User:Gateman1997/San Jose Municipal Stadium
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| San Jose Municipal Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Muni Stadium | |
| Location | 588 E. Alma Avenue, San Jose, California 95112 |
| Broke ground | 1941 |
| Opened | March 8, 1942 |
| Closed | Open |
| Demolished | N/A |
| Owner | City of San Jose |
| Operator | Progress Sports Management |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $80,000 USD; |
| Architect | Works Progress Administration |
| Former names | None |
| Tenants | San Jose Giants (California League) (1988-present) SJSU Spartans (NCAA WAC) (1942-present) |
| Capacity | 2,900 (1942) 4,200 current (can be expanded to 5,200) |
| Field dimensions | Left Field - 320 ft Left-Center Power Alley - 345 ft Center Field - 390 ft Right-Center Power Alleys - 395 ft, 365 ft Right Field - 320 ft Backstop - 30 ft |
The San Jose Municipal Stadium, or Muni Stadium in common usage, is the home of the minor league baseball San Jose Giants, the Advanced A league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants located in San Jose, California. The Giants play in the northern division of the California League. The stadium is also home to the San Jose State University Spartans college baseball team for some regular season games and championship games (other regular season games are played across Alma Avenue at Blethen Field). The local high school baseball divisions also use Municipal Stadium as their championship field.
In the past Muni Stadium has been the home field for the San Jose Owls, the San Jose Missions, the San Jose Bees, and the San Jose Expos.
[edit] Stadium history
Municipal Stadium was built in 1941-42 as a WPA project, at a cost of $80,000. It was one of the first stadiums to be built entirely of reinforced concrete. It opened in 1942. The first game featured the San Francisco Seals as the home team.
Fans sit very close to the field in four distinct seating areas. The first 7 rows of the main grandstand are numbered box seats. General admission seating is available in the upper rows of the main grandstand on straight backed benches. Down the left and right field lines are several movable bleachers that are accesible for general admission use. And finally there is table seating on the third base line as part of the BBQ area. The stadium has remained largly unchanged from its origial configuration. However 3 extra rows of box seating were added in the late 1990s along with rennovations to the bathroom facilities and dugouts. The stadium is also repainted periodically.
Players sign autographs before every game, and the outfield walls are lined with adverts much like the stadiums of the 1920s and 30s were. There are no jumbotron screens, just a simple scoreboard showing the basic game data like runs, strikes, balls, outs. This was even updated recently to feature red and green colored lights to denote strikes and balls respectively rather then numbers much like Fenway Park in Boston. The out of town scoreboard for other California League games is also hand hung. Fans are treated to all manner of little games and entertainment between innings including a bagel toss, a child footrace around the bases and a fan favorite, the smash a headlight competition where players attempt to smash the headlights of an old van to win fans prizes.
One of the more recent changes to the stadium was the moving of the bullpens from along the baselines to the outfield where the visitor and home bullpens create artificial homerun porches in left and right field respectively.
Many major league players over the years have called San Jose Municipal Stadium home including, George Brett, Rod Beck, Joe Nathan, Chad Zerbe, Ron Hassey, and Shawn Estes.
Municipal Stadium is located one block from Spartan Stadium, home to the SJSU football team and the MLS San Jose Earthquakes. The area across Alma from Muni is also home to the San Jose State practice fields for soccer, football, baseball, and softball. Additionally part of Municipal Stadium's parking lot was converted into an indoor ice area named Logitech Ice at San Jose which is the practice venue for the San Jose Sharks NHL hockey team during the late 1990s.
[edit] Food and amenities
San Jose Municipal Stadium is well known in the area for the food served at the games. The traditional ballpark faire is available at two concession stands located under the main bleachers. Foods range from pretzels, to hotdogs, to crackerjack. San Jose Municipal also features a large BBQ area down the left field side of the park currently named, Turkey Mike's. Fresh BBQ foods like sausage, chicken and hamburgers are available made to order. Also available is a full drink bar with beer and other non-alcoholic alternatives. The newest addition is a Gordon Biersch stand featuring their notorious garlic fries. The BBQ also features field side seating, which is something unique to minor league baseball venues.
The stadium also features a souvenir stand and a luxury "porch" where fans can be treated much as they would at a skybox in a MLB stadium, with food and drinks brought to them by attendants.
[edit] External links
| Current ballparks in the California League | ||
| Northern Division | Southern Division | |
|---|---|---|
| Banner Island Ballpark • John Thurman Field Sam Lynn Ballpark • San Jose Municipal Stadium Recreation Park |
Arrowhead Credit Union Park • Clear Channel Stadium The Epicenter • Lake Elsinore Diamond Stater Bros. Stadium |
|
