Blair Field is a

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

. It originally opened in 1956 and is primarily used for

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 ...

. It holds 3,238 people. It is named for Frank Blair, the sports editor for the '' Long Beach Press-Telegram'' newspaper for 32 years. Located in Recreation Park, it was constructed in 1958 and over the years has fostered local amateur baseball and hosted Moore League high school

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and

teams, along with

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of ...

and Connie Mack baseball. The

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is locate ...

baseball team held spring training at the ballpark in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

, the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

football team and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

teams have used the site for practice or

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

s. It is the home of the

Long Beach State 49ers baseball The Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball team is the college baseball program that represents California State University, Long Beach. Although all Long Beach State sports teams are officially known as the Beach, the baseball team is typically refe ...

team, " the Dirtbags," and former home of the defunct Western Baseball League team, the Long Beach Breakers, and the defunct

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

team, the

Long Beach Armada The Long Beach Armada were an independent professional baseball team based in Long Beach, California, in the United States. The Armada was a member of the North Division of the now-defunct Golden Baseball League (GBL), which was not affiliated wi ...

. In 1992, $1.475 million was spent to renovate the 3,238-seat facility. New spectator seating, field lights, a playing field with state-of-the-art drainage system, and turf which exceeds professional baseball standards were installed. Additional improvements, including 774 new box seats and a new scoreboard, were made in 1999. In 2008, CSULB and the City of Long Beach built a new scoreboard with a full LCD color video screen and LED score displays. Prior to the 2016 season, a new outfield fence was built. The new fence reduced the dimensions of the park, while providing a safer, padded barrier for outfielders. In 2017, the Troy & Danyll Tulowitzki Batting Facility as well as the Jered Weaver Bullpen were constructed.

Attendance

In 2012, the Dirtbags ranked 46th among Division I baseball programs in attendance, averaging 1,391 per home game.

Other uses

Blair Field has hosted six MTV Rock N' Jock softball games. It has also been the filming location for numerous film, TV, and commercial productions, including the movies ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel ...

'' and ''

Moneyball ''Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game'' is a book by Michael Lewis, published in 2003, about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and its general manager Billy Beane. Its focus is the team's analytical, evidence-based, sabermetric appro ...

''. The

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

practiced at Blair Field prior to

Super Bowl XI Super Bowl XI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Minnesota Vikings to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for i ...

in nearby Pasadena.

Gallery

File:Blair Field - Long Beach, CA.jpg, Blair Field main entrance File:Blair Field Grandstand (Long Beach, California).jpg, Blair Field grandstand File:Blair Field Recreation Park Long Beach California.jpg, Blair Field - Recreation Park

References

External links

City of Long Beach Department of Parks and Recreation: Blair Field
{{Chicago Cubs Baseball venues in California College baseball venues in the United States Chicago Cubs spring training venues Minor league baseball venues High school football venues in California Sports venues in Long Beach, California Spring training ballparks Long Beach State Dirtbags baseball 1958 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 1958

Attendance

Other uses

Gallery

See also

References

External links