Howard Johnson Field
N 36° 19.071 W 082° 20.425
17S E 379674 N 4020037
Howard Johnson Field, also known as Cardinal Park, is an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Waymark Code: WMTXA
Location: Tennessee, United States
Date Posted: 10/11/2006
Views: 71
Howard Johnson Field is not named for the hotelier who offered 28 flavors of ice cream. Nor is he named for the guy who hit for a little bit of power for the Tigers and Mets, among others. No, this Howard Johnson may well have been descended from the Johnsons for whom the town is named. This particular one was the superintendent of parks and recreation for many years, and they honored him by naming the ball field for him. The field itself goes all the way back to 1923, although the current stadium structure went up in the 1950s.
It’s a city park which hosts both East Tennessee State University and the Johnson City Cardinals of the rookie-level Appalachian League. The field is a respectable size, with a right-field berm making balls to the wall very interesting (at least one fielder fell down playing the ball up the berm and off the wall).
The stadium itself is typical Appy, with bench seating under a roof (except for the two rows of box seats up against the field) and a scoreboard that works right some of the time but is in desperate need of bulbs. The entire grandstand is screened by a net; if you want a souvenir, you have to go into the bleachers down the lines.
Parking is free, tickets are cheap, concessions are reasonable, souvenirs are very reasonable. At this lowest level of pro baseball, things feel a lot purer than they do in some of the artificial environments I’m seeing at some of these new palaces.
Quick Facts:
Location: Legion Street south of Main, Johnson City, Tenn.
Opened: 1956 as Cardinal Park
Home team: Johnson City Phillies (1957-60), Cardinals (1961, 1975-present), Yankees (1971-74), Appalachian League; East Tennessee State University Buccaneers, Southern Conference
Home Team: Johnson City Cardinals
Capacity: 3800
Mascot: Cardinal Park
Team website: Not listed
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