Memorial Stadium was 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 ...

located in

Johnny Appleseed Park Johnny Appleseed Park, including what was formerly known as Archer Park, is a public park in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is named after the popular-culture nickname of John Chapman, better known as "Johnny Appleseed", a famous American pioneer, who wa ...

in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was 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 was the home field of the Fort Wayne Wizards of the

Midwest League The Midwest League is a Minor League Baseball league established in 1947 and based in the Midwestern United States. A Class A league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganizat ...

baseball team. Memorial Stadium was dedicated on April 18, 1993 before a sold-out crowd. One of the most historic moments for the stadium came April 24, 1994 when Alex Rodriguez hit the first professional

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

of his career. Memorial Stadium hosted its final baseball game August 28, 2008, with 6,106 in attendance, between the Wizards and

South Bend Silver Hawks South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

. Highlights included the ceremonial first pitch thrown by

2008 Summer Olympic The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

medalist Lloy Ball and the national anthem performed by the

Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra The Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The orchestra's primary concert venues are the Embassy Theatre and the Auer Performance Hall at Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPF ...

. The final attendance recorded for Memorial Stadium was 4,046,261. Memorial Stadium's replacement,

Parkview Field Parkview Field is a minor league baseball stadium located in the central business district of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S. History Parkview Field was built as the new home of the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego P ...

, opened for the 2009 season in downtown Fort Wayne as the new home for the franchise. In the summer of 2009, Memorial Stadium was demolished.

References

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External links

Small ParksHarrison Square
Defunct baseball venues in the United States Defunct sports venues in Indiana Baseball venues in Indiana