Downs Field is a baseball venue located 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 ...

, and the home of the

Huston–Tillotson University Huston–Tillotson University (HT) is a private historically black university in Austin, Texas. Established in 1875, Huston–Tillotson University was the first institution of higher learning in Austin. The university is affiliated with the Unite ...

Rams baseball team. Downs Field was once the home of the

Austin Black Senators The Austin Black Senators were a minor league Negro league baseball team based in Austin, Texas. The earliest known published reference to them came in April 1908, adopting the name of their white, Texas League counterparts. The team started a ...

and also was the home ballpark of Samuel Huston College before it combined with Tillotson College as one unified college in 1952. Some notable names that have taken the field at Downs Field were

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

Willie Wells Willie James Wells (August 10, 1906 – January 22, 1989), nicknamed "The Devil," was an American baseball player. He was a shortstop who played from 1924 to 1948 for various teams in the Negro leagues and in Latin America. Wells was a fast ...

Smokey Joe Williams Joseph Williams (April 6, 1886 – February 25, 1951), nicknamed "Cyclone Joe" and "Smokey Joe", was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He is considered one of the greatest pitchers of all-time and was elected to the Natio ...

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

, and

Buck O'Neil John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and became the first Africa ...

.http://www.blackcollegebaseball.com/news/rrac/2008/2/20/022008bcbpreview.asp?path=rrac File:Austin TX Downs Field Marker.jpg, State historical marker at Downs Field File:Austin TX Mosaics Downs Field.jpg, Mosaics depicting

Toni Stone Toni Stone (July 17, 1921 – November 2, 1996), born as Marcenia Lyle Stone in West Virginia,Rosengren, John (Summer 2019)"EYEWITNESS: Tomboy Stone" ''Minnesota History''. 66(6): 232 – via JSTOR. was the first of three women to play professio ...

Hilton Smith Hilton Lee Smith (February 27, 1907 – November 18, 1983) was an American right-handed pitcher in Negro league baseball. He pitched alongside Satchel Paige for the Kansas City Monarchs between 1932 and 1948. He was inducted into the National B ...

, and

References

Baseball venues in Greater Austin Baseball venues in Texas {{Texas-baseball-venue-stub