League Park refers to two former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
and
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 ...
stadiums located in
Akron, Ohio
Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...
. The original League Park was located at the corner of Carroll St. and Beaver St.; the newer stadium was on Lakeshore Blvd. between W. Long St. and W. Crosier St.
Tenants
The stadiums were home to the
Akron Pros of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
from 1920 to 1922.
In 1933, the
Akron Black Tyrites, a
Negro league baseball team, played their home games here.
It also hosted the
Akron Yankees of the
Middle Atlantic League
The Middle Atlantic League (or Mid-Atlantic League) was a lower-level circuit in United States, American minor league baseball that played during the second quarter of the 20th century.
History
The Middle Atlantic League played from 1925 in base ...
, as well as various other minor league baseball team in Akron.
Capacity
The later stadium had a capacity of 5,000 spectators.
Characteristics
The second League Park was built on land that had a sharp drop-off directly behind the
left field
In baseball, a left fielder, abbreviated LF, is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the numbering system ...
fence. This led to the left field wall slanting backwards at such an angle that
outfielder
An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...
s could easily run up the wall, using it as a ramp, and catch fly balls that would have otherwise left the park. Since balls hit to left could literally roll up and over the fence, a rule was necessary declaring such hits a
ground-rule double.
References
External links
Stadium information
Akron Zips football
American football venues in Ohio
Baseball venues in Ohio
Defunct minor league baseball venues
Defunct college football venues
Defunct National Football League venues
Defunct baseball venues in the United States
Demolished sports venues in Ohio
Akron Pros
Negro league baseball venues
Ohio League venues
Defunct sports venues in Ohio
Sports venues in Akron, Ohio
Sports venues completed in 1906
1906 establishments in Ohio
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