Holman Stadium, Vero Beach, Fla.

The Heart of Dodgertown

Entrance to Holman Stadium, along the third-base line, Aug-2003.

The short yet expansive seating area.

The Dodgers’ training building, for major leaguers only, was added in 2003.

Chronological Tour: Stop 262

Quick Facts:

Location: Dodgertown, off 43rd Avenue north of 20th Street (SR 60), Vero Beach, Fla. (map it using Google Maps)
Opened: 1953
Home team: Vero Beach Dodgers (1980-2006), Rays (2007-08), Florida State League; spring training, Los Angeles Dodgers (1959-2008)
Capacity: 6,500

Rating: 3 baseballs

I’ve had people tell me they absolutely adore Holman Stadium, which opened in 1953 as part of Dodgertown, where the Brooklyn Dodgers started training in 1948. I’ve also heard at least one person tell me that Holman is the absolutely most overrated park in baseball. I have to come down on that side of the fence, although I wasn’t totally disappointed.

The park is certainly unusual. It has all stadium seats, although it may be possible to sit out on the berm during spring training. And everything is completely exposed to the elements, including the dugouts – which are nothing more than benches that sit one step below field level and are protected only by a railing, no roof or anything. These might have been the dugouts that inspired what you see in Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” comic strip. The stands are only 17 rows deep, although they do extend all the way down both foul lines.

At most home games, a fellow named Gerald sat behind the Dodgers dugout and rang a bell, sometimes in time with the music, but other times in response to specific plays. For instance, one heard three chimes for a strikeout.

In September 2004, Hurricane Frances did some damage to the dormitories at Dodgertown as well as a ground crew equipment building. In addition, the scoreboard at Holman Stadium was knocked down, and two of the four old oak trees that grew in the stands, providing the facility’s only substantial shade, were lost to the storm. However, the Dodgers were able to begin instructional league play as scheduled.

The beginning of the end for Dodgertown came when the Dodgers announced that they were moving their spring training operations to a new complex in Phoenix, closer to their West Coast home base, for the 2009 season. For two seasons, the Vero Beach franchise in the Florida State League was operated as a Tampa Bay farm club, but the franchise was sold in 2008 and moved to the Rays’ spring training complex across the state in Port Charlotte for 2009.

Following the Dodgers’ move, the complex was preserved as Vero Beach Sports Village and has since been rebranded as Historic Dodgertown. In March 2019, the complex was again renamed, this time as the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. From 2014 to 2019, the facility saw a single Florida State League game each year, on April 15, known as the Jackie Robinson Celebration Game. The game date marks the anniversary of Robinson’s major league debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. In honor of Robinson’s uniform number, the game started at 6:42 in the evening. The 2020 and 2021 editions were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Major League Baseball did not allow off-site games here for several seasons. MLB has since relented, and the annual contest returns to Holman Stadium for 2025.

Photos from the 2019 Jackie Robinson Celebration Game on Facebook (public, no account required)

Game	Date	League	Level	Result
638	Thu 28-Aug-2003	Florida State	A+	Palm Beach 6, VERO BEACH 3
1770	Mon 15-Apr-2019	Florida State	A+	Fort Myers 7, ST LUCIE 3

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