Clark Field was a baseball park in
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, used primarily by the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
Longhorns. The field was used from 1928 until 1974. It is considered one of the most novel ballparks ever conceived thanks to its location. There was a limestone cliff in the outfield that created havoc for outfielders and made baseball games exciting. It was replaced by
UFCU Disch-Falk Field UFCU may refer to:
*UFCU Disch-Falk Field, the baseball field of the University of Texas at Austin
*United Federal Credit Union, a credit union in Michigan
*University Federal Credit Union
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertia ...
in 1975.
Cliff
Clark Field was unusual because there was a 12- to limestone cliff that ran from left-center to center field that made playing the outfield adventurous. The cliff could only be accessed via a goat path in the left-center field. Center field was nicknamed "Billy Goat Hill." There was a scoreboard on top of the hill in the field in front of the fence that could cause even more weird bounces for outfielders. Clearly, this gave the Longhorns a home field advantage over visiting teams. For example, the Longhorns could easily get an inside-the-park home run when a ball was hit in the direction of the cliff because the opposing outfielders were perplexed by its caroms and how to make plays by using the cliff. Longhorn outfielders could typically hold batters to a double or triple because of their familiarity with the cliff. Half of the team's outfielders purportedly chose to play on top while the other half chose to play in front of the cliff.
Atmosphere
While the ballpark had an irregular outfield, the stadium only sat 2,000. The stadium had an intimate yet palatial feeling that mirrored other
jewel box Jewel box or Jewel Box may refer to:
* Jewelry box, a container for gemstones
Places or architecture
*Jewel Box (St. Louis), listed on the NRHP in Missouri
* Jewel Boxes, a name for eight banks designed by architect Louis Sullivan
*Jewel Box Pa ...
ballparks such as
Wrigley Field
Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...
,
Fenway Park
Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Base ...
, and
Tiger Stadium. Once when the
Texas A&M Aggies
Texas A&M Aggies refers to the students, graduates, and sports teams of Texas A&M University. The nickname "Aggie" was once common at land-grant or "ag" (agriculture) schools in many states. The teams are also referred to as "A&M" or "Texas Aggi ...
visited Clark Field, the crowd overflowed into right field and rowdiness ensued, which happened regularly when other visiting teams played there as well. In the late 1960s, the
Sam Houston State
Sam Houston State University (SHSU or Sam) is a public university in Huntsville, Texas. It was founded in 1879 and is the third-oldest public college or university in Texas. It is one of the first normal schools west of the Mississippi River and ...
Bearkats regularly opened with weekend
doubleheaders in Austin.
Miscellaneous
According to legend,
Lou Gehrig
Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...
hit a towering home run over "Billy Goat Hill" and the high fence in center field during a 1930 exhibition game off of University of Texas baseball hall-of-fame pitcher Mario “Mike” de la Fuente. The dimensions of Clark Field were to the left field wall, to deepest center, and to right field. Six no-hitters were thrown at Clark Field all by the Longhorns during its tenure.
TexasSports.com - Texas Baseball History: No Hitters
The Longhorns won an astonishing 37 Southwest Conference
The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma an ...
baseball championships as well as two College World Series
The College World Series (CWS), officially the NCAA Men's College World Series (MCWS), is an annual baseball tournament held in June in Omaha, Nebraska. The MCWS is the culmination of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divisi ...
championships (1949-1950), being runner-up in 1953
Events
January
* January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma.
* January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo.
* January 14
** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...
and College World Series appearances in 1952, 1957, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, and 1974 while calling Clark Field home.
Clark Fields
There have been three athletic facilities on the campus named for the university's influential early leader James Benjamin Clark.
The first Clark Field
Clark is an English language surname, ultimately derived from the Latin with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland ''clericus'' meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educate ...
, at the southeast corner of 24th Street and Speedwa
operated from 1887 through 1927, then was closed for the construction of the Mechanical Engineering Building a.k.a. Taylor Hall. The field was located a couple of blocks northwest of Memorial Stadium.
For 1928 the second and best-known Clark Field was inaugurated, north of Memorial Stadium, on the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Red River Stree
That corner was the location of center field, as the diamond was in the northwest corner of the lot. Red River was later renamed Robert Dedman Drive, and the current thoroughfare designated as Red River Street is a block farther east, on the other side of the LBJ Library. That building is visible in the background of some of the later photos of Clark Field.
That same year, 1928, a recreation area called Freshman Field was opened, just southwest of Memorial Stadium, at a location given by the UT writeup as "east of Waller Creek between 19th and 21st Streets", although it appears that it was actually ''west'' of Waller Cree
For 1975 the baseball team moved to their new ballpark, and Clark Field was closed to allow construction of the College of Fine Arts and the Performing Arts Center. Freshman Field was soon renamed as the third Clark Field. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Clark Field property underwent significant redevelopment, but a portion of the field was retained as Clark Field, a roughly oval-shaped field surrounded by a track. The current field is bounded by the creek and San Jacinto Boulevard to the northeast, east and southeast; and touched by Jester Circle to the west. The rest of the field is bounded by campus buildings.
See also
*List of terraces at baseball venues
This is a list of baseball parks containing slopes in a portion of their outfield areas, which were sometimes or often known to affect the course of the game when a fly ball was hit toward that area.
Terraces were common in baseball in the early ...
*Texas Longhorns baseball
The Texas Longhorns baseball team represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men's baseball competition. The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference.
The University of Texas began varsity interc ...
*Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
*University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
*Bevo
Bevo may refer to:
*Bevo (beverage), a non-alcoholic malt beverage brewed in the United States
*Bevo (mascot), University of Texas at Austin mascot
*Bevo HC, Dutch handball club
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*Beve ...
*Hook 'em Horns
Hook 'em Horns is the chant and hand signal of The University of Texas at Austin. Students, alumni, and fans of the university employ a greeting consisting of the phrase "Hook 'em" or "Hook 'em Horns" and also use the phrase as a parting good-bye ...
*The Eyes of Texas
"The Eyes of Texas" is the school spirit song of the University of Texas at Austin. It is set to the tune of "I've Been Working on the Railroad". Students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the university sing the song at Texas Longhorns sports ga ...
*Texas Fight "Texas Fight" is the official fight song of the University of Texas at Austin and was written by Colonel Walter S. Hunnicutt in collaboration with James E. King, then director of the Marlin High School Band.
It is sung to a fast tempo version Taps ...
Sources
*"Green Cathedrals," Philip J. Lowry, c.2006
External links
1922 Sanborn map showing Clark Field I
1935 Sanborn map showing Clark Field II
Home Field Advantage
References
{{Texas Longhorns baseball navbox
Defunct college baseball venues in the United States
Texas Longhorns baseball venues
Baseball venues in Austin, Texas
Defunct sports venues in Texas
1928 establishments in Texas
1974 disestablishments in Texas