Bowman Field brings pride to Williamsport

In the heart of Williamsport, Pa., on a street deemed "Millionaire's Row," sits one of baseball's most storied ballparks.

The diamond that's withstood the test of time, funding shortfalls, baseball strikes and Mother Nature, to name a few, celebrates its 80th birthday this season.

Since 1926, Bowman Field has been the pride and joy of Williamsport, serving as the site of professional baseball for baseball lovers in the north-central Pennsylvania city. Built at a cost of about $75,000, the project was led mainly by baseball booster J. Walton Bowman.

Today, Bowman Field is home to the Williamsport Crosscutters, the Class A Short-Season affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates in the New York-Penn League.

Originally opened as Memorial Stadium, the park changed its name to Bowman Field in 1929 in honor of the man behind the plan to bring pro ball back to Williamsport.

Bowman's beauty lies in its history. In the age of newer and more high-tech stadiums, so few parks have a peppered past and the Crosscutters are aware of that.

"We know the history of this place," said Crosscutters media relations director Gabe Sinicropi Jr. "We play it up with our promotions a lot -- the programs will have stories of the ballpark or old players in them."

Those "old players" refer to over 450 men who donned a Williamsport professional baseball uniform and made it to the Majors and included such names as Nolan Ryan, Dick Allen, Bill Mazeroski and Kerry Wood.

On April 27, 1926, not only did Bowman Field host its first game, but the park's first home run was hit that night. Oscar Charleston, who later went on to be one of the best players in the Negro League and was enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, went deep despite Bowman's spacious outfield.

With its original outfield dimensions standing at 367 feet to left field, 400 feet to right field and 450 feet to dead center field, Bowman Field's measurements blew other ballparks out of the water.

Eight years later, in 1934, Bowman's outfield walls were pulled in after only 10 home runs had been hit during its first eight seasons. By 1961, the temporary outfield fences were removed and a much smaller diamond was made for the Williamsport club.

In March, 1936, amidst the turmoil of the Great Depression, floods damaged Bowman enough for the ownership to consider shutting down the park due to a lack of funds. Labor and some money were given to Bowman thanks to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal Administration.

After the second World War, new grandstand seats were installed, some of which remained for over 40 years and all of which have provided the foundation for today's box seats. As wear and tear began to take its toll on Bowman, it was so deteriorated by 1957 that the Little League World Series didn't want to use the park.

Enter the Bowman Field Commission, a group in charge of deciding the future for the ballpark. Current commissioner Bill Pickelner brought baseball back to Bowman in 1958, and the park was restored.

One of the park's most unique features is the signboard on the West Fourth Street entrance. Though its wording has changed, the familiarity of the sign has not. From "The New York-Penn League, Bowman Field, Home of the Grays," to today's "Historic Bowman Field, Home of the Williamsport Crosscutters, an Affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates."

When the New York Mets held their affiliation in Bowman in 1964, they brought with them the lights from the recently vacated Polo Grounds. Those lights lit up Bowman for 23 seasons.

The Crosscutters were born in 1998, when Bowman's affiliation changed to the Pirates. The new name pays homage to Williamsport's rich lumber heritage. West Fourth Street -- or Millionaire's Row -- puts Bowman right alongside old Victorian mansions belonging to the lumber barons of the late 1800s.

"The 2000 renovation really complements the Victorian architecture of those days," said Sinicropi. "The ticket office is a totally round stone building, the exterior of the park is stone and brick, and the old part of the park is wood from the lumber days."

Today the park is complete with modern locker rooms, a concourse which runs below the seating bowl, a picnic area down the left-field line and a new entrance.

"It's a real important part of the city," Sinicropi said. "There's a huge sense of pride, and people really have a sense of the history attached to Bowman."