Hi Corbett Field

Hi Corbett Field

Hi Corbett Field entrance, 2015
Former names	Randolph Municipal Baseball Park
Location	Tucson, Arizona
Coordinates	32°12′48″N 110°55′9″W / 32.21333°N 110.91917°W / 32.21333; -110.91917
Owner	City of Tucson
Operator	City of Tucson Parks & Recreation
Capacity	9,500
Field size	366 ft – Left 410 ft – Center-Left 392 ft – Center 405 ft – Center-Right 349 ft – Right
Surface	Grass
Construction
Opened	1937
Renovated	1972, 1992, 1997, 1999, 2012
Tenants
Colorado Rockies (spring training) (1993–2010) Cleveland Indians (spring training) (1945–1992) Tucson Toros (PCL/GBL) (1969–1997, 2009–2010) Arizona Heat (NPF) (2004–2007) Tucson Cowboys (A-TL/SIL) (1937–1958) USA Baseball (headquarters) (1997–2003) Tucson Javelinas (AFL) (1993–1994) Tucson Lizards (A-TL) (1932) Arizona Wildcats (NCAA) (2012–present)

Hi Corbett Field is a baseball stadium located in Tucson, Arizona. The stadium holds approximately 9,500 people. It was the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies, and is currently home to the Arizona Wildcats baseball team.

First teams played at the field in 1937. Hi Corbett Field was originally called Randolph Municipal Baseball Park. In 1951, it was renamed in honor of Hiram Stevens Corbett (1886–1967), a former Arizona state senator who was instrumental in bringing spring training to Tucson, specifically by convincing Bill Veeck to bring the Cleveland Indians to Tucson in 1947. Veeck owned a ranch in Tucson at the time, and he and players sometimes rode Veeck's horses after the games. Veeck claimed that he moved the team's training camp from Florida to Arizona in order to avoid Florida's Jim Crow laws.

Hi Corbett was remodeled in 1972 and renovated in 1992, 1997, 1999, and 2012. It is part of a larger city park complex, Gene C. Reid Park (which also includes the Reid Park Zoo) and Randolph Park, located between Broadway Boulevard and 22nd Street in midtown Tucson.

The main playing field's dimensions are as follows: 349 feet in Right Field, 366 feet in Left Field, and 410 feet at its deepest in Center Field. The ballpark currently has a capacity of 9,500, including 598 box seats, 8,350 reserved seats, and 562 bleacher seats. There are also two ancillary fields for use in spring training, but these make no provision for spectators.

For many years, Emil Bossard, groundskeeper for the Cleveland Indians, was in charge of Hi Corbett Field, during Spring Training. In 1959, he was considered the top groundskeeper in Major League Baseball and was inducted into the Major League Baseball Groundskeeper Hall of Fame in 2012. According to historian David Leighton, of the Arizona Daily Star newspaper, Emil Bossard Field and the street Bossard Place both located at Reid Park, are named in his honor.