GILMORE FIELD (1939-1958) ************************* HOME OF THE: HOLLYWOOD STARS, OF THE PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE (PCL) This home-made ball park has been created for use with Diamond Mind Baseball v8. LFL L LFG C RFG R RFL *** *** *** *** *** *** *** DISTANCE: 335 350 385 407 385 350 335 HEIGHT: 12 12 12 12 12 12 12 SURFACE: Natural Grass FOUL TERRITORY: Small Built in 1939, Gilmore Field was named after Earl Gilmore, an oil tycoon who owned the site and whose construction company built the ballpark. Although it was 1939 and many big league parks had yet to install lights for night baseball, Gilmore Field had a state-of-the-art lighting system. Seating capacity was 11,000 - of which 9,500 was grandstand and 1,500 bleachers. The park's dimensions were a symmetrical 335 feet from home plate down both foul lines and 407 feet to dead center. The left-center and right-center power alleys were both 385 feet from home plate to the outfield fences. All respectable distances, so on the surface a park perhaps favoring pitchers. However, the playing field was extraordinarily close to the spectators - only 34 feet from home plate to the backstop as compared with the typical 60 feet in the average major league ballpark. This gave Gilmore an intimate feeling, imparting some substance to the slogan "Friendly Gilmore Field," as it was usually referred to in radio commercials and newspaper advertisements. From first and third base to the nearby grandstand was only 24 feet, close enough for fans to count the beads of perspiration on the infielder's foreheads. The grandstand was close enough to encourage foul pop-ups to drop into the stands and escape fielder's eager gloves, thereby making a hitter's park out of what appeared at first glance to be a pitcher's park. Batter's got second and third chances after what elsewhere would have been foul pop-fly outs. Team owner Bob Cobb sold shares of the club to real Hollywood Stars. Owners such as; Gracie Allen, Gene Autry, George Burns, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, William Frawley, Cecil B. De Mille, William Powell, George Raft, Barbara Stanwyck and Robert Taylor. Numerous movie stars attended games at Gilmore Field on a consistent basis. Perhaps the most popular player to where a Stars uniform, was home run hitting outfielder, Frankie Kelleher. Kelleher never made it to the major leagues, partly because his rights were owned by the Yankees and he couldn't dislodge the likes of DiMaggio, Keller and Henrich. It was shortly after the Brooklyn Dodgers relocated to Los Angeles, that the days of the Hollywood Stars Baseball Club began to draw to an end. September 5th, 1957, saw the last game played at Gilmore Field with the Stars shutting out the visiting San Francisco Seals, 6-0. Gilmore Field was razed in 1958 ************************************** GILMORE FIELD IS FROM THE CREATORS OF: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Baseball's Analytical Search Engine +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/tdmilne Tom Milne - tdmilne@compuserve.com Ron Gudykunst - ronlg@aol.com