Saratoga Associates has been honored to team with Delaware Engineering on designing architectural and site improvements to the world famous Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY, the fabled birthplace of baseball.
Set behind the facades of historic downtown Cooperstown, Doubleday Field represents one of America’s oldest and most iconic sporting venues. This land has been used for baseball since 1920, on what was Elihu Phinney’s farm. A wooden grandstand was built in 1924, later replaced by a steel and concrete grandstand built in 1939 by the Works Project Administration. When National League Baseball President John Tener came to Cooperstown in 1916, he visited the Phinney lot, a plot of ground once believed to have been used by Abner Doubleday and other Cooperstown schoolboys to play the first game of baseball in 1839, and suggested that the cow pasture be turned into a memorial to Doubleday. Given its historical significance, it was critical for the design to be respectful of the original grandstand and maintain historic elements, while enhancing the visitor experience through new access.
From the new gateway arch to the relocation of famed sculptor Victor Salvatore’s “Sandlot Kid” to the front of the stadium, we are well on our way toward completion of site improvements. The construction of new seating along the third base line will be an addition that everyone will be able to enjoy. Doubleday Field is not just an homage to the origins of our beloved game. It represents all of us who have ever picked up a glove or watched from the stands. It’s a symbol that we are all players, no matter our stature or status.
At Saratoga Associates, we believe in activating spaces, invigorating communities, and protecting generational landmarks. We believe that Doubleday Field is not just a recreational resource, but that it is a place for communal oneness, a place of pride. Over the years, our firm’s guiding principles – creating compelling destinations, enriching communities and safeguarding special places – have steered our work with many communities and their development of historic parks across the state.
We would like to thank Cooperstown for continuing this legacy and reminding us that America’s pastime is our pastime. May we get out and play soon, and we look forward to celebrating 100 years in September.
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