Wahconah Park

Wahconah Park is a city-owned baseball park located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and nestled in a working class neighborhood. One of the last remaining ballparks in the United States with a wooden grandstand, it was constructed in 1919 and seats 4,500.

Related Topics:
Baseball park - Pittsfield, Massachusetts - United States - 1919

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At the end of the 2003 season, the Berkshire Black Bears did not renew their lease. Jim Bouton proposed to renovate the park without any public dollars and bring professional baseball back. On July 3, 2004, a record crowd of 5,000 attended a vintage baseball game that he organized at Wahconah Park between Pittsfield and Hartford, a game that was telecast live for over four hours on ESPN Classic. Pittsfield politics intervened and Bouton was forced out, a saga which will be described in Bouton's new book, "Foul Ball plus Part II", due out in paperback in late August 2005.

Related Topics:
2003 - Berkshire Black Bears - Jim Bouton

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In 2005, Pittsfield city officials reached an agreement with Dan Duquette for the Pittsfield Dukes, a New England Collegiate Baseball League summer team, to play at Wahconah Park.

Related Topics:
2005 - Dan Duquette - New England Collegiate Baseball League

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Field dimensions are 334' to left field, 374' to center field, and 333' to right field. Because the field was constructed before the advent of field lighting, no harm was seen in orienting the diamond due west. One of only two professionally used parks in the U.S. today facing west (the other being Sam Lynn Park in Bakersfield, California built in 1941), games are sometimes temporarily suspended while the sun sets. Lights were not installed until 1946. In 1989 a mesh screen was placed in center field to help shield batters? eyes.

Related Topics:
Sam Lynn Park - Bakersfield, California - 1941 - 1946 - 1989

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In 1927, a dyke was installed on the Housatonic River in an attempt to prevent recurrent flooding.

Related Topics:
1927 - Dyke - Housatonic River

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