosted concerts by famous artists including Aerosmith, The Beach Boys, Bon Jovi, David Cassidy, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, The J. Geils Band, Whitney Houston, Tina Turner, Carlos Santana, Phish, Warren Zevon, and Bonnie Raitt opening for James Taylor. In 1996, the stadium was a site for celebrations along the Olympic Torch Relay route.

Affiliated baseball

The stadium was home to several minor-league affiliates of Major League Baseball organizations, beginning with the Nashua Dodgers, affiliated with the Brooklyn Dodgers and managed by Walter Alston. Holman hosted the first integrated U.S. baseball team in the modern era when Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe played for the Nashua Dodgers in 1946.

After the Dodgers' four-year run, baseball did not return to Holman Stadium until 1983, at the double-A level: an affiliate of the California Angels for one year, then the Pittsburgh Pirates. While home to the Nashua Pirates in 1985, Holman Stadium hosted the Eastern League All-Star Game. [1]

Independent baseball

The Nashua Hawks of the North Atlantic League played at Holman Stadium in 1995, ending in 1996 with a mid-season eviction for nonpayment of rent.

In 1998, Holman Stadium became home to the Nashua Pride of the Atlantic League. The Pride acquired turquoise-colored stadium seating from Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. The Pride's pre-emption of dates from high-school football became a focus of neighborhood opposition, but eventually the city built Stellos Stadium for football. [2]

Between the 2001 and 2002 seasons, the stadium was upgraded generally: The open-air desks in the brick press box were raised, enclosed and modernized; a new level of luxury boxes was built above it, the concourse outside the seating bowl was upgraded with a ticket office and gift shop, and the business offices were upgraded. In 2003, Holman Stadium hosted the Atlantic League All-Star Game.

In 2006, the Pride switched to the Can-Am League with its shorter season. In 2008, the team was sold to an ownership group including former Boston Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette and renamed the American Defenders of New Hampshire. The Defenders played a single season in 2009, concluded on the road because of non-payments to the city; in 2010, the team moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to become the Pittsfield Colonials.

Collegiate baseball

In 2011, the Nashua Silver Knights brought baseball back to Holman Stadium. In 2012, Holman Stadium hosted the inaugural FCBL All-Star Game. The former football bleachers, down the left-field line, were removed, reducing the stadium's capacity to the current 2,800; the football press box remains but is now used as a storage shed.

In 2017, the city installed a new sound system and a small videoboard beyond left field, costing $173,000, of which $56,000 was paid for by the Silver Knights. The videoboard supersedes a two-line alphanumeric message board that had not worked for the preceding four years and could not be repaired. [3]

In the springtime, the stadium serves as the home field for two of Nashua's schools, the Raiders of Rivier University [4] and the Cardinals of Bishop Guertin High School.

Competitors

Baseball clubs at Holman Stadium compete for fans' attention with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester (double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays); [5] and with the Lowell Spinners (single-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox) until 2020. The Spinners owned and operated the Nashua Silver Knights until 2016. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashua Pride</span>

The Nashua Pride was a professional baseball team based in Nashua, New Hampshire, in the United States, not affiliated with Major League Baseball. They played home games at Holman Stadium from 1998 through 2008, when they were sold and renamed the American Defenders of New Hampshire. In 2010 that team moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and became the Pittsfield Colonials. The franchise itself no longer exists, as the Colonials folded after the 2011 baseball season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern League (1938–present)</span> American sports league in minor league baseball

The Eastern League (EL) is a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) sports league that has operated under that name since 1938, with the exception of the 2021 season, during which the league operated under the moniker Double-A Northeast. The league has played at the Double-A level since 1963, and consists primarily of teams located in the Northeastern United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashua, New Hampshire</span> City in New Hampshire, United States

Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester. Along with Manchester, it is a seat of New Hampshire's most populous county, Hillsborough.

The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, commonly known as the Can-Am League, was a professional, independent baseball league with teams in the Northeast United States and Eastern Canada, founded in 2005 as a reorganization of its predecessor, the Northeast League. The Can-Am League operated in cities not directly served by Major or Minor League teams and was not affiliated with either. The league office was in Dayton, Ohio. Though a separate entity, the league shared a commissioner, president, and director of umpires with the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebbets Field</span> Former stadium in Brooklyn, New York

Ebbets Field was a Major League Baseball stadium in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, New York. It is mainly known for having been the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team of the National League (1913–1957). It was also home to five professional football teams, including three NFL teams (1921–1948). Ebbets Field was demolished in 1960 and replaced by the Ebbets Field Apartments, the site's current occupant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CEFCU Stadium</span> Stadium at San Jose State University

CEFCU ('sef-kyü) Stadium, formerly known as Spartan Stadium, is an outdoor athletic stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in the Spartan Keyes neighborhood of central San Jose, California. Owned by San José State University, the venue is the longtime home of Spartan football; it also hosts the university's commencement ceremony on Memorial Day weekend, and occasional high school football games. Known as Spartan Stadium for over eight decades, it was renamed in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Field</span>

Fraser Field is a baseball park in Lynn, Massachusetts that has played host to many minor-league baseball teams over the years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buzzie Bavasi</span> American baseball executive

Emil Joseph "Buzzie" Bavasi was an American executive in Major League Baseball who played a major role in the operation of three franchises from the late 1940s through the mid-1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holman Stadium (Vero Beach)</span> Baseball stadium in Florida, U.S.

Holman Stadium is a baseball stadium in Vero Beach, Florida, built in 1953 from an abandoned naval base, to accommodate spring training for the Brooklyn Dodgers as part of a complex now called Historic Dodgertown. In addition to the Dodgers' spring games, it was the home of the Vero Beach Devil Rays, previously the Vero Beach Dodgers, of the Florida State League, through the 2008 season. The official seating capacity is 6,500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">121 Financial Ballpark</span> Baseball park in Jacksonville, Florida

121 Financial Ballpark is a baseball park in Jacksonville, Florida. It is the home stadium of the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp Minor League Baseball team, who play in the International League. The facility opened in 2003.

The New England League was a mid-level league in American minor league baseball that played intermittently in five of the six New England states between 1886 and 1949. After 1901, it existed in the shadow of two Major League Baseball clubs in Boston and alongside stronger, higher-classification leagues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palm Springs Stadium</span>

Palm Springs Stadium is a stadium in Palm Springs, California. It is primarily used for baseball. It used to be named Angels Stadium and was the home field of the Palm Springs Suns of the Western Baseball League in 1995 and 1996. Palm Springs Stadium is the home of the Palm Springs Power, of the collegiate summer Palm Springs Collegiate League. In 2018 and 2019, the stadium is the official home of the Palm Springs Collegiate League and the California Winter League (2010), also shared with Palm Springs High School baseball field. The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,185.

The Nashua Dodgers was a farm club of the Brooklyn Dodgers, operating in the class-B New England League between 1946 and 1949. It is believed to be the first professional baseball team based in the United States in the twentieth century to play with a racially integrated roster. The team was based at Holman Stadium in Nashua, New Hampshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsfield Colonials</span> Can-Am League baseball team based in Massachusetts

The Pittsfield Colonials were a baseball team in the independent Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The team was previously known as the American Defenders of New Hampshire, and prior to that was known as the Nashua Pride.

Cohen Williams "Laddie" Renfroe is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He pitched in four games with the Chicago Cubs in 1991. Renfroe pitched with a sidearm delivery and appeared primarily as a relief pitcher and closer throughout his nine-year professional career.

The Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) is an eight-team collegiate summer baseball league. It has four franchises in Massachusetts, two in Connecticut, and one each in New Hampshire and Vermont.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seacoast Mavericks</span>

The Seacoast Mavericks were a collegiate summer baseball team located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league in New England. It suspended operation in 2017 pending completion of a sports complex in Dover, New Hampshire. However, in 2019, it abandoned its FCBL franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashua Silver Knights</span> Collegiate baseball team in New Hampshire, USA

The Nashua Silver Knights is a collegiate summer baseball team based in Nashua, New Hampshire. It is a charter member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL), a wood-bat league with a 64-game regular season comprising eight teams ranging from New Hampshire to western Connecticut. The team's home games are played at Holman Stadium in Nashua. The team is owned by John Creedon Jr, who also owns the Worcester Bravehearts.

The Nashua Pirates were a minor league baseball team, based in Nashua, New Hampshire. The team started in 1983 as the Nashua Angels, an affiliate with the California Angels in the Eastern League. The club changed affiliations in 1984 to the Pittsburgh Pirates and were then renamed the Nashua Pirates. The team's home ballpark was Holman Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worcester Bravehearts</span>

The Worcester Bravehearts are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Worcester, Massachusetts, US, that plays in the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL) of New England starting in 2014. The team's home games are played at Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in Worcester.

References

  1. ↑ "All-Stars here July 15". The Telegraph . April 18, 1985. p. A9. Retrieved August 26, 2011– via Google News Archive.
  2. ↑ "Stellos Stadium". Nashua, NH. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  3. ↑ "Holman to add new scoreboard". The Cabinet Press . January 26, 2017. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Historic Holman Stadium". Rivier University Athletics. Rivier University . Retrieved December 11, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Two minor league teams fight for local money, fans". New Hampshire Business Review . May 10, 2004. Retrieved August 18, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Nashua Silver Knights: About Us". Nashua Silver Knights . Retrieved July 14, 2022.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.