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Name: Bosse Field Year Opened: 1915 Seating Capicity: 5,181
Dimensions: Left Field-315 ft. Center Field-415 ft. Right Field-315 ft.
Bosse Field is located just north of downtown Evansville in Garvin Park. To get to Bosse Field, take US Highway 41 to the Diamond Avenue Exit. Travel west on Diamond Avenue. Turn left at Heidelbach Avenue (the third traffic light). Bosse Field is located three blocks down on the right.
It was a very special day for Evansville on Thursday afternoon, June 17, 1915, when Bosse Field was opened to the public. Evansville declared a holiday in honor of its new athletic field; factories and stores closed, a parade wound its way from Sunset Park to the new field, and the opening game and evening wrestling match attracted such a huge crowd that reporters the next day questioned whether the facility could continue to hold the delighted fans.
Prior to 1985, Bosse Field was the site of professional baseball in this area for more than fifty years. Along with the Otters, other teams to have called Evansville home are the Triplets (1970-1984), the E-Sox (1966-68), the Braves (1946-57), the Bees (1938-42), the Hubs (1926-31), the Pocketeers (1925), the Little Evas (1924), the Evas (1916-17; 1919-23), and the River Rats (1914-15). Prior to Bosse Field, the Yankees (1912), Strikers (1911), River Rats (1903-1910), Blackbirds (1895), and Hoosiers (1889) played in Evansville, along with teams in 1884 and 1892. The Triplets brought home American Association titles in 1972, 1975, and 1979, while the Braves captured the Three-I League Crown in 1946, 1948, 1956, and 1957. The River Rats won the Central League title in 1908 and 1915. In addition, teams such as the Evansville Black Braves represented the city in Negro League Baseball during the first part of the 20th century.
Hundreds of major league players have played at Bosse Field and, to many, this was their home, including Hall of Famers Hank Greenburg, Chuck Klein, Edd Rousch, Warren Spahn, and Sam Thompson. Other players of note to have worn the Evansville uniforms include Alan Ashby, Bert Blyleven, Del Crandall, Mark "The Bird" Fydrich, Jim Frey, Kirk Gibson, Howard Johnson, Gene Lamont, Johnny Logan, Felix Mantilla, Jerry Manuel, Jack Morris, Jim Nettles, Ed Nottle, Lance Parrish, Darrell Porter, Chuck Tanner, and Gorman Thomas. In addition, current Major League Baseball managers Gene Lamont of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Jerry Manuel of the Chicago White Sox spent time in the dugouts of Bosse Field. Prior to winning the World Series with the Florida Marlins in 1997, then manager Jim Leyland's last championship came as manager of the Evansville Triplets when they won the American Association crown in 1979. A number of other players spent part of their amateur careers at Bosse Field, including Don Mattingly and current major leagers Andy Benes, Alan Benes, and Sal Fasano.
Today Bosse Field houses many local high school baseball and amateur teams. It served as the home field for the University of Evansville Purple Aces until they moved to an on-campus facility prior to the 1999 season.. Along with American Legion and Colt baseball, over 200 baseball games are played at Bosse Field each year. Significant renovations and upgrades have been made to this venerable park with the help of $200,000 raised by the "Friends of Bosse Field" over the past seven years.
In 1991, Bosse Field served as Columbia Pictures' primary location for filming "A League of Their Own," an Oscar nominated movie about a 1940's women's professional baseball league starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, and Madonna.
Bosse Field is the third oldest ballpark used for professional baseball on a regular basis in the country, surpassed only by Fenway Park (1912) in Boston and Wrigley Field (1914) in Chicago. After a ten year absence, professional baseball returned to Bosse Field with the Otters' taking the field June 15, 1995 against the Richmond Roosters--exactly eighty years after Bosse Field's first opening day. Thanks to the same enduring spirit which has guided baseball here over the years, the Otters led the Frontier League by attracting 90,943 fans in 1995; in 1997 Evansville became the first Frontier League franchise to break the 100,000 single-season attendance barrier when 103,295 fans came out to see the Otters advance all the way to the Frontier League Championship Series. The Otters set a franchise record in 1999 by drawing just over 3,000 fans per home game. In their four year history, the Otters have averaged in excess of 2,500 fans per game.