{{Infobox venue , name = Paterson Field , former_names = Municipal Stadium , logo_image = , logo_caption = , image = Paterson Field Montgomery Feb 2012 01

, caption = The exterior of the stadium in February 2012 , fullname = , location =

Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alabama and the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for the Irish soldier Richard Montgomery, it stands beside the Alabama River, on the coastal Plain of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 202 ...

, U.S. , coordinates = {{Coord, 32.382127, -86.291353, type:landmark, display=inline,title , built = , opened = {{Start date, 1949 , renovated = , expanded = , closed = , demolished = , owner = , operator = , surface = Grass , scoreboard = , cost = , capacity = 7,000 , suites = , record_attendance = , dimensions = , acreage = , tenants =

Montgomery Rebels The Montgomery Rebels was the name of several American minor league baseball franchises representing Montgomery, Alabama, playing in various leagues between and . ''Rebels'' was the predominant nickname of the Montgomery teams, but it was not the ...

(1965–1980)
NCAA D-II Baseball Championship (1985–2003)
Montgomery Wings (2001–2003)

Alabama State Hornets The Alabama State Hornets and Lady Hornets represent Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama in intercollegiate athletics. They field sixteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, golf, tennis, and track and field; wom ...

(?–2011) Paterson Field is a

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 ...

stadium in

. The stadium, named after William Burns Paterson junior, has a maximum capacity of 7,000 people and was opened in 1949. Paterson Field has played host to, among other professional teams, the

, a AA-class minor-league team affiliated with the Detroit Tigers, and the Montgomery Wings, an independent minor-league team. The stadium is still in use today, having recently been used as the home field of

Alabama State University Alabama State University (ASU) is a public historically black university in Montgomery, Alabama. Founded in 1867, ASU is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. History Alabama State University was founded in 1867 as the ...

, a Division I program that competes in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. A majority of seating inside Paterson Field is metallic

bleacher Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a ro ...

s with a few rows of box seats. Roof coverings shelter the three sections of the park behind home plate. The concourse is entirely covered, and situated below the seating. The concourse also provides no views of the playing field. Its location is in the downtown Montgomery area on Madison Avenue, near its intersection with Hall Street and in close proximity to

Cramton Bowl Cramton Bowl is a 25,000-seat stadium located in Montgomery, Alabama. Cramton Bowl opened in 1922 as a baseball stadium and has been home to Major League Baseball spring training and to minor league baseball. Today, however, its primary use is f ...

. The stadium affords no view of downtown Montgomery to the large majority of fans in the seating inside the park. Soon after its construction, Paterson Field was the home of several Montgomery minor-league professional baseball teams. Chief among these was the 1965–80 incarnation of the Montgomery Rebels as a Detroit Tigers affiliate. During their 16 years in Montgomery, the Rebels won five Southern League championships as the Tigers developed the nucleus of a club that would win the 1984

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

, and future MLB notables such as

Jack Morris John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career. Armed ...

Lou Whittaker Lou Whittaker (born February 10, 1929) is a mountaineer, mountain guide, and entrepreneur. He and his twin brother, Jim Whittaker, an equally renowned mountaineer and guide, were born and raised in Seattle. Besides his worldwide mountain climbi ...

, and Alan Trammell played under Paterson Field's lights before becoming big leaguers. The Rebels moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, after the 1980 Southern League season, becoming the Birmingham Barons, while Paterson Field lay relatively dormant. Riding the wave of increased popularity in minor league baseball of any level, the independent All-American Association opened play in June 2001 with teams in six cities. With the city's population count reaching 200,000, Montgomery was a logical choice for a franchise, and the city heartily welcomed the return of professional baseball to Alabama's capital city. In 2001, the Wings were part of the All-American Association; when the league folded, the Southeastern League of Professional Baseball picked them up for the 2002 season. The Wings were brought back for a final season in 2003 before an affiliate team from the Southern League, the

Montgomery Biscuits The Montgomery Biscuits are a Minor League Baseball team based in Montgomery, Alabama. They are the Double-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays and play in the Southern League. The team was founded in Orlando, Florida, in 1973 as the Orlando Twins ...

, took up residence in a new waterfront park,

Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium is the home of the Montgomery Biscuits of the Southern League. The minor league baseball ballpark opened in Montgomery, Alabama in 2004. Located in downtown Montgomery, the stadium can host up to 7,000 people a night ...

, which opened in 2004. Paterson Field was home to the

NCAA Division II Baseball Championship The NCAA Division II baseball tournament is an annual college baseball tournament held at the culmination of the spring regular season and which determines the NCAA Division II college baseball champion. The initial rounds of the tournament are ...

from 1985 to 2004, after which the event was moved to Riverwalk Stadium.

References

Baseball Pilgrimages
Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Alabama College baseball venues in the United States Sports venues in Montgomery, Alabama Alabama State Hornets baseball Alabama State Hornets and Lady Hornets sports venues 1949 establishments in Alabama Sports venues completed in 1949