Bill Meyer Stadium

Bill Meyer Stadium was a baseball field located in Knoxville, Tennessee. Originally known as Knoxville Municipal Stadium when it opened in 1953, it was later renamed after Billy Meyer (1892–1957), a Knoxville native who was a catcher and manager in Major League Baseball and a longtime minor league skipper.

For other people named Bill Meyer, see Bill Meyer (disambiguation).
Bill Meyer Stadium
Former namesKnoxville Municipal Stadium
LocationKnoxville, Tennessee
Coordinates35.980446°N 83.913837°W / 35.980446; -83.913837
Capacity6,400
Construction
Opened1953
Closed1999
Demolished2003
Tenants
Knoxville Smokies (SAL/SL) (1957–1967, 1972–1999)

Baseball usage

It was used by minor league baseball teams, most recently the Knoxville Smokies, an AA Minor League Baseball team. It had a capacity of 6,400 people. The stadium was closed in 1999 after the team moved to a new stadium near Sevierville.[1] The stands were demolished, and bleachers with capacity for about 100 people were installed. The stadium is now called Neal Ridley/Todd Helton Field and is used as a venue for amateur baseball games.[2]

Football usage

In the early part of the 1970s, Bill Meyer Stadium was converted into a Pop Warner recreational football league facility. The 100 yard field was striped from the third base side of the diamond, extending out to the right field warning track area. A great majority of the football plays were snapped from the dirt area of the infield. It became the home field for the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) midget (11- to 12-year-old) football team which held daily practices throughout the fall in the dirt parking area outside the stadium.

References
  1. "10 years at Smokies Park". Minor League Baseball. February 18, 2010. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  2. Gates, Nick (January 29, 2008). "Stadium was full of memories for Helton". Knoxville News Sentinel. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved February 9, 2013.

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