Westgate Park was 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 tea ...

stadium located in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. The ballpark was home to the

San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

from 1958 to 1967. The ballpark was located in the largely undeveloped

Mission Valley Mission Valley is a wide river valley trending east–west in San Diego, California, United States, through which the San Diego River flows to the Pacific Ocean. For planning purposes the city of San Diego divides it into two neighborhoods: Missi ...

region of San Diego. The location was on Friars Road at State Route 395 (now State Route 163), in the northeast corner of what is now the

Fashion Valley Mall Fashion Valley (also referred to Fashion Valley Mall) is an upscale, open-air shopping mall in Mission Valley in San Diego, California. The shopping center has of leasable floor area, making it the largest mall in San Diego and one of the large ...

. Westgate was built to replace the deteriorating Lane Field, where the minor-league Padres had played since 1936. Constructed for $1 million in private funds by Padres owner

C. Arnholt Smith Conrad Arnholt Smith (aka Conrad Arnholdt Smith) (March 13, 1899 in Walla Walla, Washington – June 8, 1996 in Del Mar, California) was a leading businessman and civic activist in San Diego, California. Personal life Smith was born in Walla Walla ...

, Westgate was a modern stadium with a capacity of 8,268 fans, with an eye to be expanded to major league size (up to 40,000) if necessary. In 1958 when it opened, "Not even Yankee Stadium or Boston's Fenway Park can surpass the comforts and conveniences of the Padres' new home. ... This is a real ballpark, built for the game of baseball, a ballpark in which the city of San Diego can take great pride." It was named for the Westgate-California Tuna Packing Corporation. The first Padres games played in Westgate were on April 28, 1958, a day-night doubleheader versus the

Phoenix Giants Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), ...

. The afternoon game attracted 4,619 fans, while the nightcap attracted 7,129 fans. However, the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

were demanding a new stadium to replace

Balboa Stadium Balboa Stadium is an American football and soccer stadium on the west coast of the United States, located in San Diego, California. Just east of San Diego High School, the original stadium was built in 1914 as part of the 1915 Panama–Califor ...

, a structure dating from about 1915. With major league baseball soon to arrive, the city decided to build a single,

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used by multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy th ...

for both baseball and football. The new facility was initially called

San Diego Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadiu ...

. This ended the possibility of expansion for Westgate. The minor league Padres played the 1968 season in the cavernous (by PCL standards) new stadium, knowing they were a lame duck, with the major league

set to begin play the next year. Plans for Fashion Valley Mall were unveiled in December 1967, and Westgate was razed by 1969 to make room.

References

External links

Aerial photo of Westgate Park
* {{coord, 32, 46, 9, N, 117, 9, 48, W, type:landmark_dim:240, display=title Baseball venues in California Defunct baseball venues in the United States Sports venues in San Diego Sports venues completed in 1958 1967 disestablishments in California 1958 establishments in California