Four Winds Field

From BR Bullpen

(Redirected from Coveleski Stadium)

  • Name: Four Winds Field
  • GPS-able Address: 501 West South Street, South Bend, IN 46601
  • Ballpark Owner: City of South Bend
  • Architects: HOK Sport (now Populous)
  • Groundbreaking: 9/19/1986
  • Minor League Baseball Teams: South Bend Cubs (A+) 2021-present; South Bend Cubs (A) 2015-2020; South Bend Silver Hawks (A) 1994-2014; South Bend White Sox (A) 1988-1993
  • Class/League History: A+/Midwest League 2022-present; A+/High-A Central 2021; A/Midwest League 1988-2020
  • First Professional Baseball Game: 4/10/1988; stadium debut of Class A White Sox
  • Others Playing or Operating Here: None
  • Previous Ballpark Names: Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium 1988-2013
  • LF: 336 CF: 405 RF: 336
  • Seats: 4,200
  • Stated Capacity: 5,000
  • House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance (as currently configured): 8,143, 7/3/2015


Coveleski Stadium, April 10, 1988

Four Winds Field in South Bend, IN, is the home of the South Bend Cubs, the Chicago Cubs' High-A Midwest League farm team. It was the Cubs' 2020 Coronavirus pandemic alternate training site.

Opened in July 1987 as Stanley Coveleski Regional Stadium, the ballpark was named for Hall of Fame spitball pitcher Stan Coveleski, who first made the Majors in 1912. Its first event was a July 2nd Marauder Mixer American Legion Tournament opener. A home run derby followed on Independence Day.

The second U.S. baseball stadium designed by HOK Sport (now Populous) pre-echoes its "downtown retro" design later made famous by Oriole Park at Camden Yards. While many sources credit Buffalo's Sahlen Field as the first use of the design for a professional baseball team, "The Cove" is sometimes called "the grandfather of the modern ballpark" because it did much of what makes the iconic design work: brick exterior, open concourses that allow fans to make concessions runs without missing action, first suites in the minors, fitting into its urban surroundings, and the revitalization of a downtown.

Coveleski, one of the 17 pitchers grandfathered to use the spitter after it was otherwise banned in 1920, retired to the Bend in 1929. Inducted to the Hall through its Veterans Committee in 1969, he died just three years before the debut of the stadium that was named for him.

In 2013, Four Winds Casino Resort bought naming rights and added a life-size statue of Coveleski. At the event announcing the deal, the team and the casino owners, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, said the new name would be Four Winds Field at Stanley Coveleski Stadium.[1] However, signage at the main entrance now reads simply "FOUR WINDS FIELD" with the team name underneath in smaller lettering.

Spurred by new facility requirements in MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization and funded largely with projected state money, SB-Cubs owner Andrew Berlin has unveiled a renovation that borders on a rebuild. The phased-in standards take full effect in 2025, and on the eve of the 2023 campaign Berlin announced a plan to play out the two seasons and then squeeze the make-over into the 2024-2025 off-season. The plan - also designed by Populous - would add a deck, increasing capacity by half, and a convention center.

On May 4, 2023, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb - while wearing a South Bend Cubs cap and jersey - signed a bill that sets aside tax dollars to support publicly owned stadiums in Indiana cities. That measure could funnel up to $5 million a year for up to 20 years to Four Winds Field.

The franchise played as the South Bend Silver Hawks from 1994 through 2014, saluting the locally produced Studebaker model. The National Studebaker Museum is less than a mile from the ballpark.

South Bend's most famous entity, the University of Notre Dame, played its home baseball games at The Cove until the school built and opened Frank Eck Stadium in 1994.

Like the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field, Four Winds has an apartment complex overlooking left field: The Ivy at Berlin Place.



Current ballparks in the Midwest League
East Division West Division
Classic Park | Day Air Ballpark | Dow Diamond | Jackson Field | LMCU Ballpark | Parkview Field ABC Supply Stadium | Dozer Park | Four Winds Field | Fox Cities Stadium | Modern Woodmen Park | Veterans Memorial Stadium