Offermann Stadium, the former home of the Buffalo Bisons (Class AAA; International League), was honored Saturday when local residents put up a commemorative plaque marking the ballpark site.
Built at a time when Buffalo wasn’t too far from being a major-league city, Offermann Stadium was a classic old ballpark, an intimate place serving as a hub for International League ball. It was an era where the Northeast was prosperous, and it showed in great classic ballparks in cities like Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester and Toronto.
“Offermann Stadium was an inspiration in a lot of ways for the building of then-Pilot Field,” Bisons General Manager Mike Buczkowski said in remarks to the fans. “Everything Offermann Stadium represented — a baseball-only stadium, close to the action, beautiful setting — is what we tried in a lot of ways to replicate when our ballpark was built. Not only that, but what we really tried to replicate and still do and have as our mission is to try and do what the Offermann family did for so many years for Buffalo baseball.”
The plaque was initiated by John Boutet, site exhibit director of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. A school now sits on the ballpark site.
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