Muzzy 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 ...

Bristol, Connecticut Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, the ...

adjacent to Rockwell Park. It has been in use since 1912 for both baseball and football. The brick-faced grandstand, with a capacity of 4,900 people, was built in 1939. It features a ring of tall pine trees that line the outside of the outfield wall and the grandstand. Muzzy Field hosts high school sports, primarily

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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Three high schools use the field: Bristol Central High School, Bristol Eastern High School, and Saint Paul Catholic High School. Muzzy Field is the site of the football "Battle for the Bell" between Bristol Eastern and Bristol Central, held every Thanksgiving morning, with the winner claiming the bell for the following year. In summer, Muzzy Field hosts collegiate baseball teams: since 2015, the

Bristol Blues The Bristol Blues are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Bristol, Connecticut. It is a member of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), a wood-bat league with a 44-game regular season that has six franchises in Massachusetts ...

of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

; and formerly, the Bristol Collegiate Baseball Club (2010) and the Bristol Nighthawks (

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

–

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

), both of the

Former uses

Muzzy Field was the home of the Double-A

Bristol Red Sox The Bristol Red Sox baseball club was an American minor league baseball franchise. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, it was the Double-A Eastern League farm system affiliate of the Boston Red Sox for ten seasons (1973–82) and played at Muzzy Fi ...

of the Eastern League from 1972 to 1982. Former

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

stars

Jim Rice James Edward Rice (born March 8, 1953), nicknamed "Jim Ed", is a former Major League Baseball left fielder and designated hitter. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Baseball Hall of Fame on July 26, 2009 Baseball ...

Fred Lynn Fredric Michael Lynn (born February 3, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 through 1990 as a center fielder with the Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Det ...

, and

Butch Hobson Clell Lavern "Butch" Hobson Jr. (born August 17, 1951) is an American former professional baseball third baseman and manager. He is the current manager for the Chicago Dogs of the American Association of Professional Baseball. Hobson played in ...

honed their skills with the "BriSox." The ballpark also housed the old

Bristol Owls Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

of the Class-B

Colonial League The Colonial League is an athletic conference consisting of 14 high schools mostly from the Lehigh Valley portion of eastern Pennsylvania. It is part of District XI of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association. The Colonial League is ...

in 1949 and 1950, as well as various amateur baseball teams, notably the Bristol En-Dees and the local

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

team. The University of Hartford's baseball program used the venue for some home games prior to opening

Fiondella Field Fiondella Field is a baseball venue located on the campus of the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States. It is home to the Hartford Hawks baseball team, a member of the NCAA Division I America East Conference. The s ...

in 2006. Muzzy Field was the site of the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and M ...

baseball championship tournament from 1985–1995. In 1991, Joe Archambeault put together a barnstorming exhibition New England Grey Sox team, including former

players and other major-leaguers including Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Mark "The Bird" Fidrych, Bob Stanley,

Dick McAuliffe Richard John McAuliffe (November 29, 1939 – May 13, 2016) was an American professional baseball shortstop / second baseman, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Detroit Tigers (1960–73) and Boston Red Sox (1974–75). He was a ...

Dick Radatz Richard Raymond Radatz (April 2, 1937 – March 16, 2005) was an American relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. Nicknamed "The Monster", the , right-hander had a scorching but short-lived period of dominance for the Boston Red Sox in the e ...

, Ozzie Virgil, and

Mike Stenhouse Michael Steven Stenhouse (born May 29, 1958) is a former outfielder, first baseman, and designated hitter in Major League Baseball who played for the Montreal Expos from -, the Minnesota Twins in , and the Boston Red Sox in . Stenhouse is the CEO ...

. They played against a team of local men, the Undefeated Bristol Fradette Agency, on June 1, 1991, in front of 5,000 fans. In 2004 the stadium was also the site of an ''

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

'' audition.

Renovations

In 2012 and 2013, the City of Bristol approved a renovation of the ballpark to include a new front entrance and public concourse, new lighting, seating,

ADA Ada may refer to: Places Africa * Ada Foah, a town in Ghana * Ada (Ghana parliament constituency) * Ada, Osun, a town in Nigeria Asia * Ada, Urmia, a village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Ada, Karaman, a village in Karaman Province, ...

improvements and a new grandstand enclosure along the Muzzy Street side of the stadium connecting to the existing grandstand. Further renovations in 2015, coinciding with the arrival of the Bristol Blues club, included a new rooftop press box, an extension of the roof, and an electronic sign at the corner of Park and Muzzy Streets to advertise events.

Bibliography

References

{{Hartford Hawks Baseball Hartford Yard Goats Baseball venues in Connecticut Defunct minor league baseball venues Buildings and structures in Bristol, Connecticut Sports venues in Hartford County, Connecticut 1939 establishments in Connecticut Sports venues completed in 1939 High school baseball venues in the United States New England Collegiate Baseball League ballparks