History of Toledo baseball parks

4/5/2011

LEAGUE PARK (1883-85)
Monroe Street between 13th and 15th
Three leagues in three seasons played here; Northwestern, American Association and Western.

TRI-STATE FAIRGROUNDS (1884)
Dorr Street and Upton Avenue
Used only on Saturdays and Sundays.

RIVERSIDE PARK (1885)
Summit Street near Ash Street
Used only on Sundays before Western League folded in June.

PRESQUE ISLE PARK (1888)
At mouth of Maumee River
Site of the former C&O Railroad coal and ore docks in East Toledo, the diamond was accessible only by riding a ferry between downtown and the ballpark.

SPERANZA PARK (1888-90)
Between Cherry Street and Franklin Avenue
Site just north of what is now St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center was named after the schooner of owner George Ketcham.

OLYMPIC PARK (1892)
Indiana Ave., Hawley St. & Woodland Ave.
Area near what is known as the old Lenk's Hill.

WHITESTOCKING PARK (1894-95)
Lagrange St. between Hudson and Pearl streets
Park named after team when the players wore white stockings.

EWING STREET PARK (1894-96)
Ewing Street by Pinewood Avenue
Located in the middle of a residential area on Ewing St., near the site of the abandoned Olympic Park.

BAY VIEW PARK (1896-1900)
Manhattan Boulevard at Summit Street
Weekend-only games were played on the spot where the Jack Dempsey-Jess Willard heavyweight title fight was held in 1919. Now the site of the Bayview Retirees Golf Course.

ARMORY PARK (1897-1909)
Spielbusch Avenue
Site of current Federal Courthouse, park was named for its location at rear of the armory at the corner of Spielbusch Ave. and Orange St.

SWAYNE FIELD (1909-14, 1916-1955)
Monroe Street and Detroit Avenue
Built at a cost of $300,000 (approximately $4.7 million in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars) and named for Noah Swayne, the Toledo attorney and baseball fan who leased the land. Having lost its franchise to Wichita, Kan., in 1955, the facility was demolished one year later when it was determined to be too rundown for repair or renovation. Now the site of a shopping center.

LUCAS COUNTY STADIUM/
NED SKELDON STADIUM (1965-2001)
Key Street in Maumee
Located at the Lucas County Recreation Center and Fairgrounds, at the site of the former Fort Miami Fairgrounds race track. The facility was renamed in 1988 in honor of Ned Skeldon, former president of the Lucas County Commissioners, who led the drive to bring professional baseball back to the Toledo area. Skeldon died of cancer three months after the park was named in his honor.

FIFTH THIRD FIELD (2002)
Huron and Washington streets
$39 million facility becomes first downtown diamond since Armory Park and 13th in Toledo history.