UC Baseball Stadium (formerly UC Ballpark and Marge Schott Stadium) is a baseball stadium in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, on the campus of the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

. It is the home field of the

Cincinnati Bearcats The Cincinnati Bearcats are the athletic teams that represent the University of Cincinnati. Though they will move to the Big 12 Conference (XII) the teams are currently a part of the American Athletic Conference (The American), which from 1979 ...

. The stadium holds 3,085 people and opened in 2004. The stadium was named after late

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

owner

Marge Schott Margaret Carolyn Schott (née Unnewehr; August 18, 1928 – March 2, 2004) was an American baseball executive. Serving as managing general partner, president and CEO of Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds franchise from 1984 to 1999, she wa ...

from 2006 to 2020, when her name was taken off due to renewed controversy over her racist remarks.

Name

In 2006, the stadium was renamed to Marge Schott Stadium, after former

owner

, two years after her Marge and Charles J. Schott Foundation donated $ to the university's athletic department for the Richard E. Lindner Varsity Village. At one point, the university expressed interest in renaming the stadium to "Kevin Youkilis Field at Marge Schott Stadium", after former Bearcat and major leaguer

Kevin Youkilis Kevin Edmund Youkilis (; born March 15, 1979), nicknamed "Youk" , is an American former professional baseball first baseman and third baseman, who primarily played for the Boston Red Sox. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, he was drafted by the Red S ...

. However, Youkilis, who is Jewish, declined to be associated with Schott, who was known for racist and

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

statements. Youkilis recalled his father saying to him: "Kevin that is a tremendous honor that they would think of doing this. The only problem is that our family name will never coexist with that other individual. I will never let our family name be next to someone that was filled with such hatred of our Jewish community." In 2020, Bearcats pitcher Nathan Moore along with Youkilis called for the university to remove Schott's name from the stadium. On June 23, 2020, the university's board of trustees voted unanimously to remove Schott's name from both the stadium and a space in the university's archives library, effective immediately.

Facilities

The stadium holds 3,085 people and opened in 2004. In August 2014, TriplePlay HP System turf was installed, replacing the original field turf. All areas of the field, including the

warning track The warning track is the part of the baseball field that is closest to the wall or fence and is made of a different material than the field. Common materials for the warning track include dirt or rubber; it should always be of a different material ...

home plate A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

pitcher's mound A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

, and

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

s are now turf. In 2012, college baseball writer Eric Sorenson ranked the stadium as the third most underrated venue in Division I baseball.

Attendance

Largest baseball attendance (since 2000)

References

External links