Cobb Field

Main entrance to Cobb Field, Aug-2002.

With minor upgrades, the park, now more than half a century old, has stood the test of time.

The backdrop here is one of the most picturesque around.

• Location: 27th Street at 9th Avenue North, Billings, Mont.
• Opened: 1948
• Home team: Billings Mustangs, Pioneer League (1948-63, 1969-2007)
• Capacity: 4,200

Rating: 3 baseballs

The park is located in Billings, Montana’s largest city (population over 80,000), located on the Yellowstone River. The park is situated in such a way that it looks toward the cliffs locally known as the Rim Rocks.

The original benches in the covered grandstand have been replaced with aluminum benches, but the box seats along the fence are all folding chairs. Concession stands are centrally located and serve a good variety at economical prices, but the souvenir stand was hard to find, buried under the first-base grandstand.

An astute reader will note that I dropped the rating of this park by one baseball from 1995 to 2002. Still, Cobb Field – which also hosts two American Legion teams – rates as a most enjoyable experience, a symbol of what the Pioneer League stands for.

Unfortunately, Cobb Field is at the end of its run. It was a bit behind the times, so it is being replaced by a new park on an adjacent site. Since the land needed for the new stadium overlaps the current facility, Cobb Field must be knocked down.