Sick's Stadium
Encyclopedia
Sick's Stadium, also known as Sick's Seattle Stadium and later as Sicks' Stadium, was a baseball
stadium
located in Seattle, Washington's Rainier Valley
at the corner of S. McClellan Street and Rainier Avenue S. The site was previously the location of Dugdale Park, a 1913 ballpark that was the home of the minor league Seattle Indians. That park burned down in an Independence Day arson fire in 1932, and until a new stadium could be built on the Dugdale site, the team played at Civic Field, a converted football stadium at the current location of Seattle Center
's Memorial Stadium
. Sick's Stadium served as the home of the Seattle Pilots
during their only Major League Baseball
season in 1969.
's Seattle Rainiers
(the renamed Seattle Indians). It was named after Emil Sick, owner of the team and of the Rainier Brewing Company
. The Rainiers played at the stadium through 1964, after which they were renamed the Seattle Angels, but continued to play at Sick's through 1968. In 1946, the stadium was briefly the home of the Seattle Steelheads
of the short-lived West Coast Baseball Association Negro League
, who played at the stadium while the Rainiers were on the road.
After Emil Sick died in 1964, and various members of his family shared ownership, the name of the park was changed to reflect that fact, from the singular possessive form "Sick's Stadium" to the plural possessive form "Sicks' Stadium".
came to Seattle with the American League
expansion Seattle Pilots debuting at Sick's Stadium. Seattle had been mentioned several times as a prospective major league city. The Cleveland Indians
almost moved there in the early 1960s, but owner William Daley
decided against it because he did not think that Sick's Stadium was suitable for a major league team. Charlie Finley considered moving the Kansas City Athletics
to Seattle in 1967, but when he visited Seattle he quipped that the stadium was aptly named. He advised Seattle officials to get a new stadium if it wanted a major league team.
It soon became obvious why Daley (who bought a stake in the Pilots) and Finley were wary about Sick's. A condition of the American League's agreement to grant Seattle a team was to expand Sick's Stadium to 30,000 seats by the start of the 1969 season. However, due to cost overruns, poor weather and other delays, only 17,000 seats were ready by opening day. Several of the 17,150 people who showed up had to wait three innings to take their seats because workers were still putting them together by the time of the first pitch.
The stadium expanded to 25,000 seats by June. However, many of those seats had obstructed views. There were no field-level camera pits, so photographers had to set up their equipment atop the grandstand roof. The clubhouse facilities were second-class. Also, no upgrades were made to the stadium's piping, resulting in almost nonexistent water pressure after the seventh inning, especially when crowds exceeded 10,000. This forced players to shower in their hotel rooms or at home after the game. The visiting team's announcers couldn't see any plays along third base
or left field
. The Pilots had to place a mirror in the press box, and the visiting announcers had to look into it and "refract" plays in those areas.
Under the circumstances, only 678,000 fans came to see the Pilots—a major reason why the team was forced into bankruptcy after only one season. The team moved to Milwaukee for the 1970 season and became the Milwaukee Brewers
.
concert on September 1, 1957 (one of the first concerts to be held at a major outdoor stadium), which was attended by a young Jimi Hendrix
. Hendrix himself later performed at the stadium, as did Janis Joplin
.
Floyd Patterson knocked out Olympic gold medalist Pete Rademacher in six rounds at Sick's Stadium in Seattle on August 22, 1957.
, but not to Sick's Stadium; rather, to the Kingdome
(which, ironically, was approved by area voters as a condition of Seattle getting the Pilots). In 1979 Sicks' Stadium was demolished, and it is now the site of a Lowe's
home improvement store. The stadium site is currently marked by a sign (on the corner of Rainier and McClellan) and a replica of home plate (near the Lowe's exit) as well as markings in the store where the bases would have been. Home plate is next to the exit doors of the store and behind the wall 60 feet 6 inches away near the cash registers is a circle where the mound and pitching rubber would have been, the store also contains a glass display case containing some Pilots, Rainiers, and Angels mementos. Several dozen box seats from Sicks' Stadium were transported to Fairbanks, Alaska
and installed in that city's Growden Memorial Park
, which hosts college league teams in the summertime (most notably the Alaska Goldpanners).
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
Stadium
A modern stadium is a place or venue for outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.)Pausanias noted that for about half a century the only event...
located in Seattle, Washington's Rainier Valley
Rainier Valley, Seattle, Washington
The Rainier Valley neighborhood in Seattle, is located east of Beacon Hill; west of Mount Baker, Seward Park, and Leschi; south of the Central District and First Hill; and north of the city line...
at the corner of S. McClellan Street and Rainier Avenue S. The site was previously the location of Dugdale Park, a 1913 ballpark that was the home of the minor league Seattle Indians. That park burned down in an Independence Day arson fire in 1932, and until a new stadium could be built on the Dugdale site, the team played at Civic Field, a converted football stadium at the current location of Seattle Center
Seattle Center
Seattle Center is a park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition. It is located just north of Belltown in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood.-Attractions:...
's Memorial Stadium
Memorial Stadium (Seattle)
The Memorial Stadium in Seattle, Washington, is located in the northeast corner of the Seattle Center grounds. The stadium currently seats approximately 12,000 people. This was expanded to 17,000, during 1974-75, while the Seattle Sounders, of the North American Soccer League, played at Memorial...
. Sick's Stadium served as the home of the Seattle Pilots
Seattle Pilots
The Seattle Pilots were an American professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington for one season, . The Pilots played home games at Sick's Stadium and were a member of the West Division of Major League Baseball's American League...
during their only Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
season in 1969.
The minor league years
Sick's Stadium first opened on June 15, 1938 as the home field of the Pacific Coast LeaguePacific Coast League
The Pacific Coast League is a minor-league baseball league operating in the Western, Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Along with the International League and the Mexican League, it is one of three leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one step below Major League Baseball.The...
's Seattle Rainiers
Seattle Rainiers
The Seattle Rainiers, originally named the Seattle Indians and also known as the Seattle Angels, were a minor league baseball team in Seattle, Washington, that played in the Pacific Coast League from 1903-06 and 1919-68...
(the renamed Seattle Indians). It was named after Emil Sick, owner of the team and of the Rainier Brewing Company
Rainier Brewing Company
Rainier Brewing Company was a Seattle, Washington, company that brewed Rainier Beer, a popular brand in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Although Rainier was founded in 1884, the Seattle site had been brewing beer since 1878. While the beer enjoys near iconic status, it is no longer...
. The Rainiers played at the stadium through 1964, after which they were renamed the Seattle Angels, but continued to play at Sick's through 1968. In 1946, the stadium was briefly the home of the Seattle Steelheads
Seattle Steelheads
The Seattle Steelheads were a Negro League baseball team from Seattle, Washington.- Founding :The Steelheads played in the West Coast Negro Baseball League and played their first game on June 1, 1946, against the San Diego Tigers, in front of 2,500 fans at Sick's Stadium. The league folded after a...
of the short-lived West Coast Baseball Association Negro League
Negro league baseball
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams predominantly made up of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in...
, who played at the stadium while the Rainiers were on the road.
After Emil Sick died in 1964, and various members of his family shared ownership, the name of the park was changed to reflect that fact, from the singular possessive form "Sick's Stadium" to the plural possessive form "Sicks' Stadium".
The Seattle Pilots
On April 11, 1969, Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
came to Seattle with the American League
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, or simply the American League , is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league based in the Great Lakes states, which eventually aspired to major...
expansion Seattle Pilots debuting at Sick's Stadium. Seattle had been mentioned several times as a prospective major league city. The Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...
almost moved there in the early 1960s, but owner William Daley
William R. Daley
William R. Daley was a businessman and owner of two franchises in Major League Baseball's American League.He the principal owner of the Cleveland Indians from through . In 1956, Daley purchased Myron H. Wilson's share of the franchise to become owner...
decided against it because he did not think that Sick's Stadium was suitable for a major league team. Charlie Finley considered moving the Kansas City Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
to Seattle in 1967, but when he visited Seattle he quipped that the stadium was aptly named. He advised Seattle officials to get a new stadium if it wanted a major league team.
It soon became obvious why Daley (who bought a stake in the Pilots) and Finley were wary about Sick's. A condition of the American League's agreement to grant Seattle a team was to expand Sick's Stadium to 30,000 seats by the start of the 1969 season. However, due to cost overruns, poor weather and other delays, only 17,000 seats were ready by opening day. Several of the 17,150 people who showed up had to wait three innings to take their seats because workers were still putting them together by the time of the first pitch.
The stadium expanded to 25,000 seats by June. However, many of those seats had obstructed views. There were no field-level camera pits, so photographers had to set up their equipment atop the grandstand roof. The clubhouse facilities were second-class. Also, no upgrades were made to the stadium's piping, resulting in almost nonexistent water pressure after the seventh inning, especially when crowds exceeded 10,000. This forced players to shower in their hotel rooms or at home after the game. The visiting team's announcers couldn't see any plays along third base
Third baseman
A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
or left field
Left fielder
In baseball, a left fielder is an outfielder who plays defense in left field. Left field is the area of the outfield to the left of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound...
. The Pilots had to place a mirror in the press box, and the visiting announcers had to look into it and "refract" plays in those areas.
Under the circumstances, only 678,000 fans came to see the Pilots—a major reason why the team was forced into bankruptcy after only one season. The team moved to Milwaukee for the 1970 season and became the Milwaukee Brewers
Milwaukee Brewers
The Milwaukee Brewers are a professional baseball team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, currently playing in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
.
Concerts and other events
Though Sick's Stadium was primarily a baseball venue, it also occasionally held other events, including rock concerts — most famously, an Elvis PresleyElvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
concert on September 1, 1957 (one of the first concerts to be held at a major outdoor stadium), which was attended by a young Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. Hendrix himself later performed at the stadium, as did Janis Joplin
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer, songwriter, painter, dancer and music arranger. She rose to prominence in the late 1960s as the lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company and later as a solo artist with her backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band...
.
Floyd Patterson knocked out Olympic gold medalist Pete Rademacher in six rounds at Sick's Stadium in Seattle on August 22, 1957.
After the Pilots
From 1972 to 1976, a Class A Seattle Rainiers team played at Sicks' to sparse audiences. In 1977, Major League Baseball returned to Seattle with the expansion Seattle MarinersSeattle Mariners
The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. Enfranchised in , the Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Safeco Field has been the Mariners' home ballpark since July...
, but not to Sick's Stadium; rather, to the Kingdome
Kingdome
The Kingdome was a multi-purpose stadium located in Seattle's SoDo neighborhood. Owned and operated by King County, the Kingdome opened in 1976 and was best known as the home stadium of the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League , the Seattle Mariners of Major League Baseball , and the...
(which, ironically, was approved by area voters as a condition of Seattle getting the Pilots). In 1979 Sicks' Stadium was demolished, and it is now the site of a Lowe's
Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. is a U.S.-based chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946 in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, the chain now serves more than 14 million customers a week in its 1,710 stores in the United States and 20 in Canada. Expansion into Canada began in...
home improvement store. The stadium site is currently marked by a sign (on the corner of Rainier and McClellan) and a replica of home plate (near the Lowe's exit) as well as markings in the store where the bases would have been. Home plate is next to the exit doors of the store and behind the wall 60 feet 6 inches away near the cash registers is a circle where the mound and pitching rubber would have been, the store also contains a glass display case containing some Pilots, Rainiers, and Angels mementos. Several dozen box seats from Sicks' Stadium were transported to Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks, Alaska
Fairbanks is a home rule city in and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska.Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska, and second largest in the state behind Anchorage...
and installed in that city's Growden Memorial Park
Growden Memorial Park
Growden Memorial Park is an outdoor baseball park in Fairbanks, Alaska, United States. It is used for summer collegiate and high school baseball, and has been the home field for the Alaska Baseball League's Alaska Goldpanners since 1960. It's also home to the Athletes in Action Fire. It was also...
, which hosts college league teams in the summertime (most notably the Alaska Goldpanners).
Further reading
- Ballparks.com: Sick's Stadium page
- "From Reds to Ruth to Rainiers: City's history has its hits, misses": an article on the history of Seattle's ballparks, from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- "All Shook Up: Elvis Rocks Sicks' Stadium" at HistoryLink
- "Sick's Stadium" Ibid.
- A Short History of Seattle Baseball