Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

stadium located in

Sanford, Florida Sanford is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Seminole County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 61,051. Known as the "Historic Waterfront Gateway City", Sanford sits on the southern shore ...

. The ballpark is located just south of Lake Monroe on Mellonville Avenue, less than a mile from Historic Downtown Sanford. The stadium stands at the site of the old Sanford Field, which was originally built in 1926. The stadium was built on the old site in 1951 as the Spring Training Facility of the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. Many Major League stars have played in the stadium including

Babe Ruth George Herman "Babe" Ruth Jr. (February 6, 1895 – August 16, 1948) was an American professional baseball player whose career in Major League Baseball (MLB) spanned 22 seasons, from 1914 through 1935. Nicknamed "the Bambino" and "the Su ...

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...

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 ...

Tim Raines Timothy Raines Sr. (born September 16, 1959), nicknamed "Rock",Raines received this nickname at an Expo rookie camp when he was seventeen, based on his physique. is an American professional baseball coach and former player. He played as a left ...

, and

David Eckstein David Mark Eckstein (; born January 20, 1975) is an American former professional baseball player. He was an infielder in Major League Baseball (MLB) for ten seasons. He played college baseball for the University of Florida and played professiona ...

. The Stadium was refurbished in 2001 at a cost of two million dollars, and now offers many modern amenities along with the classic architecture typical of stadiums built in the early to mid 1900s. The Stadium is currently home to the Orlando Baseball Association (OBA), 25t, 35t and 45t leagues, as well as Sanford Babe Ruth Baseball and the

Sanford River Rats The Sanford River Rats are a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league team located in Sanford, Florida. The team is a member of the Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) and plays its home games at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. The ...

of the

Florida Collegiate Summer League The Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) is a six-team wood bat collegiate summer baseball league located in the Central Florida region of the southeastern United States. The league was founded in the fall of 2003 and began play in the summe ...

. It was also home to the Seminole County Naturals of the

Florida Winter Baseball League The Florida Winter Baseball League, based in Miami, Florida, is a professional baseball organization located in Florida. It is based in Pompano Beach, Florida. History The Florida Winter Baseball League (FWBL) was a professional sports league, ...

during the 2009 season; the league subsequently suspended operations during the season due to a lack of funding. The stadium previously served as a spring training facility for the

and

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

. In 1942, the Boston Braves used the old field as its primary facility. Sanford Stadium is the location where Jackie Robinson first took to the field in 1946 to play baseball as a member of a white Class AAA International League Team in

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

, which was partnered with the

Montreal Royals The Montreal Royals were a minor league professional baseball team in Montreal, Quebec, during 1897–1917 and 1928–1960. A member of the International League, the Royals were the top farm club (Class AAA) of the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939; pi ...

. Unfortunately, this was also during an era of

racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...

and racial tensions, especially in that part of the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

which made up the former Confederacy. By the time Robinson took the field, the crowd of local white citizens in the stands ended up booing him off the field and he was not able to play. The then-Sanford police chief had actually threatened to cancel the game if Robinson took the field. On April 20, 1997, fifty years after Robinson had broken the color barrier in major league baseball, Mayor Larry Dale of Sanford issued a proclamation honoring Jackie Robinson and apologizing for the City of Sanford's, "...''regrettable actions in 1946''," when the city forced Robinson off Municipal Athletic Field. However, per author Chris Lamb's book, ''Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's First Spring Training'', despite the passage of over half a century, Mayor Dale's proclamation still didn't sit well with all residents of Sanford, especially those long-time residents or their descendants who were present or traced their lineage back to the city in 1946. Many believed that the city had let Robinson play and therefore had no reason to apologize, while others saw no reason to dredge up the sins of the past.

Stadium features

The ballpark features 415 box seats and bleacher seating for 1600 putting the total capacity at 2,015. The block outfield wall is 330 feet down the lines and 385 feet to center field. There are also two locker rooms, batting cages and bullpens for both home and visiting teams. There is a fully operational concession stand in the concourse area, along with the Buddy Lake Community Room, which offers food and beverage choices for fans and players. The press box is air conditioned, with phone and data lines, public address system and scoreboard controls. Sanford Memorial Stadium is a non-smoking facility. No coolers, food, pets or weapons of any kind are permitted inside the Stadium.

References

This article incorporates text from https://web.archive.org/web/20110716155018/http://www.ci.sanford.fl.us/departments/leisure_services/stadium.html, a work of the

Florida government The government of Florida is established and operated according to the Constitution of Florida and is composed of three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the governor of Florida and the other elected and appointed consti ...

and thus in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

in the United States. {{Reflist

External links

Stadium's Home Page

Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Florida New York Giants (NL) spring training venues Atlanta Braves spring training venues Grapefruit League venues Sports venues in Greater Orlando Buildings and structures in Seminole County, Florida Tourist attractions in Seminole County, Florida 1951 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1951