John Thurman Field

• Name: John Thurman Field
• GPS-able Address: 601 Neece Drive, Modesto, CA 95351
• Ballpark Owner: City of Modesto
• Architects: L.D. Astorino & Associates
• Groundbreaking: 12/24/1996
• Minor League Baseball/Professional Development League Teams: Modesto Nuts (A) 2021-present; Modesto Nuts (A+) 2005-2020; Modesto Athletics (A+) 1990-2004; Modesto Athletics (A) 1997-1989
• Pro Baseball Class/League History: A/California League 2022-present; A/Low-A West 2021; A+/California League 1997-2020
• First Pro Baseball Game: 5/7/1997; stadium debut of Class A Athletics
• Others Playing or Operating Here: None
• Previous Ballpark Names: None
• LF: 312 CF: 400 RF: 319
• Seats: 3,705
• Stated Capacity: 4,000
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance(as currently configured): 5,424, 7/3/2009

John Thurman Field in Modesto, CA, is the home of the Modesto Nuts, the Seattle Mariners' Single-A California League farm team. Although many date it to the 1955 opening of Del Webb Field, its 1997 renovation essentially created a new ballpark.

Sources even conflict over when the original ballpark opened - 1955 is most prevalent, with a few saying 1954, but HistoricModesto.com says a ballpark was built on the site in 1949 - and it isn't clear whether that was knocked down and replaced with Del Webb or if it was simply renamed.[1]

Webb had played semi-professional baseball but was detoured from a pro career by injury. After founding a construction company in 1928, he and two partners bought the [New York Yankees]] in 1945. They sold them in 1964 with 15 American League pennants and 10 World Series titles in hand - yet Webb's main claim to fame is creating the first retirement community, which opened in 1960.

The 1983 re-name honoree was a World War II veteran from Modesto who later served 10 years as a state assemblyman and died less than a year after retiring from politics.

Webb/Thurman, rudimentary even for its time, soon deteriorated to the point that the California League told Modesto to fix it or lose the franchise. History and tradition played a role, as the Modesto franchise was - despite some nickname changes - unbroken since the circuit reactivated after the war. Modesto spent more than $3 million dodging that bullet. That was not a princely sum for a new stadium even at that level at that time, but in the context that the new ballpark was as rudimentary for its time as Webb had been for its, the amount at least flirted with the price of a new playpen. Meanwhile, the project included replacing the entire grandstand and Historic Modesto reports the stadium was "completely rebuilt by the city".

Baseball on the site is much older than American Graffiti (1973), but the nostalgia film was set in 1962 Modesto - so where (and who) were Modesto's team in '62? The Modesto Colts, a farm team of the then-Houston Colt .45s, went unmentioned in the "Geez, what a night!" film, but as Curt and Steve struggled with leaving for school - and what was going on in that white T-Bird? - the Colts went 75-65, second to the San Jose Bees.

Despite many seasons as the Modesto Reds, no Modesto team was ever a Cincinnati farm club. The actual origin of the old moniker is lost to time, but it dated back into the 19th century.

Thurman Field isn't far from downtown Modesto, but it hasn't been renovated since the rebuild. It is nowhere near the standards MLB mandated in its 2021 Minor League Reorganization. Four months before the reorganization was officially unveiled, but three months after word of it leaked, the city included the construction of a new stadium in a downtown master plan.[2]

MLB is scoring its farm teams' stadiums under a points plan included in the reorg, and the minimum total must be reached by the start of the 2025 campaign for a playpen to continue hosting minor league baseball.