Armstrong Field was a baseball park located in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

on the campus of

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = " The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , pr ...

located where

Westcott Field Westcott Field is a stadium in University Park, Texas (an enclave of Dallas) on the campus of Southern Methodist University. The 4,000-seat stadium is home to SMU men's and women's soccer. SMU has some fame in the American soccer community as be ...

now stands. It first hosted SMU football from 1915 through 1925 (

Ownby Stadium Ownby Stadium was a stadium in the University Park suburb of Dallas, Texas. It was the home of the Southern Methodist University Mustang football team. In late 1998, the stadium was demolished to build Gerald J. Ford Stadium at the site. Back ...

opened in 1926). It was the home of the SMU baseball team (1919–1980) for many years though at least the final four seasons were played off campus. The Mustangs,

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference included schools from Oklahoma ...

participants, were a team of futility during their time at Armstrong Field, scarcely in competition to win the conference. Armstrong Field did have the advantage of being located next to an outdoor school

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

. Legend has it that collegians would sit in the two rows at the top of the stands to see the women at the pool instead of watching the ballgame. Some were hit with

foul ball In baseball, a foul ball is a batted ball that: * Settles on foul territory between home and first base or between home and third base, or * Bounces and then goes past first or third base on or over foul territory, or * Has its first bounce occu ...

s due to their concentration on the women at the pool. The pool helped augment attendance by 40%. Armstrong Field was closed after the 1976 season, but before the last game the players stole home plate and concealed it in the storage area of

. The plate was signed by the players and ended up in the SMU sports information division. The final four years (1977–1980) of SMU Mustangs baseball were played at

Reverchon Park Reverchon Park is a public park in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas, Texas. It was named for Julien Reverchon. The park lies along Turtle Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River. Its main entrance is at Maple Avenue and Turtle Creek Boulevar ...

before the baseball program was phased out.

Sources

* "Southwest Conference's Greatest Hits," Neal Farmer, c.1996

References

{{SMU Mustangs football navbox Defunct college baseball venues in the United States Defunct college football venues SMU Mustangs baseball venues SMU Mustangs football venues American football venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Baseball venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex