Prince George's Stadium is a multipurpose sports venue located in unincorporated

Prince George's County, Maryland Prince George's County (often shortened to PG County or PG) is located in the U.S. state of Maryland bordering the eastern portion of Washington, D.C. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, the population was 967,201, making it ...

, near Bowie, primarily used for

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

. It is home of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

' Double-A affiliated Chesapeake Baysox in the Eastern League. The stadium is the result of a cooperative venture between Maryland Baseball Limited Partnership and the

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (M-NCPPC) is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. History The commission was formed in 1927 by the Maryland G ...

, and is built on park property.

History

The stadium opened June 16, 1994. Its capacity for baseball is listed at 10,000, but when the Double-A All-Star Game was held there in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, the attendance was about 14,000. The 2002

Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game Major League Lacrosse All-Star Game is the all-star game of the Major League Lacrosse, MLL. Years 2000s 2001 The inaugural 2001 All-Star Game, was titled the Major League Lacrosse LacrosseStar Game. From 2001–2003, the All-Star Game had the Nat ...

was held at the stadium. While the stadium was being finished, the Baysox played one full season (1993) at Baltimore's Memorial Stadium and a few series in 1994 at fields belonging to the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

Annapolis Annapolis ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the county seat of Anne Arundel County and its only incorporated city. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, and the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

, as well as the minor league stadiums of the

Frederick Keys The Frederick Keys are a collegiate summer baseball team of the MLB Draft League. The Keys are based in Frederick, Maryland. The franchise is named for the "Star-Spangled Banner" writer Francis Scott Key, a native of Frederick County. A new team ...

and

Wilmington Blue Rocks The Wilmington Blue Rocks are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. They are located in Wilmington, Delaware, and play their home games at Daniel S. Frawley Stadium. Fra ...

Tenants and events

Prince George's Stadium is located near the intersection of U.S. Route 301 and

U.S. Route 50 U.S. Route 50 or U.S. Highway 50 (US 50) is a major east–west route of the U.S. Highway system, stretching from Interstate 80 (I-80) in West Sacramento, California, to Maryland Route 528 (MD 528) in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Atlantic ...

. It has been host to the AA All-Star Game twice, the United States Congressional Baseball Game, the annual

Allen Iverson Allen Ezail Iverson ( ; born June 7, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "The Answer", he played 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as both a shooting guard and point guard. As an NBA rook ...

charity softball game, a lacrosse tournament, the USA Softball team, yard sales, movie nights, concerts, and Halloween activities in addition to its primary function as a baseball park. In addition, the Baysox operate a

drive-in theater A drive-in theater/theatre or drive-in cinema is a form of movie theater, cinema structure consisting of a large outdoor movie screen, a projection booth, a concession stand, and a large parking area for automobiles. Within this enclosed area, c ...

in the stadium's left-field parking lot during the Baysox' road trips. Due to its close proximity to several local military bases including

Fort George G. Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States Army Field Band, and the headquarters of United States Cyber Command, th ...

and

Andrews Air Force Base Andrews Air Force Base (Andrews AFB, AAFB) is the airfield portion of Joint Base Andrews, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Air Force (USAF). In 2009, Andrews Air Force Base merged with Naval Air Facility Washington to form ...

, the stadium is also regularly the site of related promotions involving enlisted persons. For example, on June 14, 2007, 5,000 Baysox tickets were distributed to soldiers to celebrate Flag Day with professional wrestler Sergeant Slaughter. In 1998, the stadium hosted the Bowie Nationals, a team in the single-season Maryland Fall Baseball league. On July 12, 2000, the ballpark hosted the

Double-A All-Star Game The Double-A All-Star Game was an annual baseball game held from 1991 to 2002 between professional players from the affiliated Double-A (baseball), Double-A leagues of Minor League Baseball—the Eastern League (1938–present), Eastern League (EL ...

in which a team of

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

-affiliated All-Stars defeated a team of

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

-affiliated All-Stars, 5–2, before 14,077 people in attendance. In 2004, it served as the home of the D.C. Forward, the

Pro Cricket The history of United States cricket begins in the 18th century. The first international game was between the US and Canada and held in 1844 in front of an audience of 5,000 spectators in New York. Among early Americans, cricket was as popular ...

team for Washington, D.C. The ballpark was used for the

2020 Major League Baseball season The 2020 Major League Baseball season began on July 23 and ended on September 27 with only 60 games amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The full 162-game regular season was planned to begin on March 26, but the pandemic caused Major League Baseball (M ...

as the alternate training site for members of the

60-man player pool who were not assigned to the major league roster.

Appearances

Prince George's Stadium was featured in the January 30, 2007 episode ("Well Digger") of the Discovery Channel series ''

Dirty Jobs ''Dirty Jobs'' is an American television series that originally aired on the Discovery Channel in which host Mike Rowe is shown performing difficult, strange, disgusting, or messy occupational duties alongside the job's current employees. The sho ...

'', where host

Mike Rowe Michael Gregory Rowe (born March 18, 1962) is an American television host and narrator. He is known for his work on the Discovery Channel series '' Dirty Jobs'' and the series '' Somebody's Gotta Do It'' originally developed for CNN. He hosted ...

performed a variety of jobs.

References

External links

Prince George's County Department of Parks and Recreation

Chesapeake Baysox

{{Prince George's County, Maryland topics Buildings and structures in Prince George's County, Maryland Baseball venues in Maryland Cricket grounds in the United States 1994 establishments in Maryland Minor league baseball venues Sports venues completed in 1994 Cricket in Maryland Sports venues in the Washington metropolitan area Eastern League (1938–present) ballparks