Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park is a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

located in

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Constructed in 1934, and rebuilt in 2008, the ballpark hosted

minor league Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nort ...

teams A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interd ...

that were affiliated with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. Since , the team ...

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

, and the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

. Today, there are over 400 games played at the park. High School teams such as

Karns City High School Karns City Area Junior/Senior High School is located in Karns City, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Karns City Area School District. The school serves students residing in the Butler County, Clarion County, and Armstrong counties. The bo ...

Knoch High School Knoch High School is part of the Knoch School District, which is located in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. It was named after Eva Knoch, who donated the land on which this school was built. The school mascot is a knight; students are referred to as t ...

Moniteau High School West Sunbury is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 192 at the 2010 census. Geography West Sunbury is located in north-central Butler County at (41.006153, −79.896107). Pennsylvania Routes 138 and 308 ...

North Catholic High School North Catholic High School is a private Catholic Church, Catholic high school located in Cranberry Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania. The school's mascot is the Troy, Trojan, and its colors are scarlet and gold. History North Catholic High S ...

as well as Butler High School utilize the ballpark during their school seasons. Local colleges and universities also use Pullman Park for some of their home games. Some of these schools include

Clarion University Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion (PennWest Clarion, formerly Clarion University of Pennsylvania) is a campus of Pennsylvania Western University in Clarion, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was founded in 1867 and offers asso ...

, and

Penn State Greater Allegheny Penn State Greater Allegheny (PSUGA) is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University that sits on the border of McKeesport and White Oak in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U. ...

. Tournaments have also been hosted by

Atlantic Coast Baseball The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and West Penn Elite. The stadium's official home team tenant was the

Butler BlueSox The Butler BlueSox were a collegiate summer baseball team based in Butler, Pennsylvania, in the United States. They were members of the Tri-State Collegiate League and formerly a member of the East Division of the summer collegiate Prospect League ...

of the

Tri-State Collegiate League Tri-state may refer to: *Tri-State Airport, a public airport located in West Virginia, United States *Tri-state area, an area where three states of the U.S. meet at one point or share a metropolitan area *Tri-State (basketball), the 3-on-3 basketba ...

, before relocating prior to the 2025 season.

History

1934–2004

Pullman Park opened for the 1934 season. It hosted minor league baseball from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Notable players such as

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig ( ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941), also known as Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig, was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was ...

Joe Dimaggio Joseph Paul DiMaggio (; born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio, ; November 25, 1914 – March 8, 1999), nicknamed "Joltin' Joe", "the Yankee Clipper" and "Joe D.", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played his entire 13-year career ...

, and

Whitey Ford Edward Charles "Whitey" Ford (October 21, 1928 – October 8, 2020), nicknamed "the Chairman of the Board", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played his entire 16-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. ...

played at the stadium while the Yankees farm team (

Butler Yankees A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some al ...

) was in Butler.

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe", is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seaso ...

Terry Hanratty Terrence Hugh Hanratty (born January 19, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Iri ...

, and

Rich Saul Richard Robert Saul (February 5, 1948 – April 15, 2012) was an American professional American football, football Center (gridiron football), center and long snapper who played from 1970 through 1981 for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Fo ...

also played at Pullman during their high school years. The ballpark itself was named after the Pullman-Standard Company's railroad car manufacturing facility which sat adjacent to the ballpark from 1902-2005.

2005–2008 Renovation

The ballpark closed after the 2004 baseball season, and sat vacant for two years while necessary funds were raised to rebuild it. Construction began in the fall of 2007, and work was completed in June 2008.

The New Pullman Park

On July 2, 2008, Pullman Park hosted a

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

match, televised on

ESPN2 ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%). ESPN2 was initially ...

. Butler native,

Brian Minto Brian Matthew Minto (born January 27, 1975) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2016. He challenged once for the WBO cruiserweight title in 2010. Professional career Minto turned pro in 2002 and won his first 18 ...

knocked out John Poore 2:23 in the first round of the main fight. The match was the first major event to be hosted at the ballpark after the restoration and the first nationally televised event in Butler. The following summer saw Pullman Park get its first major full-time baseball tenant in almost 60 years, the

Prospect League The Prospect League is a collegiate summer baseball league comprising teams of college players from North America and beyond. All players in the league must have NCAA eligibility remaining in order to participate. So as to maintain their colleg ...

. The BlueSox went 28(W)-26(L) during their inaugural season at the ballpark. To date, the BlueSox have played eight full seasons at the stadium. Pullman hosted the

USCAA The United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) is a national organization for the intercollegiate athletic programs of 72 mostly small colleges, including community/junior colleges, across the United States. The USCAA holds 15 national ...

's Small College World Series on May 6–9, 2013, and the Prospect League All-Star Game on July 17, 2013.

Naming Rights

In 2014, it was decided to help off set costs, stadium naming rights would be sold. In January 2014 the naming rights of Historic Pullman Park were sold to Kelly Automotive,
''

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review The ''Pittsburgh Tribune-Review'', also known as "the Trib", is the second-largest daily newspaper serving the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area of Western Pennsylvania. It transitioned to an all-digital format on December 1, 2016, but rema ...

'', 2013-12-21. Accessed 2014-01-14. a local car dealership owned by U.S. Rep Mike Kellybr>
Kelly Automotive Park was the first naming rights to be sold for a 5 year contract. In January 2019, new naming rights were obtained by a local businessman Shaun Krill of

Krill Recycling Krill ''(Euphausiids)'' (: krill) are small and exclusively marine crustaceans of the order Euphausiacea, found in all of the world's oceans. The name "krill" comes from the Norwegian word ', meaning "small fry of fish", which is also often a ...

, naming the park Michelle Krill Field at Historic Pullman Park. Shaun named the field after his late wife, Michelle Krill.

References

*''An Historical Gazetteer of Butler County, Pennsylvania'', Mechling Bookbindery., 2006, .

Notes

External links

Official WebsiteHistorical Pullman Park History
*
Butler BlueSox
{{coord, 40.859598, -79.905967, display=t, type:landmark Baseball venues in Pennsylvania Sports venues in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Butler County, Pennsylvania Butler, Pennsylvania Sports venues completed in 1934 1934 establishments in Pennsylvania