Blair Field

Exterior of Blair Field, Jul-2008.

The main grandstand behind home plate.

The field is in a Long Beach city park.

Chronological Tour: Stop 334

• Location: Recreation Park, East 10 Street at Park Avenue, Long Beach, Calif.
• Opened: 1924 (current stadium built 1958)
• Home team: Long Beach Riptide (1995-96), Breakers (2001-02), Western League; Long Beach Armada, Golden League (2005-09); Long Beach State 49ers, Big West Conference (1993-present)
• Capacity: 3,500 (approx.)

Rating: 3 baseballs

When I first arrived in August 2004, the Area Code Games, a showcase for high school players, was underway. This was during a period when the park was not hosting professional baseball, between the end of the Western League and the beginning of the Golden League.

I got back here for an Armada game in 2008. The field setting, in Recreation Park, was of course unchanged. However, I did notice that due to the field being oriented to face southeast rather than the customary northeast, the scoreboard was very difficult to read during a 5:05 game until the sun started going down. Also, it was very difficult for players on the left side of the infield to pick up a fly ball against the sun.

Ticket prices for Armada games were fairly high, too, as were concession prices, although souvenirs appeared to be reasonably priced. Long Beach State moved their entire schedule of baseball games to Blair Field in the early 1990s (they used to use an on-campus facility for some of their games); I cannot comment on prices when the Dirtbags play.

The Armada shut down operations after the 2009 season. Blair Field was scheduled to return to independent league ball for 2013 as part of a new outfit, the American West Baseball League, but that loop never began play.