Howard J. Lamade Stadium (pronounced "LAM-a-dee") is a

baseball stadium A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

South Williamsport, Pennsylvania South Williamsport is a borough in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is famous for hosting the Little League World Series. The population was 6,259 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Stati ...

. Each year, along with

Little League Volunteer Stadium Little League Volunteer Stadium is a baseball stadium in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Along with Howard J. Lamade Stadium, it annually hosts the Little League World Series, one of the few sports events where children 12 years old and yo ...

, it hosts the

Little League World Series The Little League World Series is an annual baseball tournament for children—typically boys—aged 10 to 12 years old, held in the Eastern United States. Originally called the National Little League Tournament, it was later renamed for the Wor ...

. The

playing field Play is a range of intrinsically motivated activities done for recreational pleasure and enjoyment. Play is commonly associated with children and juvenile-level activities, but may be engaged in at any life stage, and among other higher-functio ...

is two-thirds the size of a

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Modern professional ...

field, with basepaths, a mound, and after modification in 2006, outfield fences at , forming one-fourth of a true

circle A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...

. Much of the capacity of the stadium is bench seating, while large

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...

s surrounding the stadium provide additional seating allowing over 40,000 spectators.

History

Originally called Howard J. Lamade Memorial Field, the ballpark opened for the tournament. Howard J. Lamade was the son of '' Grit'' newspaper founder Dietrick Lamade. The younger Lamade was a vice president at Grit Publishing, and served on the board of directors for Little League Baseball in the 1950s. A donation from Grit Publishing was used to purchase land where the stadium is located. The ballpark received its current name in 1968, when the original wood and steel stands were replaced with a concrete stadium.

Renovations

Lights were added in 1992 to facilitate night game play in conjunction with expansion of the series to

round robin Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

play. In 2006, the fences were moved back to to all fields. This was done because

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s were becoming too common. Other renovations included the extension of the stadium roofs to the end of the grandstands, and some

bleacher Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a ro ...

s replaced with individual seats with backs, increasing seating of that type from approximately 600 to 1500. On August 19, , Lamade Stadium set an attendance record for the game between

La Grange, Kentucky La Grange is a home rule-class city in Oldham County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 8,082 at the time of the 2010 U.S. census. It is the seat of its county. An unusual feature of La Grange is the CSX Transportation street-r ...

, and

Clinton County, Pennsylvania Clinton County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,450. Its county seat is Lock Haven. The county was created on June 21, 1839, from parts of Centre and Lycoming Counties. Its name is ...

, with 41,848 people in the stands and on the hill. It was later broken on August 29, , when

Lewisberry, Pennsylvania Lewisberry is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 380 at the 2020 census. Geography Lewisberry is located at (40.135300, -76.860504). According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total a ...

, defeated

Pearland, Texas Pearland ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Brazoria County, Texas, Brazoria County, with portions extending into Fort Bend County, Texas, Fort Bend and Harris County, Texas, Harris counties. The city of Pearland is a principal city ...

, with 45,716 in attendance.

References

External links

Photographs of the Little League stadium complex in South Williamsport, PA - ''Rochester Area Ballparks''
* {{coord, 41.23, -76.98, display=title, type:event Baseball venues in Pennsylvania Little League World Series Buildings and structures in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania Tourist attractions in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1959 1959 establishments in Pennsylvania