Jackson Field

• Name: Jackson Field
• GPS-able Address: 505 E Michigan Ave., Lansing, MI 48912
• Ballpark Owner: City of Lansing
• Architects: HNTB
• Groundbreaking: 4/3/1995
• Minor League Baseball Teams: Lansing Lugnuts (A+) 2021-present; Lansing Lugnuts (A) 1996-2020
• Class/League History: A+/Midwest League 2022-present; A+/High-A Central 2021; A/Midwest League 1996-2020
• First Professional Baseball Game: 4/5/1996; stadium debut of Class A Lugnuts
• Others Playing or Operating Here: Michigan Baseball Hall of Fame
• Previous Ballpark Names: Cooley Law School Stadium 2010-2020; Oldsmobile Park 1996-2009
• LF: 305 CF: 404 RF: 305
• Seats: 7,527
• Stated Capacity: 11,000
• House Baseball/Softball Record Attendance(as currently configured): 12,997, 4/5/2012

Jackson Field in Lansing, MI, is the home of the Lansing Lugnuts, the Oakland Athletics' High-A Midwest League farm team. Its construction envelope limited its foul lines to just 305 feet.

The municipally owned stadium was built entirely by local laborers in only one year. Located centrally within Michigan's capital city, its construction required over 60,000 person-hours of local union labor. Promotions frequently cater to state employees and students of nearby Michigan State University.

Then-Oldsmobile Park opened in 1996 with a collegiate game between MSU and the University of Michigan. GM dropped the Olds line in 2004 but left the stadium brand intact until losing naming rights in its 2009 bankruptcy. Jackson National Life Insurance took over in 2020, after Cooley Law School - which is not part of MSU or UM but Western Michigan University - held rights in between.

The MSU Spartans have their own stadium but occasionally play at Jackson, including the annual "Crosstown Showdown" with the Lugnuts. That contest holds the house baseball record, 12,997, in the 2012 game. Michigan's spring weather sent the originally pre-season event to college "fall-ball" in 2016. However, it has returned to spring: After two seasons with no game at all due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the series resumed in 2022 with an April 6th game - two days before the start of the MwL season. Late in the 2023 collegiate season, flooding sent the Spartans back to Jackson.

The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament was held at Jackson Field in 2021 and 2023.

The ballpark also drew the Midwest League All-Star Game record crowd: 10,334 in 2002.

The world's largest lug nut adorns a nearby smokestack, and the Nuts & Bolts store is open year-round.

Design and features

Then-Oldsmobile Park was designed by HNTB Corporation of Kansas City, MO. HNTB, in cooperation with the city of Lansing, made some interesting choices in the layout and construction of the stadium. Many of the ballparks built as its contemporaries rely heavily on panoramic views of city skylines or natural vistas. Here, the designers chose rather to focus on the stadium's location within the city. Its facing is intentionally structured to accent Lansing's convention center, located next door. While the park feels very natural from the street, its view within overlooks residential neighborhoods and factories.

Jackson Field is one of the most handicap-accessible parks in the country. The fan friendliness is further extended by the abundant availability of concessions, each stand with an automotive theme. Seating is decidedly modern, yet even for the A league ballpark it was built to be, feels close to the action of the game. Jackson Field features 26 luxury boxes. For fans who want to pay a little less for tickets, there is an expanse of available lawn seating that stretches across a hill above the outfield wall.

The playing field features 17,500 square feet of sod. The infield mix is 60% clay, 25% sand and 15% brick dust. The park also features onsite office and training facilities for players and on and off the field staff. One of the last remaining features of the auto factory that formerly occupied the site is a single smoke stack, upon which the world’s largest lug nut has been placed to link Lansing's past to its present.

External Links

• Jackson Field page at Lansing Lugnuts Home Page
• Small-Parks.com Page
• Ballpark Review page
• 3D Virtual Tour