Chapter 22
Building a ballpark, Part II
Fair Grounds Field opened in April 1986, the realization of a long-awaited, long-debated ordeal and the revitalization of Shreveport's professional baseball franchise.
Coincidentally, it touched off a decade of unprecedented success for Shreveport teams -- playoffs in 10 consecutive seasons and 11 of 12, three Texas League championships (1990, 1991, 1995) and a couple of other championship series appearances.
In 15 seasons at Fair Grounds Field while the team was nicknamed Captains (it changed to Swamp Dragons after the 2000 season), it made the playoffs 13 times, missing only 1996 and 1998.
Plus, there were record attendances as interest spiked and corporate-sponsored nights produced numerous sellout crowds.
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After years of talk -- idle talk -- site proposals and funding debates, the breakthrough came in 1983. That season the Captains had the best overall record in the Texas League's regular season ... and the lowest attendance. Amid prospects that Bossier City also was interested in building a new ballpark and the Captains could move across the Red River came a viable Shreveport plan.
John Hussey, in his second year as Shreveport mayor, told Captains' ownership that he would include funding for a ballpark on a large bond proposal for many improvements in the city. The plan, unveiled in September, had $3.5 million proposed for the stadium; the entire bond package was $80.3 million.
A big plus was Louisiana State Fair officials offering land for a stadium on the east end of the Fairgrounds -- which had been mentioned as a possible site as early as 1977. The Nov. 8 announcement of the site came with a schematic drawing of the proposed facility -- 4,500 seats surrounding a skybox and press box area -- and was coupled with plans to tear down the long-standing auto-racing facility to create more area for the annual Fair's midway attractions and stadium parking.
Proposition No. 7 -- the stadium complex -- was approved by Shreveport city voters on Nov. 19 by a margin of 1,669 of 29,349 total votes.
Just less than a year later -- Nov. 15, 1984 -- ground was broken. It was 2.9 miles from SPAR Stadium ... but many miles away in perception.
The Captains agreed to pay $8,000 a year for rental to play the 1984 and 1985 seasons at the old ballpark, knowing the franchise would remain in Shreveport, at least for the foreseeable future.
Groundbreaking, Nov. 15, 1984: The Captains' board of directors -- (from left) Taylor Moore, Douglas Attaway,
John D. Caruthers, Loy Moore and Charlie Webb -- do the honors on the east side of the Louisiana State Fairgrounds.
(Captains photo)
Stadium debut: Fair Grounds Field's official opening night was April 14, 1986, when 7,213 fans overflowed the stadium (official capacity was listed as 5,200). The Captains rewarded them with a 5-4 victory against the Jackson Mets.
John D. Caruthers, Loy Moore and Charlie Webb -- do the honors on the east side of the Louisiana State Fairgrounds.
(Captains photo)
Stadium debut: Fair Grounds Field's official opening night was April 14, 1986, when 7,213 fans overflowed the stadium (official capacity was listed as 5,200). The Captains rewarded them with a 5-4 victory against the Jackson Mets.
Charlie Corbell threw the first official pitch in the stadium and pitched the first six innings for the Captains, but the winning pitcher was Scott Medvin, who relieved for one inning.
The biggest draws in 1987 were the two nights that The Chicken -- baseball's top novelty act of the time, hatched by Ted Giannoulas -- visited for crowds of 7,471 and 7,012. 
For the first time -- on Opening Night, 1986 -- the Shreveport Captains line up at Fair
Grounds Field. (Shreveport Journal photo)
Grounds Field. (Shreveport Journal photo)
Top draw, though, was the Shreveport's major-league affiliate, the San Francisco Giants, who on June 1, 1989, came in for an exhibition against the Captains, and 7,958 fans paid to see it.
The next season, 1990, the Captains attracted 6,803 for the final game of the first-half Eastern Division race, a championship showdown with the Tulsa Drillers.
Captains' game nights at FGF (photos from Flicker)
From the air: Fair Grounds Field in 2000
In 1998, Fair Grounds was renovated (see above 2000 photo). A fourth floor was added which had office suites, game operations, camera well, press area, and radio booths. The old media area in the third floor skybox was removed, creating an open space for parties. New phone, television and camera systems were installed. New bullpens were built behind the existing fence down each foul line.
ReplyDeleteFrom John Leydon: Thanks for the blog post. I was working at The Times when FGF first opened. I remember attending a couple of games there in its first month of operation with Bill McIntyre and Yale Youngblood. I’m sorry to have learned from you recently that it’s become a dump due to neglect. 😎
ReplyDeleteFrom Jim Robinson: Great story series so far. I did not realize that FGF opened 2 months after I joined the Navy. I never got to witness a ballgame in FGF because I have been gone from Shreveport since 1986. We love our Double-A ballpark for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, and they use it year-round for baseball, college football, drive-in movie nights and just about every type of event you can imagine. The exact same thing could have happened in Shreveport to keep the Captains around for more years. Of course with investors like Derek Brooks and Bubba Watson as minor owners, we have a different economic outlook for our team and stadium, which is now going on 7 years old.
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