Left Field Lounge

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The Left Field Lounge is the area beyond the outfield fence in Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium at Mississippi State University. It has been named the "#1 place to watch college baseball", and among the "100 things you gotta do before you graduate" by Sports Illustrated. [1]

Contents

The author John Grisham, alumnus of Mississippi State and fan of MSU college baseball wrote an introduction about his time at MSU and in the Left Field Lounge in his book Inside Dudy Noble: A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball, he. [2]

The Left Field Lounge started in the 1960s with fans driving cars and trucks into the area to watch a game. Russ Rogers, a Starkville native, was the first to drive a pickup in to the left field and set up shop. In the late 1960s, fans started bringing grills, tables, and ice chests full of drinks for a full tailgate party experience. At that time, fans would drive in before the game to set up their tailgates, and then take it all down after the game and drive back out. As the area became more popular, a line would form to get in before the game, the area would fill up, and some would be turned away. In a 2003 article by a Mississippi State alumnus: [3] In the early 1970s one truck driven to the Left Field Lounge would not start and was unable to leave after the game was over, so the owners just left the truck there. For the next game, the truck was still there, creating what was essentially a reserved spot. Other fans picked up on this idea and brought in trucks and grills with the intention of leaving them there. Some trucks that were no longer functional were towed into a spot. To allow more fans to share a space, home-built seats and bleachers were built in the beds of some of the trucks. Later, motorhomes and flatbed trailers were brought in with more elaborate and sturdy bleachers. Eventually, the university established rules for the spots in Left Field Lounge. Spaces were rented for the season, and after all of the spaces were filled, those not receiving a space were placed on a waiting list. The trucks/trailers/motorhomes had been on wheels, brought in by a certain day before the season started, and removed after the season ended.[ citation needed ]

NCAA Record Attendance

SEC weekend games typically draw the largest crowds, giving rise to large weekend gatherings. Mississippi State holds the NCAA record for the largest single-game on-campus baseball attendance at 15,586 and the largest SEC crowd for a 3-game weekend series at 29,915.[ citation needed ] In 2007 versus the Clemson Tigers, MSU had the NCAA's top two all-time highest attended Super Regional games with 12,620 and 13,715 fans.[ citation needed ]

Mississippi State has all of the top 11 on-campus crowds in the history of college baseball. Overall, DNF-PDS has held 15 crowds over 12,000 and 31 crowds over 10,000.[ citation needed ]

Top Baseball Crowds at DNF-PDS

RankAttendanceOpponentDateRecord Broken
116,423Ole MissApril 15, 2023NCAA On-Campus Record
215,586Ole MissApril 12, 2014
315,078Texas A&MApril 16, 2016
414,991FloridaApril 22, 1989
514,739Ole MissApril 14, 2023
614,562AuburnApril 20, 2013
714,556LSUApril 16, 1988
814,385Notre DameJune 12, 2021NCAA Super Regional Single-Game Record
914,320Arizona StateFebruary 25, 2023
1014,228LSUApril 9, 2022
1114,077AlabamaMarch 26, 2022
1213,971Notre DameJune 13, 2021#2 NCAA Super Regional Single-Game Record
1313,761ArkansasApril 25, 1992
1413,715ClemsonJune 9, 2007
1513,617GeorgiaApril 8, 2006
1613,351Long Beach StateFebruary 19, 2022
1713,338Ole MissApril 17, 2021First home series after lifting of COVID-19 restrictions
1813,324Ole MissApril 11, 2014
1913,123Ole MissApril 15, 2000
2012,927VanderbiltMarch 25, 2023
2112,824Ole MissApril 16, 2023
2212,708AuburnApril 24, 1993
2312,620ClemsonJune 8, 2007
2412,360GeorgiaApril 6, 2002
2512,357South CarolinaApril 1, 2023
2612,346AuburnApril 15, 2022
2712,297FloridaMay 7, 2022
2812,213VMIFebruary 18, 2023

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References

  1. "100 things you gotta do before you graduate". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on September 27, 2003. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  2. "Inside Dudy Noble: A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball" . Retrieved 2008-11-30.
  3. "Out in left field". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2008-11-30.

33°27′50″N88°47′39″W / 33.463758°N 88.794054°W / 33.463758; -88.794054