Tinker Field
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Tinker Field is a stadium in Orlando, Florida. It is primarily used for baseball, and was the home field of the Orlando Rays minor league baseball team before they moved to The Ballpark at Disney's Wide World of Sports in 2000. It is located directly adjacent to the western side of the Citrus Bowl, at 1610 West Church Street, and holds 5,100 people.
The stadium was built in 1914, and is named after baseball Hall of Famer, Joe Tinker. On May 14, 2004, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. The Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins used Tinker Field as their spring training home until after the 1990 season.
Tinker Field may be refurbished or redeveloped possibly as part of the refurbishment of the Citrus Bowl. Although some plans for "Downtown Master Plan 3", a redevelopment plan for that section of Orlando, suggest tearing down Tinker Field, such plans would prove difficult given its status on the National Register of Historic Places.[1]
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Tinker Baseball Field
Constructed: 1923
Dedicated: April 19, 1923
Original Owner: City of Orlando.
Businesses: (1923-present) baseball field for various minor league teams (including the Orlando Bulldogs, Twins, Cubs, Sun Rays, and Rays) as well as major league teams during spring training (Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Nationals, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins).
Modifications: The field has undergone several major modifications, probably the most important was the replacing of the old wooden grandstand with a cinderblock one in the mid 1960s. Bleachers were increased in size and length to accommodate more fans.
Notes: Cost $50,000 to build. Had a deeper outfield than Yankee Stadium when built and could seat approximately 1500. Today its capacity is a little over 5,000. Tinker was and continues to be well-known for ceiling fans suspended from the roof, and the open-air press box. The field also still has the early type of wooden and metal fold-up seats instead of the plastic ones that fill nearly every other stadium. 909 of the grandstand seats are from long-demolished Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C.
Tinker Field was named in honor of Joe Tinker, retired major league baseball player and manager, member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and manager of Orlando's first professional baseball team.
Tinker Field was not the first baseball park on the site. The first field was built around 1914.
ORLANDO HISTORY BIT: Baseball in Orlando
Spring training happened at Tinker Field from 1923 to 1931 and 1934 to 1990. This is one of the longest unbroken runs of spring training (with the exception of WWII).
Tinker Field was home to professional baseball from 1923 through 2000. It is currently used by two local high schools and hosts special events.
Does the name Tinker sound familiar to you?
It might be because of a short poem that is likely the second most famous baseball poem (after "Casey At The Bat," of course). The poem was penned in 1910 by Franklin P. Adams, a New York sports reporter who probably wrote it as filler for his column.
Baseball's Sad Lexicon
These are the saddest of possible words,
Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.
Trio of Bear Cubs and fleeter than birds,
Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.
Ruthlessly pricking our gonfalon bubble,
making a Giant hit into a double,
Words that are weighty with nothing but trouble.
Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance.
This text and many historic pictures can be found at (http://www.cfhf.net/orlando/1923b.htm)