Joe Devine Airway Park was 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 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 in the western United States, located in Boise, Idaho. Opened in 1939, the

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

was the home of Boise's teams (

Pilots An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

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 the Class C Pioneer League, which briefly moved to Class A in 1963, the final year of the Braves and the ballpark. Originally "Airway Park," it was the home of the Pilots and was a few blocks east of the Boise Airport, then located at the present-day campus of

Boise State University Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

. The city donated of the western portion of Municipal Park (now

Kristin Armstrong Municipal Park Kristin Armstrong Municipal Park is a urban park in the western United States, along the Boise River in Boise, Idaho. The park is managed by the Boise Parks and Recreation Department and includes picnic facilities, bocce courts, and a playground. ...

) in 1939 for the ballpark. North of the nearby

Boise River The Boise River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. , accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Snake River in the Northwestern United States. It drains a rugged portion of the Sawtooth Range in sou ...

, the

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

of the natural grass field was approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

, and it was aligned to the southeast; the recommended alignment (home plate to center field) is east-northeast. Opened with a seating capacity of 3,000, it was increased to 5,000 after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Yankees

When the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

moved their Pioneer League affiliate from Twin Falls to Boise after the 1951 season, the ballpark was renamed in March to honor Joe Devine (1892–1951), a talented Yankees scout in the West who had played for the Boise Irrigators of the

Union Association The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season. Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...

. The park was officially dedicated to Devine on Thursday,

Braves

The

Milwaukee 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) East division. The Braves were founded in Bost ...

became the parent club in 1955 and it was renamed "Braves Field." Boise's last season in the Pioneer League was in 1963; the stadium was soon razed and the site became the headquarters of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

After demolition

The Pioneer League became a

rookie A rookie is a person new to an occupation, profession, or hobby. In sports, a ''rookie'' is a professional athlete in their first season (or year). In contrast with a veteran who has experience and expertise, a rookie is usually inexperienced ...

league in 1964, and in the Treasure Valley it shifted west to

Caldwell Caldwell may refer to: People * Caldwell (surname) * Caldwell (given name) * Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada Places Great Britain * Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet * Caldwell, East ...

with the Caldwell Cubs through 1971 at

Simplot Stadium Simplot Stadium is an outdoor athletic stadium in the western United States, located in Caldwell, Idaho. It is primarily used for football and soccer, with a seating capacity of 4,826. The College of Idaho Coyotes men's soccer team used it as t ...

; they were known as the "Treasure Valley Cubs" for their first three seasons. The minor leagues briefly returned to Boise in 1975 and 1976 with the

Boise A's The Boise Athletics were a minor league baseball team located in Boise, Idaho. They were members of the Class A-Short Season Northwest League for two seasons (1975, 1976) and were affiliated with the Oakland Athletics. History In 1974, the N ...

of the short season Northwest League at Borah Field (today's Bill Wigle Field). The independent Buckskins existed for one unsuccessful season in 1978, and the

Hawks Hawks are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are widely distributed and are found on all continents except Antarctica. * The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks and others. This subfamily a ...

arrived after the 1986 season from the

Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...

in south

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

. After two years at Wigle Field, the Hawks moved to the new Memorial Stadium in northwest Boise , at the start of the 1989 season.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

''New York Times''
– obituary for Joe Devine
Boise State University Library
– 1950s photo of Bronco Stadium and Braves Field
Baseball Reference
– teams history, Boise, Idaho Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct sports venues in Idaho Buildings and structures in Boise, Idaho

Yankees

Braves

After demolition

See also

References

External links