America's Oldest Baseball Stadiums

 

The legacy of America's favorite pastime can still be felt in ballparks built when the sport was young. Some of the country's oldest baseball stadiums continue to host Major League Baseball teams, but you can also capture the historic spirit of the sport at minor league ballparks—some of which have been around even longer.

Rickwood Field

Even though Birmingham, AL, doesn’t field a major league team, the city has a rich baseball heritage. It’s home to Rickwood Field, the nation’s oldest professional baseball park still containing its original structure. Rickwood opened in 1910, two years before Fenway Park. The Birmingham Barons, a minor league team with roots dating back to the 1880s—the earliest days of American baseball—called Rickwood home until 1988. The team returns to play a ceremonial exhibition game there each season. Legends of baseball, such as Babe Ruth, Satchel Paige and Jackie Robinson, all played games at Rickwood. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Rickwood Field is open to visitors who want to pay their respects to this granddaddy of ball fields.

Fenway Park

Experience baseball in historic fashion at Fenway Park.

Boston’s professional baseball stadium is home to the infamous Green Monster. That's the nickname for the nearly 40-foot-high left-field wall in Fenway Park, the oldest major league ballpark still in use by a professional team. The Boston Red Sox have called Fenway home since it opened in 1912. The Green Monster serves to separate the ballpark from the street directly behind it. Fenway is a compact venue by modern big-league standards, shoehorned between the buildings and city streets of the Fenway neighborhood. On non-game days, you could walk past Fenway's old brick facade without even realizing a baseball stadium is on the other side.

League Stadium & Bosse Field

Two historic ballparks can be seen in one trip to the Evansville area of Indiana. Bosse Field in Evansville dates to 1915 and is still in regular use as the home field to the Evansville Otters, the city's minor league team. In the town of Huntingburg, just northeast of the city, you can find League Stadium, which was built in 1894. If you've seen the 1992 hit film, "A League of Their Own," about a professional all-female baseball league set during World War II, you've already seen both of these stadiums. League Stadium and Bosse Field were both used as primary filming locations in the movie. The Dubois County Bombers, a collegiate-level team that wears vintage-style uniforms to match the classic elements of the ballpark, call League Stadium home today.

Wrigley Field

No trip to Chicago is complete without a game at one of America's most iconic ballparks.

Sports fans make pilgrimages to Chicago to see its two storied stadiums: Soldier Field, home to football's Chicago Bears, and Wrigley Field, where baseball's Chicago Cubs play. Wrigley opened in 1914, making it the second-oldest active MLB ballpark behind Fenway. Fans love the remaining legacy elements of the stadium, including ivy-covered outfield walls and a hand-turned scoreboard over the center-field stands. Wrigley was the last major league stadium to add lights, holding out until 1988 before adding night games to its home schedule. Like Fenway Park, Wrigley is on the smaller side for a major professional sports venue—its nickname is "The Friendly Confines" because of its close quarters.