Phil Welch Stadium is a baseball stadium in

St Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

. It originally opened in 1939 as the home of the minor league St. Joseph Saints. It has a

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 ...

of 3,600 and is located at 2600 SW Parkway in St. Joseph.

History

Phil Welch Stadium opened as home of the St. Joseph Saints in 1939. The Saints had various other monikers and were a member of the

Western Association The Western Association was the name of five different leagues formed in American minor league baseball during the 19th and 20th centuries. The oldest league, originally established as the Northwestern League in 1883, was refounded as the Weste ...

(1939-1941, 1946-1951, 1953-1954). They were an affiliate of the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

(1946-1951, 1953), the Chicago Cubs (1939-1940),

St. Louis Browns The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...

(1941) and the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

(1954). Hall of Fame players like

Mickey Mantle Mickey Charles Mantle (October 20, 1931 – August 13, 1995), nicknamed "the Commerce Comet" and "the Mick", was an American professional baseball player. Mantle played his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1968) with the New York ...

and

Willie Mays Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...

played games there while rising through the ranks. St, Joseph won three Western Association Championships playing at Phil Welch Stadium. They won the championship in 1940 under

Keith Frazier Keith F. Frazier (May 18, 1913 – June 17, 1992) was a minor league baseball player and manager who is notable for leading the St. Joseph Saints to a league championship in 1940. He was born in Colorado, United States. Used as both an outfie ...

and the last two under Robert Stanton and Harold Olt in 1947 and 1948. In 1939, Hall of Fame member

Dizzy Dean Jay Hanna "Dizzy" Dean (January 16, 1910 – July 17, 1974), also known as Jerome Herman Dean (both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show his name as "Jay"), was an American professional baseball pitcher. During his Major League Baseball (MLB) career ...

debuted his professional career with St. Joseph, going 17-8 in 32 games with a 3.69

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

. In 1949, Hall of Fame member

Earl Weaver Earl Sidney Weaver (August 14, 1930 – January 19, 2013) was an American professional baseball manager, author, and television broadcaster. After playing in minor league baseball, he retired without playing in Major League Baseball (MLB). He be ...

played for the Saints. Phil Welch Stadium was the home from 2006 to 2007 to the St. Joe Blacksnakes, a minor-league team competing in the

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor lea ...

. Since 2009 the stadium has been the home of the Saint Joseph Mustangs, a collegiate summer baseball team competing in the M.I.N.K. League. Phil Welch was also the home park of the

Missouri Western State University Missouri Western State University is a public university in Saint Joseph, Missouri. As of 2019, it enrolled 5,413 students. History Missouri Western State University was founded in 1915 as a two-year institution called St. Joseph Junior College ...

Griffons until the 2011 season. Stadium dimensions are 320-420-320 (left to right). The lighting poles in the outfield are constructed out of metal lattice frame and are located within the field of play, creating scenarios of balls bouncing off the metal frame or getting caught inside the framework.

References

External links

History of Phil Welch Stadium
St Joseph Mustangs website Sports venues in Missouri Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Missouri Missouri Western Griffons baseball Buildings and structures in St. Joseph, Missouri NAIA World Series venues 1939 establishments in Missouri Sports venues completed in 1939 College baseball venues in the United States {{Missouri-baseball-venue-stub