 Entrance to Fairgrounds Field, Aug-2005. |
 A view of the seating bowl around sunset. |
 The playing field, as seen from the entrance portal. |
|
Entrance to Fairgrounds Field, Aug-2005. |
A view of the seating bowl around sunset. |
The playing field, as seen from the entrance portal. |
 Chronological Tour: Stop 304 |
3 baseballs
Into this area arrived a new Central League team, the Coastal Bend Aviators, in 2003. Originally, the team was going to be named for the county, but someone convinced the club to name itself after the entire region, which is called the Coastal Bend because the coast of the Gulf of Mexico bends at Corpus Christi. Two years later, Corpus got its own team, but the Aviators continued on for three more seasons, through the demise of the Central League and two years of the independent American Association. Various clubs have continued in independent baseball since.
The ballpark itself has an elevated concourse, with a convenient home-plate portal leading between the outer shell and the inner concourse. Fans may also walk around the outside of the luxury box and press box building. The seating bowl is in two levels, with a cross aisle dividing the lower box seats from the upper reserved seats. Seating does not extend all the way down the foul lines, but grass berms are provided at each end of the stands.
The original plan was to build a complex of sports facilities surrounding the ballpark, thus the original facility name. The park was known as Aviators Stadium in 2004, but the club did not sell naming rights that year and they reverted to the county, which owns the stadium. “Fairgrounds Field” refers to a fairgrounds complex which was not complete at my visit but was open by August 2007; it should not be confused with Fair Grounds Field, home of the Shreveport Captains in the American Association.
| Game | Date | League | Level | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 774 | Thu 18-Aug-2005 | Central | Ind. | COASTAL BEND 7, Jackson 5 |