Arcata Ball Park

Arcata Ball Park is a collegiate baseball venue in the Western United States, located in Arcata, California. Opened in 1941, it is the home of the summer collegiate Humboldt Crabs. Arcata Ball Park is located at the corner of F Street and 9th Street in downtown Arcata, near the Plaza. The ballpark is tightly surrounded by a bus station on the third base side, busy F Street on the first base side, the Arcata Police Station and library behind right field, and Highway 101 just over the left field fence.

Arcata Ball Park
Humboldt Crabs, fan appreciation day, Arcata Ball Park
Location888 F Street
Arcata, California 95521
Coordinates40.868077°N 124.084369°W / 40.868077; -124.084369
OwnerCity of Arcata
Capacity909 (seated), 1,000+ (with standing room only)
Record attendance1,622 (2009)
Field sizeLeft Field: 339 ft (103 m)
Center Field: 410 ft (125 m)
Right-Center: 424 ft (129 m)
Right Field: 340 ft (104 m)
SurfaceNatural grass
Construction
Broke ground1934
Opened1941
Renovated1952, 1970s, 2006, 2018-19
Tenants
Humboldt State Club baseball
Arcata High School baseball
Humboldt Crabs (1945-54, 1965–present)

Humboldt Crabs

The summer collegiate Humboldt Crabs are Arcata Ball Park's primary tenant and have been for over fifty years. The Crabs, who formed in 1945, are the oldest continuously operated summer collegiate baseball team in the country, celebrating their 75th consecutive season in 2019.

The Crabs have won the California National Baseball Congress championship many times, advancing to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kansas, for most of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.

Over 65 former Crabs have gone on to play in the MLB. These include Bruce Bochte, Craig Lefferts, Mike Harkey, Mike Redmond, and Dane Iorg.[1]

Renovations

In 1952 the highway was built in left field. In the 1970s, CalTrans expanded the highway from four lanes to eight lanes, so the city had to put up a taller fence in left field to keep home runs off the highway, as much as possible.[2]

In 2006, after years of playing with a softball field in right field, the park was renovated and the softball infield and backstop were removed.[3]

Between the 2018 and 2019 seasons, the City of Arcata installed new ADA regulation bleaches, able to seat approximately 909 fans, to replace the old bleachers that would sway every time you stood up.[4][5][6] The city is also talking about building a new press box and building NCAA regulations dugouts. The current dugouts are chain-link fence with no roof.[7][8][9]

See also

References
  1. "HUMBOLDT CRABS". california baseball. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  2. Lani Stites, Barbara (January 24, 2019). "The Arcata Freeway: How it Split the Community More Than Just Geographically" (PDF). Barnum History Contest – via Humboldt State Library.
  3. "Arcata Ball Park gets a facelift". Times-Standard. August 11, 2006. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  4. "New $242,000 ADA-Compliant Bleachers Arrive at Arcata Ball Park". Lost Coast Outpost. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  5. "Should We Call it a Crab Pot? | Humboldt Crabs". humboldtcrabs.com. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  6. Arcata, City of (January 24, 2019). "City of Arcata Parks and Recreation Master Plan". City of Arcata – via City of Arcata.
  7. "Crabs, Arcata eye ballpark changes". Times-Standard. July 25, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  8. "Arcata Ballpark Slated for Renovations". June 4, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2019.
  9. "Big improvements planned for Arcata Ball Park". Mad River Union. July 16, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2019.


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