Memorial Park is a

municipal park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens ( UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and other incorpora ...

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

. Covering just over 24-acres, it was dedicated in 1939 to Michigan Armed Forces members who died in military service. Memorial Park has facilities for baseball, softball, football, and tennis; a playground; a pavilion and picnic tables; restrooms; and concessions. Dogs are not allowed in the park.

The Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial

Memorial Park is the home of the Michigan WWII Legacy Memorial, a "tribute to Michigan's home front and warfront heroes hohelped win World War II." A copy of the statue

Unconditional Surrender An unconditional surrender is a surrender in which no guarantees, reassurances, or promises (i.e., conditions) are given to the surrendering party. It is often demanded with the threat of complete destruction, extermination or annihilation. Anno ...

was displayed in Memorial Park from June to December 2016, to help raise money for the memorial.

Memorial Park riot

The

1970 Memorial Park riot The 1970 Memorial Park riot was a civil disturbance by alienated white youths that began in Royal Oak, Michigan, on August 24, 1970, and spread to Birmingham, Michigan, both primarily white middle class suburbs of Detroit. The initial conflict re ...

was a three-day

civil disturbance Civil may refer to: *Civility, orderly behavior and politeness *Civic virtue, the cultivation of habits important for the success of a society *Civil (journalism) ''The Colorado Sun'' is an online news outlet based in Denver, Colorado. It lau ...

by alienated white youths that began on August 24, 1970. The initial conflict resulted from the police closing Memorial Park, alleging that the park was being used for the sale of illegal drugs.

Ballpark

Among the features of Memorial Park is a

baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

, in some sources called The Lucky Corner, which is home to the Royal Oak Leprechauns, a

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

team. The Leprechauns were members of the

Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League The Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL) is a collegiate summer baseball league in the Great Lakes region of the United States. It is affiliated with the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball and comprises teams with college baseb ...

from 2021 to 2023 and switched to the

Northwoods League The Northwoods League is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league. All players in the league must have National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. The league is amateur, and players are not ...

in 2024.

References

1939 establishments in Michigan Baseball venues in Michigan Monuments and memorials in Michigan Municipal parks in the United States Parks in Michigan Sports venues in Oakland County, Michigan Royal Oak, Michigan World War II memorials in the United States {{Michigan-baseball-venue-stub