Hamtramck Stadium
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Hamtramck Stadium
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| Location | 3201 Dan St., Hamtramck, Michigan |
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| Coordinates | 42°23′23″N 83°3′3″W / 42.38972°N 83.05083°WCoordinates: 42°23′23″N 83°3′3″W / 42.38972°N 83.05083°W |
| Built | 1930 |
| NRHP Reference # | 12000458 |
| Added to NRHP | July 31, 2012 |
Hamtramck Stadium, also known as Roesink Stadium, is one of only 12 remaining Negro league baseball stadiums. It is located at 3201 Dan Street, in Veterans Park, in Hamtramck, Michigan. The stadium was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The stadium is located near, and occasionally confused with, Keyworth Stadium (for example, see Black Baseball in Detroit, p. 59).
John A. Roesink moved to Detroit in 1900 and established a successful clothing store. Roesnick was an avid baseball fan, and sponsored a number of semi-pro team. In 1910, he built a substantial field, Mack Park, on the corner of Mack and Fairview in Detroit to house his teams. Mack Park had seating for perhaps 6,000 people.
In 1919, Rube Foster organized a number of baseball teams featuring black players in northern cities. The Detroit franchise, the Detroit Stars, was owned by Tenny Blount. The team rented Roesink's Mack Park for their games. The 1919 games were a success, so in 1920, Foster organized the Negro National League with nine teams, including the Stars. Initially, the league prospered, and in 1925 Roesink purchased the Stars.
The Stars continued to play at Mack Park. However, in July 1929, the grandstand caught fire when the grounds crew attempted to dry the field. A substantial portion of the structure was destroyed. The Stars played the rest of the season at Mack Park, but the grandstand was not rebuilt.
In the fall of 1929, Roesink began construction on a baseball park in Hamtramck to replace Mack Park. He leased land near the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks from the Detroit Lumber Company. The land was, at the time, an older portion of the Detroit Lumber Company's yard. Roesink spent an estimated $100,000 of his own money to construct the field and grandstands. The park opened in May 1930 for the start of the 1930 season; Roesink hired Ty Cobb to throw out the first pitch.
This was, however, the beginning of the Great Depression. Black fans, angry at Roesnick for the 1929 fire, boycotted the Stars, and Roesnick sold the team after the 1930 season to black racketeer Everitt Watson (although he retained ownership of the stadium). Hard times extended top the rest of the league, and in 1931, the Negro National League completed only half their season before folding.
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