Edmonds Field

Edmonds Field was located on the corner of Riverside and Broadway in downtown Sacramento, CA.

It was originally built in 1922 and was named Moreing Park in honor of Sacramento Senators owner Lew Moreing. It ws the home of the Senators from 1922 to 1935. It was known as Sacramento Baseball Park starting in 1934, after an ownership change. From 1936-1960, it housed the Sacramento Solons, which were a continuation of the Senators under a different name. On September 9, 1945 it was re-named Edmonds Field, after former Sacramento Union sports editor Dick Edmonds, who had fought valiantly to keep the Solons in Sacramento in 1944, and died shortly thereafter. The ballpark was destroyed by fire in July 1948 and rebuilt that winter - Edmonds Field (II). On January 4, 1961, the Solons were sold and moved to Hawaii, and Edmonds Field was demolished in May of 1964.

On June 10, 1930, Moreing Park hosted the first night game in the history of the Pacific Coast League, with the Senators defeating the Oakland Oaks, 5-0. It was also the first professional game to be played under lights in the Western U.S.

On July 8, 1953, Neill Sheridan hit one of the longest home runs ever measured while playing for the hometown Solons in the second game of a doubleheader. His line drive blast passed over the left field fence and disappeared into the night. It only became talked about nationally when a spectator showed up at the team offices the next day, claiming the ball had landed on the back seat of his car parked on a residential street behind the ballpark's parking lot, shattering the back window in the process. A surveying firm officially measured the distance from home plate to the car's alleged parking spot at 613.80 feet. There is some doubt as to whether the mighty blast did in fact travel all that distance, since there was no witness to see it land, and only the fan's word that the ball did in fact land in his car and that it was parked where he claimed it was.

Further Reading

• Rick Cabral: "Neill 'Wild Horse' Sheridan and the Longest Home Run Ever Measured", The Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 40, Number 2 (Fall 2011), pp. 94-98.

Source

• Sacramentosolons.com