Chattanooga Baseball — Engel Stadium

Chattanooga Baseball — Engel Stadium. . , Located at the corner of O'Neal and East Third streets adjacent to Warner Park, Lincoln Park, and Fort Wood, Engel Stadium stands on the site of Andrews Field where baseball had been played since around 1910. Constructed in only 63 working days during the off season, Engel Stadium opened in 1930 and was home to the Chattanooga Lookouts for much of the remainder of the twentieth century. A large and modern 12,000-seat ballpark that measured 471 feet from home plate to the center field wall, Engel Stadium was among the first in the nation to include a press box. The stadium was named for Joe Engel, who arrived in Chattanooga in 1929 to oversee the Washington Senators' new minor league team and remained in the city until his death in 1969., The first baseball game played at Engel Stadium was an exhibition between the Lookouts and the Senators on March 22, 1930. Opening day was on April 15, when the Lookouts defeated the Atlanta Crackers by a score of 6-5. Lights were added to the stadium for the 1936 season, and nearly 25,000 fans packed the grounds for a house giveaway promotion that May., Among the many notable players who participated in either exhibition or minor league games at Engel Stadium were Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and Harmon Killebrew, the last being the only player to hit a home run over the deep and high center field barrier. In later years, stadium spectators witnessed the emerging careers of Chipper Jones, Trevor Hoffman, and Adam Dunn. Aside from baseball at nearly all levels, Engel Stadium hosted football games, concerts, and speakers, including evangelist Billy Graham in the early 1950s., During the era of Jim Crow, African American fans were required to enter Engel Stadium through a segregated entrance in left field and sat in the outfield bleachers. White fans entered through the stadium's main entrance and were seated in the grandstands. On the field, the first racially integrated competition occurred in April 1952, when Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella's Brooklyn Dodgers played an exhibition against the Boston Braves. It was not until the 1963 season, however, that the first integrated Lookouts team suited up at Engel Stadium., After playing a final game at the historic but aging stadium on September 10, 1999, the Chattanooga Lookouts relocated to the new BellSouth Park (now AT&T Field) in 2000. Now property of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Engel Stadium has benefitted from the preservation efforts of the Engel Foundation and Cornerstones, Inc. In 2009 the stadium was entered into the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2012 many of the baseball scenes for the Jackie Robinson film "42” were shot at Engel. In June 2014 future Chicago Cubs star Kris Bryant hit 16 balls out of Engel Stadium to win the Southern League home run derby., Captions: , Left: Lookouts manager Kid Elberfield instructing a player at Andrews Field. source: EngelFoundatiom.com , Center: Crowd outside Engel Stadium's main entrance, source: EngelFoundation.com , Right: Segregated outfield entrance to Engel Stadium. source: milb.com, This series is funded by a UC Foundation Community Engagement grant and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga , and prepared by faculty and students of the UTC Department of History.