Fitton Field

An overview of Fitton Field from the parking garage, Jul-2005.

An opposite-side view of the seating bowl.

The light towers and outfield fence are new for the professional club.

• Location: College and Southbridge streets (exit 11 off I-290), Worcester, Mass.
• Opened: 1905 (renovated 2005)
• Home team: Worcester Tornadoes, Can-Am League (2005-present); College of the Holy Cross Crusaders, Patriot League
• Capacity: 3,000

Rating: 3 baseballs

As depicted in photographs, the original grandstand was quite impressive and sizable. Reports of a 1925 game pitched by Owen Carroll, who later went on to coach at Seton Hall University, say that 25,000 fans flocked to Fitton Field to watch the Purple and White score a 2-1 victory over archrival Boston College. Fitton Field also hosted several barnstorming major-league teams in the 1930s.

By 1980, the baseball portion of Fitton Field was reduced to several bleachers and a press box. (The Crusaders play other outdoor sports in an adjacent football stadium beyond right field which seats about 20,000.)

Meanwhile, Worcester, which had a National League team from 1880 to 1882 (and which was the home of the majors’ first perfect game, by J. Lee Richmond in 1880), had gone without professional baseball of any kind since 1934. That was rectified in 2005, when the Worcester Tornadoes, named strangely enough for a memorable tornado that hit Worcester in 1953, joined the Can-Am League.

Plans are afoot to build a professional park in Worcester and have it operational by 2008. In order that the team could begin playing in 2005, Holy Cross agreed to team up with the city to renovate Fitton Field.

The new grandstand at Fitton consists of an aluminum-based bowl with mostly stadium seats (some sections have bleachers), a press box, and concession stands along the first-base side near the entrance, which in turn is adjacent to a parking garage. Lights were installed for the first time, and the outfield fence was shortened to somewhat normal dimensions, although center field is a bit short at 385 feet. (In the early 1980s, there was no arcing fence and the ball could travel 450 feet to right-center and still be in play.)

Naturally, the Tornadoes will share Fitton Field with the college until a new park is built. There is no conflict; the Patriot League season ends before the Can-Am League begins play.