Homer Stryker Field is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

. The baseball field is located in Kalamazoo's Mayors Riverfront Park. It is primarily used for

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 ...

, and is the home field for the

Kalamazoo Growlers The Kalamazoo Growlers are a baseball team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan that plays in the Northwoods League, a summer collegiate baseball league. The Growlers were founded in 2013 and played their first game on May 28, 2014, losing to the then ...

of the

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not paid, so as to maintain their college el ...

. It used to be the home field of the

Kalamazoo Kings The Kalamazoo Kings were a professional baseball team based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the United States between 2001-2010. The Kings were a member of the independent Frontier League. The Kings played their home games at Homer Stryker Field. A ...

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

baseball team in the

Frontier League The Frontier League is a professional independent baseball league with teams in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Eastern Canada. Formed in 1993, it is the oldest currently running independent league in the United States. The le ...

. It opened in 1963, and holds 4,000 people. Homer Stryker Field became the home of the Kalamazoo Kings in 2001. It had hosted the Kodiaks, another

team; each team has made some renovations to a facility that has been in use in some form since 1925, although the oldest part of the current structure, a concrete grandstand now with aluminum benches, appears to date to 1963. The 1995 renovation added new aluminum seating and a press box above the old grandstand, along with some additional bleacher sections flanking the central stand. Some new outbuildings have been constructed in the last few years. The field is somewhat unorthodox in that home plate is at the northeast corner of the grounds; traditionally and commonly, baseball fields have home plate at the westernmost end of the grounds so batters do not have to face the sun while hitting.

Homer Stryker Homer Hartman Stryker MD (November 4, 1894May 5, 1980) was an American orthopedic surgeon, inventor, businessman, and the founder of Stryker Corporation. His inventions contributed to orthopedic care, patient comfort, and medical staff convenien ...

was the patriarch of the

Stryker Corporation Stryker Corporation is an American multinational medical technologies corporation based in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Stryker's products include implants used in joint replacement and trauma surgeries; surgical equipment and surgical navigation system ...

. The Stryker family bought the naming rights in 2002 and placed Homer's name on the field.

Field dimensions

Left Field Foul Line: 290 feet Center Field: 400 feet Right Field Foul Line: 330 feet

References

Baseball venues in Michigan Minor league baseball venues Buildings and structures in Kalamazoo, Michigan Tourist attractions in Kalamazoo, Michigan Sports in Kalamazoo, Michigan Sports venues completed in 1963 1963 establishments in Michigan {{Michigan-baseball-venue-stub