Hamtramck Stadium, Veterans Memorial Park, and Keyworth Stadium

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• published: 12 Mar 2016
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Hamtramck Stadium, Veterans Memorial Park, and Keyworth Stadium --------------------------------------------------------------------- Historic Hamtramck Stadium, also known as Roesink Stadium, is one of a handful of former Negro League home ballparks still in existence. It is located at 3201 Dan Street, in Veterans Park, in Hamtramck, Michigan. Hamtramck Stadium should not be confused with Keyworth Stadium which it sits next to. Hamtramck Stadium was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. On August 14, 2014, a State of Michigan Historic Marker was dedicated at the site. Hamtramck Stadium opened in 1930 and was home to several Negro League teams over the years, including the Detroit Stars and Detroit Wolves. It was also home to perhaps the greatest Little Leaguer who ever lived, Art "Pinky" Deras, who led his hometown team to victory in the 1959 Little League World Series. In the 1880s and 1890s, a relatively small number of blacks played for professional baseball teams but by the mid-1890s, professional baseball adopted a strict Jim Crow policy. As a result, black teams were formed in numerous cities. They played each other, amateur or semi-professional white teams, and played exhibition games against professional white teams. The stadium is a reminder of a segregated Detroit, when African-American teams could not play at Briggs Stadium - later renamed Tiger Stadium. When black men, no matter how talented, couldn't play in Major League Baseball. Among the most notable players were Turkey Stearnes, who some consider the greatest African-American baseball player in Detroit history even though he never played for the Tigers, Satchel Paige, Hall of Famer Pete Hill, and pitchers José Méndez and Andy Cooper. This Negro League prospered in the early 1920s as the growing black middle class could pay to enjoy baseball. The Detroit Stars played in a white neighborhood and are said to have attracted integrated crowds who enjoyed watching talented players. In the fall of 1929 John A. Roesink began construction Hamtramck Stadium to replace Mack Park. He had built Mack Park in 1910 on the corner of Mack and Fairview for a number of semi-pro team he sponsored, which had capacity for as many as 6,000. The park was completed for the 1930 season and Roesink hired Ty Cobb to throw out the first pitch. Roesink leased land for the stadium near the Grand Trunk Railroad tracks (the rock band Grand Funk Railroad took their name from a play on words from this railroad) from the Detroit Lumber Company. Hamtramck Stadium, as originally built, seated about 8,000 people in the concrete-and-steel grandstand. Most seats were on wooden benches, but a few box seats were separated from the rest by iron rails. Bleachers down the right-field line seat held about 1,000 more people. The first night game of professional baseball in Detroit was played at Hamtramck Park. On June 28, 1930; the Detroit Stars played the Monarchs at night and drew a crowd of 10,000. Later renovations reduced the grandstand to approximately half of its original size, and in the end it had a seating capacity of approximately 1,500. The Great Depression and change in team and stadium owners resulted in the eventual demise of the stadiums use for the Negro Leagues in the 1930s. As occurred with other stadiums, Hamtramck Stadium then became available for rental for other sporting events or activities. In 1934, the stadium hosted a football game between Wilberforce University and West Virginia State University, two Historically black universities. The last Negro League season was in 1937. Beginning in 1953, the field was used by Hamtramck's Little League Baseball teams. Over the years, eleven Hamtramck teams in the various Little League divisions went to their division's World Series, with two winning the title. As Dodge Main and the Catholic High Schools were closed, the usage of Hamtramck Stadium declined. Sometime in the 1990s the grandstand was fenced off to deter vandals and the park officially closed, and as of 2012 the structure has not been used since. Although covered with graffiti, the structure is still in good shape. The group Friends of Historic Hamtramck Stadium has been raising money to repair the grandstand and field. Keyworth Stadium In the mid-1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed Keyworth Stadium near Hamtramck Stadium. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to Hamtramck on October 15, 1936 to dedicate Keyworth Stadium, and candidate John F. Kennedy spoke at the stadium in his 1960 campaign. Keyworth Stadium is owned by Hamtramck Public Schools and it is used mostly for soccer and American football matches. The semi-professional soccer club Detroit City FC underwent a crowd-based investment program to renovate and rehabilitate the stadium and intends to move their home games to the stadium in 2016