Warren Ballpark

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Warren Ballpark is a combination baseball/football stadium located in Bisbee, Arizona. The ballpark was recently home to the Bisbee/Douglas Copper Kings of the independent Arizona-Mexico League. The Stadium was built in 1909 by Phelps Dodge mining company as a recreation for the miners and their families.^{[citation needed]} The ballpark is thought by some to be the oldest continuously used baseball venue in the United States, although that claim has not been verified based on solid historical data or comparison to the histories of other parks.^{[citation needed]} It is definitely the oldest ballpark in the state of Arizona,^{[citation needed]} and is currently the home of Bisbee High School Pumas baseball and football. It is also home to the Bisbee Kings, a semi-pro team playing in the Border Baseball Series.

The ballpark spans approximately twenty acres, and is surrounded by an 8 foot tall wooden security fence. It is divided into two sections: a baseball field on the East side, and a football stadium on the West. The baseball field features a shaded cast-in-place concrete grandstand situated at the Northeast corner. This canopy-covered structure, built in 1909, is still in its original condition, and is listed as a state historic building. Despite ongoing maintenance by the City of Bisbee and the Bisbee Unified School districts, it will most likely need structural renovation at some point in the future. Underneath the grandstand are housed the concrete dugouts, locker rooms, showers and manager's offices. The football field is oriented North to South and consists of a gridiron with modern steel bleachers along both sides of its length. These bleachers have at times in the past been pushed back to expand the baseball outfield.

Warren Ballpark holds a place in American labor history as the location where 1,300 striking, kidnapped miners were held during the Bisbee Deportation in 1917.^[1]

[edit] References