Ballparks of the IBL: Fergie Jenkins Field

 Hello Friends!

Spring Training has begun. Games are on TV and radio. Baseball is coming!

Today I want to share another park used in the Intercounty Baseball League here in Southern/Central Ontario. 

Today is Fergie Jenkins Field in Chatham, Ontario. 

Fergie Jenkins Field is a Rotary Club ballpark in Chatham Ontario used by the Chatham-Kent Barnstormers of the IBL. They have a very short history, coming into existence last year as an expansion team. 

The field has been around since the 1960s. It was the field where big league dreams started for players like Fergie Jenkins, Bill Atkinson, and Doug Melvin. (He played in the minors for the Yankees and Pirates before becoming an executive) 

In the 70s, the turf was ripped out and became more of a softball field. Years of neglect on the park took its toll, causing the old grandstand to be condemned, then torn down in 1984. Since then they have reinstalled the turf infield, and improved the park. 

This is an aerial view of the park. I have a screenshot from Google Maps to show more of where it is in the city. 

It is on Tweedsmuir Avenue in Chatham. There's a soccer field in Centre and Right and houses over the wall in Left Field. 

Originally the team name was going to be the Blackbirds, but it was soon changed due to racial connotations.. 

Apparently, Blackbirding is the coercion or kidnapping of people to work as slaves. As a result, they changed the name to reflect the old baseball custom of barnstorming.

Here is the current grandstand. I'm not sure how comfy those aluminum bench seats are, but it's better than nothing, right?

The outer facade of the grandstand. On the middle of the backstop section, is the name of the park and the Rotary Club symbol. 

From what I remember reading on the features for the place, they have space for wheelchairs as well. 

The dugouts are in ground. 

There's really not much to say about the place or the team, really. If I was going to make a card of this place, I'd almost be tempted to use the top image. Unless I could find something better elsewhere.