 Hi Corbett Field entrance, 2015 | |
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| Former names | Randolph Municipal Baseball Park |
|---|---|
| Location | Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 32°12′48″N110°55′9″W / 32.21333°N 110.91917°W /32.21333; -110.91917 |
| Owner | City of Tucson |
| Operator | University of Arizona |
| Capacity | 9,500 |
| Field size | Left Field – 366 ft (112 m) Center-Left – 410 ft (125 m) Center Field – 392 ft (119 m) Center-Right – 405 ft (123 m) Right Field – 349 ft (106 m) |
| Surface | Natural grass |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1937; 88 years ago (1937) |
| Renovated | 1972, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2012 |
| Tenants | |
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Hi Corbett Field is abaseballpark in thesouthwesternUnited States, located inTucson, Arizona. With aseating capacity of approximately 9,500, it was thespring training home of theColorado Rockies andCleveland Indians ofMajor League Baseball, and is currently home to theUniversity of ArizonaWildcats of theBig 12 Conference.
First teams played at the field in 1937. Hi Corbett Field was originally called Randolph Municipal Baseball Park.[1] In 1951, it was renamed in honor of Hiram "Hi" Stevens Corbett (1886–1967),[1] a former Arizona state senator who was instrumental in bringing spring training to Tucson, specifically by convincingBill Veeck to bring theCleveland Indians to Tucson in 1947. Veeck owned a ranch in Tucson at the time, and he and players sometimes rode Veeck's horses after the games.[2] Veeck said that he moved the team's training camp from Florida to Arizona to avoid Florida'sJim Crow laws.[3]
Hi Corbett was remodeled in 1972 and renovated in 1992, 1997, 1999, and 2012. It is part of a larger city park complex,Gene C. Reid Park (which also includes theReid Park Zoo) and Randolph Park, located between Broadway Boulevard and 22nd Street in midtown Tucson.
The main playing field's dimensions are as follows: 349 feet (106 m) in right field, 366 feet (112 m) in left field, and 410 feet (125 m) at its deepest in center field.[4] The ballpark currently has a seating capacity of 9,500, including 598 box seats, 8,350 reserved seats, and 562 bleacher seats. There are also two ancillary fields for use in spring training, but these make no provision for spectators. Hi Corbett's diamond is aligned southwest (home plate to center field), at an approximateelevation of 2,480 feet (755 m) abovesea level.
For many years, Emil Bossard, groundskeeper for theCleveland Indians, was in charge of Hi Corbett Field during spring training. In 1959, he was considered the top groundskeeper inMajor League Baseball and was inducted into theMLB Groundskeeper Hall of Fame in 2012. Emil Bossard Field and the street Bossard Place both located at Reid Park, are named in his honor.[5]
Hi Corbett served as the spring training home of Cleveland from 1947 through 1992. Cleveland announced in 1990 that they would depart Tucson and the city tried to attract theBaltimore Orioles to move to Arizona.[6] Parts of the 1989 movieMajor League were filmed at Hi Corbett Field, where the production used members of the University of Arizona baseball team as extras.
From 1993 to 2010, Hi Corbett was the pre-season home of the expansion Colorado Rockies, who moved into Hi Corbett with their inaugural spring training.
Hi Corbett is also closely associated with minor league baseball. Aside from the Lizards, theTucson Cowboys (Class C;Arizona–Texas League) played at Hi Corbett intermittently from the late 1930s until 1958. The originalTucson Toros (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League) played there from their inception in 1969 until 1997 (see below for new Toros team). The largest Tucson Toros crowd at Hi Corbett was 12,863 on May 17, 1981 against Salt Lake City. In 1997, the Toros essentially exchanged ownership and franchises with the nearbyPhoenix Firebirds, so that the ex-Toros played inScottsdale Stadium as the Firebirds, and the ex-Firebirds played at Hi Corbett as the Toros. In 1998 the Phoenix team relocated toFresno, California and was renamed theFresno Grizzlies,[7] and the Tucson Toros became theTucson Sidewinders, and played in the newTucson Electric Park,[8] which was renamed in January 2011 to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.[9]
TheArizona Fall League, a short-season developmental league for MLBprospects, fielded a team at Hi Corbett during 1992 and 1993, known as theTucson Javelinas.[10][11] The team relocated toPeoria before the 1994 season (becoming thePeoria Javelinas) to limit travel distances to thePhoenix metropolitan area.[12]
USA Baseball was headquartered at Hi Corbett from 1997 to 2003.
From 2004 to 2007 Hi Corbett was home to theArizona Heat women's professionalsoftball team.
In addition to the large number of visiting teams that have appeared there as part of regular league play, Hi Corbett has hosted exhibition games featuring theColorado Silver Bullets,Houston Astros, and theUniversity of Arizona, among others. Baseball Hall of Fame members who played at Hi Corbett includeMickey Mantle,Willie Mays,Ted Williams, and many others.[2]
On May 21, 2009, a newTucson Toros club began play at Hi Corbett as a member of theindependentGolden Baseball League. Hi Corbett Field was the home stadium of the Toros until they were evicted by the city of Tucson in 2011 before they could join theNorth American League.
In2012, the ballpark became the new home of the University ofArizona Wildcats baseball team. Through the first three-game series of the season againstNorth Dakota State, the attendance at the stadium was a total of 8,870, which was nearly ¼ of the total home attendance for the Wildcats' previous season atSancet Stadium, their longtime home on campus, located adjacent toMcKale Center andArizona Stadium. Hi Corbett Field hosted both anNCAA Regional and Super Regional, as Arizona won both to advance to the2012 College World Series.[13] The relocation of the Wildcat baseball program to Hi Corbett has been noted as a major factor in the team's successful 2012 season, and their fourth national championship.[14]
In 2007, the Rockies asked for a package of improvements to Hi Corbett potentially totaling $10–20 million under the threat of a possible move toGoodyear. In response,Pima County chartered a regional sports and tourism authority, funded by tourism and other taxes.[15][16]Such authority was approved both by theArizona Legislature and voters of the county. The departure of theChicago White Sox from Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, has forced team management to expedite plans for a future move, as the Rockies have stated that they need two other teams in order for Tucson to be a viable spring training town for them.
The Rockies decided to move to the newSalt River Fields at Talking Stick in 2011 on tribal land owned by theSalt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale. TheArizona Diamondbacks share that facility.
As noted above, in an effort to have itsbaseball program compete in the best possible facilities, in August 2011, theUniversity of Arizona signed an agreement with the city of Tucson for Arizona baseball to play its home games at Hi Corbett for the 2012 season; the initial agreement was for five years with an option to renew the contract. The university has made several upgrades to the facility, where the Wildcats previously played selected games in the 1960s and '70s. Hi Corbett is located about three miles (5 km) southeast of the university campus.[17]
In2013, the Wildcats ranked 21st amongDivision I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 2,733 per home game.[18]
In March 2017, the university signed a new 25-year lease on Hi Corbett Field, taking over day-to-day management of the baseball stadium from the City of Tucson.[19]
In June 2024, Hi Corbett Field will host a college baseball regional, as the University of Arizona won the Pac-12 regular season and Pac-12 conference tournament.
| Events and tenants | ||
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| Preceded by | Host of theGBL/NoLAll-Star Game Hi Corbett Field 2010 | Succeeded by final |