Homer Stryker Field, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Chronological Tour: Stop 247

Homer Stryker Field

Outfield entrance to Homer Stryker Field, Jul-2003.

Peering in from the right-field party deck.

The field has been in this city park since 1925.

Quick Facts:

Location: Mayor’s Riverbank Park, Mills Street north of King Boulevard, Kalamazoo, Mich.
Opened: 1925 as Sutherland Field (stadium built 1963, renovated 1995)
Additional names: Homer Stryker Field (2002)
Home team: Kalamazoo Kodiaks (1996-98), Kings (2001-10), Frontier League
Capacity: 4,000 (approx.)

Rating: 2 baseballs

Homer Stryker Field became the home of the Kalamazoo Kings in 2001. It had previously hosted another Frontier League team, the Kodiaks; each team has made some renovations to a facility that has been in use in some form since 1925, although the oldest part of the current structure, a concrete grandstand now with aluminum benches, appears to date to 1963.

The 1995 renovation added new aluminum seating and a press box above the old grandstand, along with some additional bleacher sections flanking the central stand. Some new outbuildings have been constructed in the last few years, but it still appears to be a hodgepodge.

Homer Stryker, by the way, is the patriarch of the Stryker medical products company. The Stryker family bought the naming rights in 2002 and placed Homer’s name on the field.

The Kings left the Frontier League after the 2010 season, replaced in the league roster by the Normal CornBelters. For 2014, the Kalamazoo ballpark will be home to the Growlers, the newest entry in the Northwoods League, a college summer league.

Game	Date	League	Level	Result
604	Mon 28-Jul-2003	Frontier	Ind.	Chillicothe 6, KALAMAZOO 3

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