The Jackie Robinson Ballpark (also known as Jackie Robinson Stadium or City Island Ball Park) is a historic

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 t ...

field in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States. It is located at 105 East Orange Avenue on City Island, in the

Halifax River The Halifax River is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, located in northeast Volusia County, Florida. The waterway was originally known as the North Mosquito River, but was renamed after George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax (for who ...

Overview

The ballpark, originally known as City Island Ball Park, opened in 1914. It consisted of a baseball field and a set of wooden bleachers. The present day grandstand and press box were built in 1962. It is the home of the

Daytona Tortugas The Daytona Tortugas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and play their home games at Jackie Robinson Ballpark; opened in ...

and the

Bethune–Cookman Wildcats The Bethune–Cookman Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Bethune–Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman is a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference and participates in NCAA Division I Football Champions ...

. The Daytona Tortugas were founded in 1993. They have won six Florida State League championships, 1994, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2011, and 2013. The Bethune–Cookman Wildcats have also achieved recent success, including six consecutive

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) is a collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States. It participates in the National C ...

(MEAC) baseball championships from 1999 to 2004, and seven more in 2006–2012.

History

Baseball

Daytona Beach and the stadium were the first Florida city to allow Robinson to play during the 1946 season's spring training. Robinson had been signed to play for the Triple-A

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; p ...

who held spring training in Florida with Brooklyn Dodgers. Both

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

and Sanford locked their stadiums to the Royals and forced the cancellation of scheduled exhibition games due to local ordinances which prohibited "mixed" athletics. Daytona Beach permitted the game, which was played on March 17, 1946. This contributed to Robinson breaking

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

color barrier Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...

the following year when he joined the Dodgers. The refusal by Jacksonville, previously the Dodgers' spring training home, led the team to host spring training in Daytona in 1947 and build Dodgertown in

Vero Beach Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

for the 1948 season. A statue of Robinson is now located at the south entrance to the ballpark. The ballpark was previously the home field of the

Daytona Beach Islanders Daytona Beach Islanders was a name for various minor league baseball teams that have all played in the Florida State League from 1920–1966 and in 1977 and again from 1985–1986. In 1968 through 1973, the team became the Daytona Beach Dodgers, d ...

(1920–1924, 1936–1941, 1946–1966, 1977, 1985–1986),

Daytona Beach Dodgers Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Day ...

(1968–1973), and

Daytona Beach Astros Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

(1978–1984). The major league

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

conducted their spring training at the park from 1973 to 1980. As of the 2021 season, Jackie Robinson Ballpark is the oldest active ballpark in Minor League Baseball.

Outside of baseball

The stadium sustained heavy damage during

Hurricane Donna Hurricane Donna, known in Puerto Rico as Hurricane San Lorenzo, was the strongest hurricane of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, and caused severe damage to the Lesser Antilles, the Greater Antilles, and the East Coast of the United States, e ...

in 1960. A $2 million historic renovation project was accelerated after

Hurricane Floyd Hurricane Floyd was a very powerful Cape Verde hurricane which struck the Bahamas and the East Coast of the United States. It was the sixth named storm, fourth hurricane, and third major hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Floyd tr ...

ripped off the metal roofs over the seating in 1999. In 2004, the ballpark suffered moderate damage during Hurricane Charley, causing several home games to be moved to

Melching Field at Conrad Park Melching Field at Conrad Park is a baseball stadium located in DeLand, Florida. The primary tenant of Melching Field is the Stetson University Hatters college baseball team, a Division I program playing in the ASUN Conference. Features Melchin ...

in nearby DeLand. On October 22, 1998, the stadium was added to the United States

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. This property is part of the

Daytona Beach Multiple Property Submission The following buildings were added to the National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects de ...

, a Multiple Property Submission to the National Register. On May 12, 2018, the stadium hosted a concert by rapper Nelly with Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Juvenile as the opening acts.

References

External links