Edward A. LeLacheur Park

Edward A. LeLacheur Park
Location	Lowell, MA United States 42.65366; -71.317413
Building chronology
Built	1998
Tenants
Lowell Spinners University of Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks
Capacity
4,700

Edward A. LeLacheur Park in Lowell, MA, was the home of Lowell affiliated baseball from 1998 through 2019. After that and the Coronavirus pandemic-canceled 2020 season, MLB's 2021 Minor League Reorganization eliminated the Lowell Spinners and most other New York-Pennsylvania League teams.

Among other things, the restructuring limited each MLB team to four farm clubs. While MLB as an entity managed the overhaul after a unanimous member vote, which four to keep was left to each parent club. A number of factors combined to drive the BoSox to drop Lowell, but their leadership said then and continues to say it would like to return there.[1] This would probably be at the expense of the Salem Red Sox, however, and the possibility may have taken a hit with the March 2023 announcement of the sale of the parent-owned S-Sox.

Located on the University of Massachusetts Lowell campus, the stadium was built jointly by UML and the city of Lowell. Designed by "downtown retro" ballpark architect HOK Sport (now Populous), "The Lash" opened in 1998 with the Boston Red Sox-affiliated Spinners christening it that June 22nd. In 2022, having lost professional ball and with the city unwilling to invest in it, the ballpark was sold to UMass Lowell for $1 million.

Several short-season and college clubs have shared ballparks; the Spinners said theirs was the first built to do so. It sold out a then-minor league record 413 straight games from 1998 through 2010.

LeLacheur, a 24-year legislator who helped create the stadium, died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 2010. In 1996, the long-time Boston-affiliated Elmira Pioneers moved to Lowell and rejoined the BoSox, who could have used their territorial rights to veto any other parent club. The Spinners first played at Stoklosa Alumni Field, a high school park that was renovated into a temporary home.

"Spinners" derives from the area's history in the textile industry.