Meiklejohn Stadium

Meiklejohn Stadium is a ballpark in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is on the University of Pennsylvania campus and is the home field for the University of Pennsylvania Quakers varsity baseball team.

The field is near Franklin Field along the eastern edge of the university's campus, along the Schuylkill River. The ballpark is tucked away near the intersection of the Schuylkill Expressway and University Avenue. The CSX railroad tracks run behind home plate and are still in use. I-76 (the Schuylkill Expressway) runs parallel to the outfield wall with exit 41 visible from home plate. The right field foul line is kept tight by a large power plant that has two rising cooling tanks and a fence around its perimeter.^[2] When it opened, the dimensions were reported to be 289 feet to the left field foul pole, 317 feet to the right field foul pole, and 385 feet to dead center field. The first game was played on March 23, 2000, against St. Joseph's University;^[3] Penn beat St. Joe's 13 to 12.^[4] The ballpark does not have lights, so all games are played during the day.

The stadium opened in 2000 and was originally called Murphy Field after the athletic fields on which the ballpark was built. The university referred it to as "Penn Stadium at Murphy Field" in Athletic Department publications.^[5] These fields were named for Mike Murphy, an early Penn track coach (1896-1901 and 1905-1913) who won eight intercollegiate track championships at Penn.^[6] It was renamed Meiklejohn Stadium in 2006 to honor Penn-donor William Meiklejohn, a 1942 graduate of the Wharton school and his wife, Louise. Their contributions to the University included $10 million in 2005 to help renovate the baseball field including the addition of a new scoreboard. The field was officially renamed on April 1, 2006, prior to a double-header against Brown University.^[7]

Penn baseball had previously played at Bower Field which was known to be a pitchers' ballpark. Bower was 330 feet down the line in left field, 340 feet down the line to right, 410 feet to dead-center, and had a 25-foot high fence extending from left-center to right-center.^[8] Franklin Field served as Penn's home baseball field early in its history. Records show that the Penn varsity baseball team played at Franklin Field from 1895^[9] until at least 1924^[10] if not later.

See also

• List of NCAA Division I baseball venues
• Schuylkill Arsenal Railroad Bridge

References

External links

• University of Pennsylvania Athletics: Meiklejohn Stadium
• University of Pennsylvania Athletics: Directions to Meiklejohn Stadium

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