John "Sonny" Allen Field is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

venue in

Morehead, Kentucky Morehead is a list of Kentucky cities, home rule-class city located along U.S. Route 60 in Kentucky, US 60 (the historic Midland Trail) and Interstate 64 in Kentucky, Interstate 64 in Rowan County, Kentucky, Rowan County, Kentucky, in the United ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is home to the

Morehead State Eagles baseball The Morehead State Eagles baseball team is a varsity intercollegiate athletic team of Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, United States. The team is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, which is part of the National Collegiate Athl ...

team of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I Ohio Valley Conference. It is named for former Morehead State baseball coach John "Sonny" Allen. Opened in 1973, the venue has a capacity of 1,200 spectators.

Naming

The venue is named for John "Sonny" Allen, who coached the Morehead State baseball program in 1954–1959, 1966, and 1969–1975, a total of 14 seasons. Allen's career record was 226–137, and the program won conference championships in 1956, 1969, and 1973 under him. Allen also played basketball and served as the university's assistant athletic director.

Features

Allen Field has an irregular layout, with the

right field A right fielder, abbreviated RF, is the outfielder in baseball or softball who plays defense in right field. Right field is the area of the outfield to the right of a person standing at home plate and facing towards the pitcher's mound. In the ...

fence standing far closer to home plate than does the left field fence. As a result, the right field fence has been built much taller than the left field fence in an attempt to balance the irregular dimensions. The field lies next to

Jayne Stadium Jayne Stadium is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose stadium in Morehead, Kentucky, United States. It opened in 1964 and is home to the Morehead State University Eagles football team. Surrounding Jacobs Field, the stadium hosts press and VIP facilities, ...

, the university's football venue.

Renovations

In 1998, stadium lighting was installed, thanks to a donation from baseball alumnus

Willie Blair William Allen Blair (born December 18, 1965) is an American former right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball and current pitching coach for the West Michigan Whitecaps. Playing career Blair played baseball for Morehead State University bef ...

, who pitched in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

. In 2004, the seating areas,

locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...

s, and coaches' offices were improved. In 2005, the playing surface was renovated.

References

{{Kentucky NCAA Division I college baseball venue navbox College baseball venues in the United States Baseball venues in Kentucky Morehead State Eagles baseball Buildings and structures in Rowan County, Kentucky 1973 establishments in Kentucky Sports venues completed in 1973

Naming

Features

Renovations

See also

References