In the Shadow of the Gateway to the West

Main entrance to GMC Stadium, Jul-2004.

The seating bowl, as seen from above the right-field berm.

A view from the suites.

Chronological Tour: Stop 273

• Location: Sauget Industrial Parkway (I-255 exit 15), Sauget, Ill. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 2002 as I-255 Stadium
• Additional names: GMC Stadium (2003), GCS Credit Union Ballpark (2009), Grizzlies Ballpark (2023)
• Home team: Gateway Grizzlies (2002-present), Frontier League
• Capacity: 5,300 (approx.)

Rating: 3 baseballs

Small town, big team, big dream.

His father, Richard Sauget Sr., had a cup of coffee in the major leagues in the early 1970s, as a catcher. It was his dream to develop the land around exit 15 of I-255 into a white-collar industrial area, anchored by a minor-league stadium. Folks I spoke to at a game in 2022 said that the Sauget family jumped on the opportunity when the city of Collinsville, several miles to the north, balked at their chance. While the additional construction near the ballpark never developed, the ballpark was ready in 2002 and the Frontier League’s Gateway Grizzlies, having spent one season at Sauget Field, moved in and were an instant success.

GMC Stadium, sponsored by a dealership next door to the park, consists of about ten rows of stadium seats in a lower seating bowl, along with twelve “sky suite” areas above the concourse. These are outdoor suites covered by a roof, six on each side of the enclosed press box. In addition, there is a picnic area down the first-base line where “Aunt Rose” hangs her K Korner along a clothesline. (The night I attended, Kevin Lee and Dan Smith combined for 16 strikeouts, keeping Aunt Rose busy all evening. Alas, Aunt Rose is no longer with us.) The park also features a first-class kids’ fun zone down the third-base line, and there is berm seating along the third-base line and in front of the scoreboard and advertising wall in right field.

Some people I spoke to at GMC Stadium in 2004 said the team has taken off beyond the Sauget family’s wildest dreams. I-255 brings traffic from the south end of St. Louis, and reportedly as many as 40 percent of the team’s fans come from that area of Missouri. While this is solidly Cardinals country, the Grizzlies hold their own with their version of independent ball.

At some point in recent years, the facility acquired artificial turf. With relatively short distances down the lines, the park is something of a launching pad; I have seen nine home runs in two games played 18 seasons apart.