Caesar Uyesaka Stadium is a baseball

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

 stadium in Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is the home field of the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos baseball team as well as the Santa Barbara Foresters

Santa barbara foresters

The Santa Barbara Foresters are a college summer baseball team based in Santa Barbara, California. The Foresters are a member of the California Collegiate League of the National Baseball Congress...

.

History

The stadium known simply as "Campus Diamond" or "Campus Stadium" opened in 1964, and underwent a major renovation and expansion after the 1993 college baseball season ended. The stadium was renamed for the late Caesar Uyesaka, a Santa Barbara resident and dedicated UCSB booster

Booster club

A booster club is an organization that is formed to support an associated club, sports team, or organization. Booster clubs are popular in American schools at the high school and university level...

. The first game was hosted at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium on 5 February 1994 in a contest between UC Santa Barbara and the University of San Diego Toreros

University of San Diego

The University of San Diego is a Roman Catholic university in San Diego, California. USD offers more than sixty bachelor's, master’s, and doctoral programs...

. UCSB went on to win the game 10 to 4.

A unique baseball venue

The stadium is designed with two levels, one on top of the other, where all seating is directly behind home plate. It offers a unique view in that the seats are "field level" and under the shade of the seating deck above it. The seating does not stretch past first or third base. There is no established seating in the outfield, although occasionally students stand behind the outfield fences.

With Santa Barbara's Mediterranean climate

Mediterranean climate

A Mediterranean climate is the climate typical of most of the lands in the Mediterranean Basin, and is a particular variety of subtropical climate...

, Caesar Uyesaka Stadium is a popular destination for students and the community alike in the spring and summer. The Santa Ynez Mountains

Santa Ynez Mountains

The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America, and are one of the northernmost mountain ranges in Southern California.-Geography:...

 can be seen beyond the outfield fence and southerly ocean breezes from the Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 can be felt. The prevailing breeze off the ocean blows towards the outfield and makes the stadium a hitter friendly park, despite the fact its outfield fences are farther than many major league ballparks.

The Hammerheads

Under coach Al Ferrer, UCSB improved its program in the late 1970s and 1980s. Along with this improvement came larger and more enthusiastic crowds. A group of students began taking the cardboard boxes given out at the concession stands to carry food and wore them sideways on their heads. Eventually this practice spread and the student section of rowdy supporters became known as the "hammerheads", after the distinctive look of hammerhead shark

Hammerhead shark

The hammerhead sharks are a group of sharks in the family Sphyrnidae, so named for the unusual and distinctive structure of their heads, which are flattened and laterally extended into a "hammer" shape called a "cephalofoil". Most hammerhead species are placed in the genus Sphyrna while the...

s.

Renovations

To accommodate the strain of hosting two baseball teams, Caesar Uyesaka Stadium has undergone many upgrades to provide an enjoyable experience to the crowds. Recent upgrades since 2006 include a 1600 square feet (148.6 m²) clubhouse (including lockers and showers) and a covered hitting/pitching facility.