Nicollet Park is a former 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...

 ground located in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, United States. The ground was home to the minor league Minneapolis Millers

Minneapolis Millers

The Minneapolis Millers were an American professional minor league baseball team that played in Minneapolis, Minnesota, until 1960. In the 19th century a different Minneapolis Millers were part of the Western League.The team played first in Athletic Park and later Nicollet Park.The name Minneapolis...

 of the Western League

Western League (U.S. baseball)

The Western League of Professional Baseball Clubs, simply called the Western League, was a minor league baseball league originally founded on February 11, 1885, and focused in the Midwest....

 and later American Association

American Association (20th century)

The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...

 from 1896 to 1955. During its first season (1896) it was officially known as Wright Field name for one of baseball's founding fathers Harry Wright. The wood stadium was replaced by a steel and concrete stadium in 1912. Lights were installed in 1937.

The ballpark was on a small block bounded by Nicollet Avenue on the east, 31st Street on the south, Blaisdell Avenue on the west and Lake Street (or 30th Street) on the north in the present-day Lyndale neighborhood

Lyndale, Minneapolis

Lyndale is a neighborhood within south Minneapolis. Its boundaries are Lake Street to the north, Interstate 35W to the east, 36th Street to the south and Lyndale Avenue South to the west.- Schools :...

. Home plate was in the southwest corner. A small ticket office building with a Spanish-style roof stood outside the right field corner, at the Nicollet-31st intersection.

Joe Hauser hit 69 homers for the Millers in 1933. Ted Williams

Ted Williams

Theodore Samuel "Ted" Williams was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played his entire 21-year Major League Baseball career as the left fielder for the Boston Red Sox...

 also made a bit of a splash here in 1938, on his way up to the major leagues, registering 43 round-trippers to lead the league. Willie Mays

Willie Mays

Willie Howard Mays, Jr. is a retired American professional baseball player who played the majority of his major league career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his...

 was enjoyed by the Minneapolis fans for only a month or so in 1951 before the parent club New York Giants

San Francisco Giants

The San Francisco Giants are a Major League Baseball team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the National League West Division....

 rushed the young ballplayer to the big leagues.

Nicollet Park went out with a bang, as the Millers won the American Association championship tournament, and then went on to vie for the Junior World Series

Junior World Series

The Junior World Series was the name given to a postseason series between champions of two of the three high-minor baseball leagues, modeled on the World Series of Major League Baseball...

 championship, facing the Rochester Red Wings

Rochester Red Wings

The Rochester Red Wings are a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins major-league club. The Red Wings play in Frontier Field, located in downtown Rochester.The Red Wings were an...

 of the International League

International League

The International League is a minor league baseball league that operates in the eastern United States. Like the Pacific Coast League and the Mexican League, it plays at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball. It was so named because it had teams in both the United States...

. The series went the distance of 7 games, and the finale was a close-fought win for the Millers in what was also the final game at Nicollet Park. In 1956 the Millers moved to Metropolitan Stadium

Metropolitan Stadium

Metropolitan Stadium was a sports stadium that once stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, just outside Minneapolis. The area where the stadium once stood is now the site of the Mall of America...

 in the suburb of Bloomington

Bloomington, Minnesota

Bloomington is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota in Hennepin County. Located on the north bank of the Minnesota River above its confluence with the Mississippi River, Bloomington lies at the heart of the southern...

.

The park also held early National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 games as the Minneapolis Marines and Minneapolis Red Jackets played some games there during the 1920s. In 1944 the Minneapolis Millerettes

Minneapolis Millerettes

The Minneapolis Millerettes were an expansion All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team that played for one season in 1944. They played their home games in Nicollet Park, home of the men's minor league team the Minneapolis Millers...

 of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

All-American Girls Professional Baseball League

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was a women's professional baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley which existed from 1943 to 1954. During the league's history, over 600 women played ball.-History:...

 called Nicollet Park home. Nicollet Park was also the place that the cereal Wheaties

Wheaties

Wheaties is a brand of General Mills breakfast cereal. It is well known for featuring prominent athletes on the exterior of the package, and has become a major cultural icon...

 was first advertised. Augsburg College

Augsburg College

Augsburg College is a selective liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Augsburg was named for the Augsburg Confession, the document of Lutheran belief. The school was founded in 1869 in Marshall, Wisconsin as Augsburg Seminary and moved...

's football team played their home games at Nicollet from 1946 to 1950. The New York Giants

New York Giants

The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 and Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

 played a preseason game on August 29 1948 at Nicollet Park.

The ballpark site's current occupants include a branch location of Wells Fargo Bank (formerly Norwest Bank). There is a plaque detailing the ballpark's history, near the drive-up window which is positioned near what was once the center field corner. A condominium building is on the north front of Lake Street with a Hennepin County Medical Center

Hennepin County Medical Center

Hennepin County Medical Center is a Level I trauma center based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the county seat of Hennepin County. The primary 422-bed facility is located on five city blocks across the street from the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, with satellite clinics in Minneapolis, Brooklyn...

 clinic.

There is a Park Nicollet clinic with many branches in the Twin Cities metro area (none on the ballpark site). Other than the name coincidence, there is no connection between the clinic and the old baseball team or its ballpark.

Additional sources

• Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006, by Stew Thornley
  Stew Thornley
  Stew Thornley is an author of books on sports history, particularly in his home state. He has been an official scorer and online gamecaster for the Minnesota Twins.-References:...
  
  .
• Before the Dome, Nodin Press, 1993, edited by David Anderson.
• On to Nicollet: The Glory and Fame of the Minneapolis Millers, Nodin Press, 1988, by Stew Thornley
  Stew Thornley
  Stew Thornley is an author of books on sports history, particularly in his home state. He has been an official scorer and online gamecaster for the Minnesota Twins.-References:...
  
  .
• Ballparks of North America, McFarland & Company, 1989, by Michael Benson.
• Green Cathedrals, SABR, 1986, and Addison-Wesley, 1992, by Phil Lowry.