Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park is a

baseball stadium 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 ...

College Station, Texas College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...

, that is home to the

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

baseball program. The

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 ...

was dedicated on March 21, 1978, and is named in honor of C. E. "Pat" Olsen, a 1923 graduate of

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

and a former

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 ...

player in 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 ...

farm system. Olsen Field has served as an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

regional site five times and had its 1999 regional attendance ranked second with 53,287. The first NCAA Regional Tournament held at Olsen Field was in 1989. In 2004 ''

Sports Illustrated on Campus ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'' ranked Olsen Field "the best college baseball venue". Olsen Field has been known to be one of the more hostile environments in college baseball, as seen by the Aggie baseball fans being called

RAggies The Raggies are a group of people that live in the northwestern part of the state of Connecticut. Their ancestors were said to be iron workers in the forges on and around Mount Riga in Salisbury, also known as "Mt. Raggie" in the local area. The t ...

for have a reputation of fiercely "ragging" opponents. Olsen Field underwent a major renovation that began on June 7, 2011, funded in part by donations from the owners of

Blue Bell Creameries Blue Bell Creameries is an American food company that manufactures ice cream. It was founded in 1907 in Brenham, Texas. For much of its early history, the company manufactured both ice cream and butter locally. In the mid-20th century, it abandon ...

, based in nearby

Brenham Brenham ( ) is a city in east-central Texas in Washington County, United States, with a population of 17,369 according to the 2020 U.S. census. It is the county seat of Washington County. Washington County is known as the "Birthplace of Texas, ...

. In return, Blue Bell gained naming rights. Some new features of the stadium included an expanded concourse and concessions area, luxury suites, a new press box, club seating, two grass berms, expanded locker rooms and coaches offices, a student athletic center, and extended seating closer to the field. However, the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was decreased from 7,000 to 5,400 to accommodate the changes (although with standing room only will still hold over 7,000). Olsen Field reopened on February 17, 2012, for the first game of the 2012 baseball season even though some projects were not completely finished; the remaining work was completed on non-game days. In 2015, the Aggies ranked 7th among Division I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 4,857 per home game. On April 10, 2018, the attendance record after the renovation was set with 7,537 in attendance to watch the Texas A&M Aggies face the Texas Longhorns. BlueBellParkEXTERIOR

References

External links

Aggie Athletics Blue Bell Park Web Page
{{coord, 30.60575, N, 96.34130, W, source:placeopedia, display=title College baseball venues in the United States Texas A&M Aggies baseball venues Baseball venues in Texas Sports venues in College Station, Texas Southwest Conference Baseball Tournament venues 1978 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 1978

See also

References

External links