Fraser Field is 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 ...

park in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by Eu ...

that has played host to many minor-league baseball teams over the years. The

North Shore Navigators The North Shore Navigators are a wooden-bat, collegiate summer baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts, playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The team plays home games at Fraser Field in Lynn. The team is owned by Ol ...

of the

New England Collegiate Baseball League The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is a 13-team collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league founded in 1993 and sanctioned by the NCAA and Major League Baseball. Each NECBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule during June ...

call Fraser Field home. In the springtime, Fraser Field is home to the Falcons of Fisher College.

History

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, a large employer in the city, arranged

floodlight A floodlight is a broad-beamed, high-intensity artificial light. They are often used to illuminate outdoor playing fields while an outdoor sports event is being held during low-light conditions. More focused kinds are often used as a stage ...

s on the site for a night game against Salem on June 24, 1927. The company has made the refuted claim that this was the first night game ever played. Fraser Field was built in 1940. Like Holman Stadium in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester. Along with Manchester, it is a seat of New Hampshire's most populous ...

, Fraser was a project of the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...

during the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Con ...

. The

Lynn Sailors The Lynn Sailors were a Minor League Baseball franchise that originated in 1980 in Lynn, Massachusetts. The Sailors were affiliated with the Seattle Mariners from 1980 to 1982 and with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1983, when they were known as the L ...

, an affiliate of the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

, played at Fraser from 1980 through 1982, changing its name to the Lynn Pirates when its affiliation changed to the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. Founded as part o ...

. Attendance was low and got lower. Fraser Field hosted only scholastic and city leagues until Jonathan Fleisig brought the

Massachusetts Mad Dogs Massachusetts ( Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous state in the New England region of t ...

of the independent

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and ...

and

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

leagues to Fraser Field from 1995 until 1999. By 1999, the concrete of the cantilevered roof had deteriorated so badly that the central seating section had to be roped off. The Mad Dogs announced a one-year hiatus from baseball and reopened in 2002 in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all ...

as the Berkshire Black Bears. The North Shore Spirit of the independent Can-Am League played at Fraser Field from 2003-2007. In 2003, Nicholas Lopardo invested about $2.5 million to revitalize the park. Lopardo's renovations included new scoreboards, seating, concessions, and clubhouses.http://www.digitalballparks.com/CanAm/Lynn21.html Fraser Field slideshow, URL accessed December 13, 2008 The roof was repaired but cut back in size. When the Spirit folded, Lopardo removed the portable clubhouses and video scoreboard, but other improvements remained in place. In 2006 and 2007, the opening round of the Beanpot, a college baseball tournament featuring

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classifi ...

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU) is a private research university with its main campus in Boston. Established in 1898, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs on its main campus as well as satellite campuses in Charlotte, North C ...

, The University of Massachusetts, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

, was played at Fraser Field. In 2008, the

of the

began play at Fraser, having moved from

Holyoke Holyoke is a city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, that lies between the western bank of the Connecticut River and the Mount Tom Range. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,238. Located north of Springfield, ...

. The club won its first NECBL title in 2010. In 2012, the Navigators were acquired by Salvi Sports Enterprises, which switched the club to the newer

Futures League The Toyota Second XI or Futures League is the Australian national second XI cricket competition. Run by Cricket Australia, it is part of its development program and includes the various state and territory second XI teams, from the 2009–10 s ...

with its focus on larger ballparks and professional management. In 2019, the roof had again deteriorated so as to endanger fans, and the Navigators began the season with the central seating section again roped off. In 2020, the Navigators were sold to the January family of Swampscott and netting was attached to the underside of the roof to catch any further falling concrete. The club returned to the NECBL in 2021.

Field structure

The infield of Fraser Field is

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commer ...

manufactured and installed by Pro Grass LLC, while the outfield is natural grass. A drain system serves the infield and basepaths, but standing water can accumulate in the outfield from heavy rains even early in the day. The artificial turf was redone for the 2015 baseball season, finally omitting the Spirit logo denoting the previous franchise. Beyond left field is the adjacent Manning Field, which succeeded the old Manning Bowl.This is seen in the photograph at the top of this page. The site of the bowl became the main parking lot for both Manning and Fraser. Ample on-street parking is also available, and the Spirit arranged with neighborhood businesses for the use of their parking lots in the evening. The main gate and clubhouse are on Western Avenue, behind the grandstand. A secondary admission gate is adjacent to the left-field bullpen. It serves the main parking lot but requires fans to walk around the outfield. A third gate, adjacent to the right-field bullpen, has not been used in the Navigators era.

External links

North Shore Navigators website

Futures League home page

Professional Teams at Fraser Field on FunWhileItLasted.net

Notes

References

{{Futures League Stadiums 1940 establishments in Massachusetts Baseball venues in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Lynn, Massachusetts Futures Collegiate Baseball League ballparks Minor league baseball venues Sports in Lynn, Massachusetts Sports venues completed in 1940 Works Progress Administration in Massachusetts