Bosse Field improvements are set for the 2020 season, as needed repairs to the home of the Evansville Otters (independent; Frontier League) are in place.
A historic ballpark that originally opened in 1915, Bosse Field has been identified as needing repairs in several areas, ranging from its out-of-date electrical system and a leaking roof, to broken seats and a barely functional scoreboard. Steps have been taken in recent years to help facilitate those improvements, including Indiana General Assembly approval of a tax levy to preserve historic buildings in Vanderburgh County expected to raise about $300,000 annually, with between $4 million and $6 million expected to be spent on Bosse Field improvements. Our Jesse Goldberg-Strassler has a complete history of the historic facility here.
We don’t know when the renovations will be unveiled with the 2020 Frontier League season on hold, but when baseball returns, Bosse Field will be ready. From 14news.com:
“A window unit had a tendency to freeze up whenever it got real hot,” said Otters’ Vice President of Sales Joel Padfield. “It took 15 minutes to turn the old lights on because there were six switches, and you had to wait three minutes between each switch, and if you didn’t do that, it would surge and knock electricity out to the whole stadium.”
Aging air conditioners, an outdated electrical grid and a leaky roof were just some of the problems the stadium faced, but now, that’s all being addressed.
“They rebuilt the backstop, right here all the brick, they did that along the first baseline too, replaced a retaining wall too,” Padfield said. “The new big video board. All new electrical throughout the whole stadium. We have LED lights in every socket, so those don’t take a while to turn on. The new lights will have the ability to flash during home runs, getting a new roof to keep all the fans dry.”
Prior to the arrival of the Otters in 1995, Bosse Field had hosted numerous teams, including the Evansville Triplets (Class AAA; American Association) from 1970-1984. It also has the distinction of having been used in the production of the film A League of Their Own.
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