Baseball Near the Louisiana Capitol

The main entrance to Pete Goldsby Field, Nov-2018.

A look at the seating bowl from behind first base.

Peering out from the stands behind home plate.

• Location: Foss Street at Scenic Highway, just off I-110 exit 1F or 2A, Baton Rouge, La. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1956
• Home team: Baton Rouge Rebels, Evangeline League (1956-57); Baton Rouge Blue Marlins, All American Association (2001); Baton Rouge River Bats, Southeastern League (2002-03); Houma Hawks, Southeastern League (2003, some games); Baton Rouge Community College Bears, Louisiana Community Colleges Athletic Conference
• Capacity: 2,000

At its start, Goldsby Field hosted a team in the Evangeline League, a rapidly dwindling Class C loop. The Rebels had played for ten years prior at a no-longer-existing park on the outskirts of town. Reportedly, the vice chair of the BREC announced at the start of the 1956 season that no Negroes would be allowed to play at the parish facility. That action helped cause the demise of the league in mid-1957, as several teams in the league had black players who would not be permitted to play here or in Lafayette.

Twice in the 21st century, the park has seen independent baseball. The All American Association, which lasted just the 2001 season, saw the Blue Marlins play here. Many of that failed league’s sites wound up in the Southeastern League, which lasted two years, and a team known as the River Bats played in that loop.

Today, Baton Rouge Community College uses the park as its home field, and there is talk that a college summer league may come in for 2019.