MarlinFan's earlier thread about that field in Sacramento made me think about my quest a year or so ago to find West Palm Beach's Municipal Stadium, the long-time spring training home of the Expos and Braves.

 

When I moved to West Palm in 2001, I remember seeing Municipal Stadium marked on the maps I had bought, and wondering why I hadn't seen or heard any mention of it. As it turns out, the place I was looking for was no longer there.

 

Or was it?

 

When the teams moved away to newer facilities in the late 1990's, the stadium was completely abandoned, eventually being demolished to make room for a new shopping center. (Like we really need more of those )

 

However, in my quest, I found that if you venture all the way to the back of the shopping center, right behind The Home Depot's loading docks, you can still get a glimpse of the old scoreboard, batter's eye and part of the outfield wall still standing amid the tall overgrowth of vegetation.

 

Since I figured it wouldn't be long before all remnants of this old ballpark would disappear in the name of urban commerce, I decided to take some photographs of what's left, in the hopes of preserving their memory before they're gone forever.

 

Here they are:

 

The old scoreboard.

 

 

The batter's eye and outfield wall, with some of the ads still in place.

 

 

An old backstop and dugout from one of the adjacent practice fields.

 

 

The street that serves as entrance to the mall is still called Hank Aaron Drive.

 

 

Finally, here's a satellite pic from 1999 of the now non-existant Municipal Stadium baseball complex. (Courtesy of TerraServer-USA.com)

 

 

Anyway, I decided to post this rather sentimental rant in case there's others out there who might share my fascination with old, overlooked sites that hold a certain historical significance -- especially those relating to baseball.

 

Have a good one. :cool

you just reminded me of a feature I want to do for the ballpark newspage

They just left that scoreboard there? That would be so awesome if someone started taking it apart piece by piece and assembled it somewhere else. It's not like anyone would notice.

 

 

 

I wish I had the land I would totally steal that scoreboard.

 

 

Anyone interested in rescuing that scoreboard?

Anyone that has pics of remnants of minor league parks please post your pics here.

Were there still bleachers or anything?

Were there still bleachers or anything?

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I didn't see any; don't know if it had them to begin with. I do know the clubhouse, box office and grandstands were all demolished to make room for the Home Depot.

They just left that scoreboard there? That would be so awesome if someone started taking it apart piece by piece and assembled it somewhere else. It's not like anyone would notice.

 

 

 

I wish I had the land I would totally steal that scoreboard.

 

 

Anyone interested in rescuing that scoreboard?

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you read my mind I would do that if i had the chance, and that batting cage would be cool to have too.,

They just left that scoreboard there? That would be so awesome if someone started taking it apart piece by piece and assembled it somewhere else. It's not like anyone would notice.

 

 

 

I wish I had the land I would totally steal that scoreboard.

 

 

Anyone interested in rescuing that scoreboard?

629158[/snapback]

you read my mind I would do that if i had the chance, and that batting cage would be cool to have too.,

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That board is huge, first I would go in there to see if it's worth stealing, then I would start taking it apart piece by piece other several months. I'm sure it's not tied into the electrical system, that was probably destroyed when they torn down the park.