Avista Stadium is a

baseball park 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 ...

in the

northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, located in

Spokane Valley, Washington Spokane Valley is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States, and the largest suburb of Spokane. It is located east of Spokane, west of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and surrounds the city of Millwood on three sides. The city incorporated as ...

. It is the home ballpark of the

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Colo ...

, a minor league baseball team in the High-A

Northwest League The Northwest League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Northwestern United States and Western Canada. A Class A Short Season league for most of its history, the league was promoted to High-A as part of Major League Basebal ...

.History
at spokaneindiansbaseball.com, URL accessed March 7, 2021
Archived
10/18/09

History

Built in less than four months at the Interstate Fairgrounds, the stadium opened in 1958 and has a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

large for Class A ballpark. The facility was built for Triple-A in the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

, which it hosted for 24 of its first 25 seasons. The parent club in 1958 was the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League West, West division. Established in 1883 i ...

, who had just moved out west from

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

and moved their PCL affiliate, the Los Angeles Angels, north to Spokane. They stayed for fourteen seasons, through 1971, then departed to

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe, New Mexico, Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque, New Mexico, Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Albuquerque metropolitan area, Tiguex , Offi ...

and became the Albuquerque Dukes. After one year in the short-season Northwest League as a Dodger affiliate, the Triple-A PCL returned in 1973, from Portland, as the Texas Rangers' top affiliate. The

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

became the Indians' parent club in 1976, the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion ...

in 1979, and the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

in 1982. The Indians left for

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

after the 1982 season and the NWL returned in 1983 and has remained for over three decades. The natural grass field is aligned southeast (home plate to second base), at an approximate

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

Earlier ballparks

The preceding minor league ballpark in Spokane was Ferris Field, which was about a mile (1½ km) west, on the west side of Playfair Race Course. Named for city attorney George M. Ferris, its original wooden grandstand was built in 1936. Ferris was a former player and manager for the Indians who secured funding from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

to build it. A fire in October 1948 damaged most of the grandstands, and it was rebuilt using concrete and steel in the spring of 1949. Earlier baseball venues in Spokane were Recreation Park (), Natatorium Park (), and the original Twickenham Park. In 1954, four-year-old Memorial Stadium (now

Joe Albi Stadium Joe Albi Stadium is a former outdoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, located in Spokane, Washington. In the northwest part of the city, just east of the Spokane River, it was primarily used for high school football, and as a secon ...

) was considered as a potential minor league baseball venue.

Other uses

For three seasons beginning in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, the

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs () (also known unofficially as the Zags) are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Associatio ...

used the stadium as its home venue while its current venue was being built. Their former ballpark was displaced by the new

McCarthey Athletic Center McCarthey Athletic Center (MAC) is a 6,000-seat indoor arena on the campus of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Opened in November 2004, it is home to the university's Bulldog basketball programs, members of the West Coast Conference (WC ...

. In 2011, the

Spokane Chiefs The Spokane Chiefs are a major junior ice hockey team that plays in the Western Hockey League based out of Spokane, Washington. The team plays its home games at the Spokane Arena. Their uniforms are similar to those of the NHL's Montreal Cana ...

hosted the first outdoor game in

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...

history at Avista Stadium on January 15; the home team routed the Kootenay Ice

Stadium name

Naming rights were purchased in 1998 (and the stadium renamed after the 1999 season) by Avista, the Spokane-based utility founded in 1889 as Washington Water Power Company. The venue's first corporate name was

Seafirst Seafirst Corporation was an American bank holding company based in Seattle, Washington. Its banking subsidiary, Seafirst Bank, was the largest bank in Washington, with 235 branches and 497 ATMs across the state. Formed in 1929 via the merger ...

Stadium, from 1994 through 1999.

References

External links

Spokane Indians: Avisita Stadium HistorySanborn map of Spokane showing Natatorium Park, 1910Sanborn map of Spokane showing Recreation Park, 1910Sanborn map of Spokane showing Fairgrounds, 1950Sanborn map of Spokane showing ballpark adjacent to Fairgrounds, 1950
{{Northwest League ballparks 1958 establishments in Washington (state) Baseball venues in Washington (state) Gonzaga Bulldogs baseball Minor league baseball venues Sports venues completed in 1958 Sports venues in Spokane, Washington Spokane Valley, Washington Northwest League ballparks