| FirstEnergy Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Former names | Reading Municipal Memorial Stadium GPU Stadium |
| Location | 1900 Centre Avenue Reading, Pennsylvania 19601 |
| Broke ground | July 26, 1947[1] |
| Opened | April 15, 1951 |
| Owner | City of Reading |
| Operator | Reading Phillies |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction cost | $656,674 US |
| Architect | Muhlenberg Brothers[2] |
| Capacity | 9,000 |
| Field dimensions | LF- 330 ft, CF - 400 ft, RF - 330 ft |
| Tenants | |
| Reading Indians (EL) (1952-1961) Reading Red Sox (EL) (1963-1964) Reading Phillies (EL) (1967-present) |
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FirstEnergy Stadium is a 9,000-seat baseball-only stadium in Reading, Pennsylvania that hosted its first regular season baseball game in 1951. The park is home to the Reading Phillies of the Eastern League. It was voted the second best place to see a baseball game by Minor League News in 2006. It is also the first ballpark to ever receive the annual Digital Ballparks.com Ballpark Of The Year Award, which it was awarded in 2002. It is the first American baseball stadium to reach a total attendance of ten million without ever serving a team higher than AA.
The stadium was originally known as Reading Municipal-Memorial Stadium before corporate sponsorship resulted in its current name.
Mike Schmidt made his professional debut at the ballpark on June 17, 1971 in an exhibition game between the Phillies and the Reading Phillies. The Phillies had signed Schmidt on June 11. In the exhibition game, Schmidt played the whole game at shortstop for the Phillies and hit the game-winning homerun against Reading.[3]
Prior to Municipal Stadium, Reading's professional baseball teams played at Lauer's Park.[4]
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