Schepps Palm Field was a minor league baseball venue located in

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

. It was home to the short-lived

Corpus Christi Clippers The Corpus Christi Clippers was a primary name of the minor league baseball teams based in Corpus Christi, Texas between 1910 and 1959. Corpus Christi teams played as members of the Southwest Texas League (1910–1911), Gulf Coast League (1926), ...

of the

Big State League The Big State League was a mid-level, Class B level circuit in American minor league baseball that played for 11 seasons, from 1947 through 1957. Its member clubs were exclusively based in Texas. The Corpus Christi Clippers (1955-1956), Texark ...

from 1954 to 1957, and the

Corpus Christi Giants Corpus is Latin for "body". It may refer to: Linguistics * Text corpus, in linguistics, a large and structured set of texts * Speech corpus, in linguistics, a large set of speech audio files * Corpus linguistics, a branch of linguistics Music * ...

from 1958 to 1959. The field was challenging to play on due to the widening cracks and hard surface.

Naming of the Ballpark

The original name for the ballpark, Schepps Palm Field, was named after entrepreneur George Schepps. The Palm part was named for the palm trees, which is the only sustainable icon where the park once stood. New ownership brought a name-change to the team for the 1954 season, and thus the park was renamed Clippers Field. Then, after the team (and Big State League) folded after the 1957 season, the Oklahoma City franchise relocated to Corpus Christi, the team was named the Giants, and the park was renamed as Giants Field.

Playing Conditions

Unlike the more sophisticated

Whataburger Field Whataburger Field is a minor league baseball stadium located in Corpus Christi, Texas, United States. It is home to the Corpus Christi Hooks, the Double-A affiliate of the Houston Astros. It also serves as a secondary home to the Texas A&M–Co ...

, Schepps Palm Field had no air conditioning to aid players during the oppressively hot summers in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. The field was not any better; the ground cracked, caused irregular bounces, and looked similar to a sandlot than a traditional ballpark.

1958 Texas League Champions

Regular season

In 1958, in their first season as the Corpus Christi Giants, the team had an average year. They finished third with a 77-75 record, good enough for 3rd place. They concluded the season 1/2 game ahead of the Austin Senators, 1/2 game behind the Houston Buffs, and 10 games behind the

Fort Worth Cats The Fort Worth Cats was a professional baseball team based in Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States. The Cats were a member of the South Division of the now disbanded United League Baseball, which was not affiliated with Major League Baseball. ...

Playoffs

In the playoffs, they played their first series (best-of seven) against the Houston Buffs and won 4 games to one. In the

Texas League The Texas League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated in the South Central United States since 1902. It is classified as a Double-A league. Despite the league's name, only its five South Division teams are actually based in the ...

championship, they faced the Austin Senators and barely won going a full seven games to decide a winner.

Location

The park used to exist between Old Brownsville Road, Highway 44, and Baldwin Blvd. Horton Automatics as well as a gas station, and a restaurant now took up residence as there is no trace of the ballfield, Schepps Palm Field. After the financially strapped Giants moved to Harlingen, Texas, following the 1959 season, the park was demolished in August 1960.

Sources

* "Ghost Leagues: Minor League Baseball in South Texas," Noe Torres, c.2005

References

{{coord missing, Texas Sports venues in Corpus Christi, Texas Baseball venues in Texas 1949 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 1949 1960 disestablishments in Texas Sports venues demolished in 1960 Defunct minor league baseball venues Florida Complex League ballparks