Breadon Field
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| Former names | Breadon Field (1948–1958) Max Hess Stadium (1958–1964) |
|---|---|
| Location | Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°37′47″N 075°29′00″W / 40.62972°N 75.48333°W |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1948 |
| Opened | 1948 |
| Closed | 1960 |
| Demolished | 1964 |
| Tenants | |
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Allentown Cardinals 1948–1952; 1954–1956 Allentown Chiefs 1957 Allentown Red Sox 1958–1960 |
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Breadon Field was a minor league ballpark in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, located on the east side of MacArthur Road, about 0.5 mile north of the U.S. Route 22 interchange.
Breadon Field was named for St. Louis Cardinals owner Sam Breadon, who built the ballfield in 1948 as a replacement for Fairview Field. Allentown, Pennsylvania had been a Cardinals "Class B" minor league club since the 1940 season when it bought the Allentown Dukes, a Boston Braves minor league farm team that had opened Fairview Field the season before in 1939.
In 1946 Breadon announced the creation of a new baseball field in the vicinity of what is now Route 22 and MacArthur Road, approximately where the Lehigh Valley Mall is today. Breadon Field was the name given to the new, 5,000 seat, $425,000 ballpark that opened on August 6, 1948. In 1950, the Cardinals turned the task of running Breadon Filed over to Don Dix, a former minor league player in the Cardinals organization. Dix seemed to understand that the world of minor league baseball was changing. He created a number of promotions, most notably a Miss Allentown Cardinals beauty contest. However, a combination of bad weather, TV baseball and the collapse of the Interstate League, of which the Allentown Cardinals were a part, led the Cardinals organization to close Breadon Field after the 1952 season.
In 1954, the club resumed operations in Allentown as part of the Eastern League under new Cardinals ownership. However, declining attendance led the sale of club and facilities in August 1957 to some local Allentown investors that included Lehigh County District attorney Paul A. McGinley and Brass Rail Restaurant owner Philip Sorrentino, for $180,000. MgGinley and Sorrentino brought a new club to Allentown, the "Class A" farm team of the Boston Red Sox, which became the Allentown Red Sox (A-Sox). Everything appeared to be going well until 1960 when stunned baseball fans learned that the Breadon Field had been purchased for $300,000 by Max Hess, Jr, owner of the Allentown Hess Brothers department store. Hess had no real interest in baseball, and to this day it is unclear why he bought the team. Hess renamed the stadium after himself (Max Hess Stadium). The club suffered both a dismal season on the field and also a lack of attendance in 1960. After the season ended, the Red Sox announced that the club would be moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania for the 1961 season.
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