Tingley Field (originally named Rio Grande Park) was a baseball stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which served as the home of professional baseball in Albuquerque from 1932 to 1968. It could accommodate 5000 fans, with seating for 3000.
The stadium was located at the intersection of 10th Street and Atlantic Avenue, across the street from the Rio Grande Zoo.
Tingley Field had a 3000-seat concrete grandstand with a small pressbox which could accommodate only a few people. The outfield wall was built out of adobe. There were several light standards and telephone poles within the stadium itself, which occasionally caused problems for outfielders or interfered with potential home runs. The park was roughly the same size as Albuquerque Sports Stadium (360 feet to left field, 350 feet to right field, and 425 feet to center), though the exact dimensions vary by source. [1] [2]
The site of Tingley Field was originally one of several public baseball fields used by Albuquerque's various semi-professional teams in the early 20th century. One of these teams was the Apprentices, made up of Santa Fe Railroad employees. In the late 1920s the Apprentices leased the field and built a fence and wooden grandstand with a capacity of roughly 1,000. The stadium was initially called Apprentice Field but was renamed Rio Grande Park a few years later. [3] [4]
In 1932, the Albuquerque Dons began play in the Class D Arizona–Texas League. The Dons' business manager, Marty Fiedler, oversaw an expansion of the stadium that added two new grandstands along with bleachers, box seats, and lights for night games. The project cost around $10,000, most of which was spent on the lighting system. The finished stadium had around 3,200 seats. [5] Shortly after the beginning of the season, the stadium was renamed Tingley Field after Clyde Tingley. The Dons compiled a league-best 57–42 record, but their success was short-lived as the Arizona–Texas League folded in July. [4]
Professional baseball returned to Albuquerque in 1937 when the Albuquerque Cardinals, an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, began play in the reorganized Arizona–Texas League. The stadium was upgraded by the Works Progress Administration and reopened on April 7, 1937 with an exhibition game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who defeated the home team 12–5. [6] St. Louis Cardinals general manager Branch Rickey was present for the game and praised the stadium as "one of the finest minor league parks in America". [7] The Cardinals won the league pennant that year and again in 1939, but the league disbanded a second time in 1941.
During World War II, the stadium was used for Army ballgames. In 1946, the Albuquerque Dukes were established and began play in the Class C West Texas–New Mexico League. Apart from a brief hiatus in 1959, the stadium remained the home of various incarnations of the Dukes until 1968, when voters approved the construction of a new stadium in southeast Albuquerque. Tingley Field had begun to show its age, and city officials hoped a larger and more modern ballpark would help the city attract a Triple-A team. [8]
Tingley Field was demolished in 1969 [9] and redeveloped into a public park with softball and football fields. The only remaining parts of the former stadium are the light standards and ticket office. [10] A large concrete baseball that originally sat outside Tingley was moved to Albuquerque Sports Stadium in 1969 and remains on display in front of Isotopes Park.
Albuquerque, also known as ABQ, Burque, and the Duke City, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Founded in 1706 as La Villa de Alburquerque by Santa Fe de Nuevo México governor Francisco Cuervo y Valdés, and named in honor of Francisco Fernández de la Cueva, 10th Duke of Alburquerque and Viceroy of New Spain, it served as an outpost on El Camino Real linking Mexico City to the northernmost territories of New Spain.
The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the state of Texas; the five North Division teams are located in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as Double-A Central before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
The Albuquerque Isotopes are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. They play home games at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at an elevation of 5,100 feet (1,555 m) above sea level.
Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park, previously known only as Isotopes Park, is a minor league baseball stadium located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and is the home field of the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Pacific Coast League, the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies and New Mexico United, a professional soccer team in the USL Championship division that began play in 2019. The facility was also previously used by the University of New Mexico baseball program.
Sportsman's Park was the name of several former Major League Baseball ballpark structures in St. Louis, Missouri. All but one of these were located on the same piece of land, at the northwest corner of Grand Boulevard and Dodier Street, on the north side of the city.
"El Paso Diablos" refers to two different professional baseball teams based in El Paso, Texas, in the United States. The most recent Diablos were a member of the South Division of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From 1990 to 2013, the Diablos, in both incarnations, played their home games at Cohen Stadium. The team's name means "devils" in the Spanish language.
The Albuquerque Dukes were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
LECOM Park is a baseball field located in Bradenton, Florida. It is the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and is named after a 15-year naming rights deal was signed with the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, which has its main campus in Erie, Pennsylvania, and also a campus in Bradenton. It was formerly known as McKechnie Field, named for Bradenton resident and Baseball Hall of Fame great Bill McKechnie, who led the Pirates in 1925 and the Cincinnati Reds in 1940 to World Series titles. He was also a coach with the Cleveland Indians in 1948.
Avista Stadium is a baseball park in the northwest United States, located in Spokane Valley, Washington. It is the home ballpark of the Spokane Indians, a minor league baseball team in the High-A Northwest League.
Albuquerque Sports Stadium was a baseball stadium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, which was built in 1969 as a modern replacement for the aging Tingley Field. The ballpark had a seating capacity of 10,510, though it occasionally accommodated much larger crowds.
Breese Stevens Municipal Athletic Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Madison, Wisconsin. Located eight blocks northeast of the Wisconsin State Capitol on the Madison Isthmus, it is the oldest extant masonry grandstand in Wisconsin.
The history of professional baseball in Allentown, Pennsylvania dates back 138 years, starting with the formation of the Allentown Dukes in 1884 and continuing through the present with its hosting of the Allentown-based Lehigh Valley IronPigs, the Triple-A Minor League affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball, who play at Coca-Cola Park on the city's East Side.
The Rio Grande Association was a Class D minor baseball league that lasted for less than one season, 1915.
New Mexico United is an American professional soccer team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded June 6, 2018, the team currently plays in the USL Championship, the second division of American soccer. The team is owned by Peter Trevisani, with head coach Eric Quill, and play their home games at Isotopes Park which has a capacity of around 13,500 people.
The Albuquerque Cardinals were a minor league baseball team based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque teams played exclusively as a member of the Arizona-Texas League in 1932 and from 1937 to 1941, winning three league championships. The team played as the Albuquerque "Dons" in 1932 before the league folded, resuming play in 1937. The franchise became known as the Albuquerque "Cardinals" while serving as a minor league affiliate of the St Louis Cardinals from 1937 to 1941. The Dons and Cardinals hosted home minor league games at Tingley Field
The Douglas Miners were a short–lived minor league baseball team based in Douglas, Arizona in 1915. The Miners briefly played in the 1915 season as members of the Class D level Rio Grande Association, before folding during the season.
The El Paso Mackmen were a minor league baseball team based in El Paso, Texas. In 1915, the Mackmen played as members of the short–lived Class D level Rio Grande Association, with El Paso finishing in second place, as the league permanently folded during the season. The Mackmen hosted minor league home games at Rio Grande Park.