Cobb Field

Main entrance to Cobb Field, Aug-2002.

With minor upgrades, the park, now more than half a century old, stood the test of time until 2007.

The backdrop here was one of the most picturesque around.

Chronological Tour: Stop 82

• Location: 27th Street at 9th Avenue North, Billings, Mont.
• Opened: 1948
• Closed: 2007
• Demolished: 2007
• Home team: Billings Mustangs, Pioneer League (1948-63, 1969-2007)
• Capacity: 4,200

Rating: 3 baseballs

The park was located in Billings, Montana’s largest city (population over 80,000), located on the Yellowstone River. The park was situated in such a way that it looks toward the cliffs locally known as the Rim Rocks.

The original benches in the covered grandstand had been replaced with aluminum benches, but the box seats along the fence were all folding chairs. Concession stands were centrally located and served a good variety at economical prices, but the souvenir stand was hard to find, buried under the first-base grandstand.

An astute reader will note that I dropped the rating of this park by one baseball from 1995 to 2002. Still, Cobb Field – which also hosted two American Legion teams – rated as a most enjoyable experience, a symbol of what the Pioneer League stands for.

Unfortunately, Cobb Field has reached the end of its run. It was a bit behind the times, so it was replaced in 2008 by a new park on an adjacent site. Since the land needed for the new stadium overlapped the current facility, Cobb Field was knocked down.