Robin Roberts Stadium

Walking in to Lanphier Park just after game time, Aug-1995.

At the viewer’s right is a park within a park -- a mini-wooded area beyond the center-field wall but inside the main fence.

• Location: North Grand near 11th Street, Springfield, Ill.
• Opened: 1928 (renovated 1977)
• Home team: Springfield Browns, Three-I League (1946-49); Springfield Sallies, All American Girls Professional Baseball League (1948); Springfield Red Birds (1978-81), Cardinals (1982-93), Sultans of Springfield (1994-95), Midwest League; Springfield Capitals, Frontier League (1996-2001). Note: Various Springfield teams played in the older versions of the Three-I and other leagues through 1935; I am not certain which, if any, played at Lanphier.
• Capacity: 5,000

Rating: 3 baseballs

One of the more appealing parts of the ball field is the park within a park in the outfield. A ball hit directly to center field stands a chance of landing in the vegetation.

In 1995, the Sultans of Springfield (one of my favorite names of a ball club, probably because I like the Dire Straits song “Sultans of Swing”) were bought and moved out of town; they became the Lansing Lugnuts. The park was used by the independent Springfield Capitals for the next six years.