Empire Ballpark is a baseball stadium in

Perth, Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. It was built in 2004, with a seating capacity of 1500 and standing room for a further 2500. This is the first baseball-exclusive stadium in Perth since the demolition of

Parry Field Parry Field is a former sports venue in Belmont, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. The ground is best known for being the home of baseball team Perth Heat between 1989 and 1997. The stadium was built in 1983 on the site of Belmont Oval whic ...

in the mid-1990s. Baseball Park was the venue of the 2007 Claxton Shield, which ran from 19 to 27 January 2007. The facility was known as Barbagallo Ballpark between mid 2010 and mid 2015, until Perth Harley-Davidson purchased the naming rights to the Stadium in 2017 for a 3-year deal. In December of 2020, the

Perth Heat The Perth Heat is a baseball team in the current Australian Baseball League and a foundation member of the Australian Baseball League. It is now the most successful team in ABL, winning 15 Claxton Shields. Australian Baseball League (1989–19 ...

announced a naming rights deal with Empire Capital Partners for the then upcoming 2020/21 Australian Baseball League season.

Stage 2 development

Baseball Park underwent further expansion in 2007 in preparation for a new

Australian Baseball League The Australian Baseball League (ABL) is a professional baseball league in Australia. The league is governed by the Australian Baseball Federation (ABF). It uses the same name as a now-defunct competition held during the 1990s, and though it sh ...

(ABL), which was originally intended to start in late 2007. The upgrades provided increased corporate facilities and public seating. In 2010, the facility underwent further upgrades between the end of the 2009-2010 Claxton Shield season and the start of the ABL, which began in November 2010. The upgrades included a new, permanent, terraced bar, a batter's eye in centre field and an electronic scoreboard, while the outfield fences were also brought in to help fix the shortage of home runs at the venue in previous

Claxton Shield The Claxton Shield was the name of the premier baseball competition in Australia held between state-based teams, as well as the name of the trophy awarded to the champion team. From the summer of 1989–90 until 2001–02, and again since 2010� ...

seasons. Furthermore, an enclosed members area, numbered seats, an improved playing surface, upgraded corporate boxes, fences around the terraces and a new gameday office building were part of the improvements.

References

External links

Official Baseball WA website

Baseball Park on Austadiums.com
{{Australian-baseball-stadiums Sports venues in Perth, Western Australia Baseball venues in Australia 2004 establishments in Australia Sports venues completed in 2004 Perth Heat