The future of one of pro baseball’s most historic venues is still up in the air, as the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and the city grapple with the Engel Stadium future.
There really are only four or five pro-baseball venues that rival Engel Stadium, the former home to Minor League Baseball, Negro Leagues baseball and barnstorming MLB teams, on the history front. (Our shortlist: Wrigley Field and Fenway Park in the majors, Rickwood Field across all levels of baseball and Jackie Robinson Ballpark in the minors.) Engel Stadium, built by Joe Engel for his original Chattanooga Lookouts, opened in 1930.
Engel (shown above as 1960’s King of Baseball) was a master promoter, once drawing over 26,000 fans out for a game where he gave away a house to a lucky fan. He also put together the exhibition game with the New York Yankees where a 17-year-old local lass named Jackie Mitchell struck out Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. The ballpark was home to the Lookouts, the Black Lookouts and Choo Choos (minor-league Negro Leagues teams) or barnstorming visitors like Jackie Robinson. As a ninth-grader, Willie Mays was a Choo Choo before joining the Birmingham Barons; Satchel Paige began his career as a Black Lookout; Harmon Killebrew was a Lookout as a Washington Senators farmhand; Ferguson Jenkins played his final year in the minors here before reaching the majors; and Rogers Hornsby ended his playing career as a Lookout. Engel Stadium was also a community gathering spot: the Rev. Billy Graham preached there to a full house.
(Plug time: Joe Engel and Engel Stadium are prominent in our book, Never a Bad Game: Fifty-Plus Years of the Southern League, by the dean of Southern League writers, Mark McCarter. Check out the August Publications website for a description of the book and how to buy it.)
A decade ago the city and local volunteers formed the Engel Stadium Foundation in an attempt to fix up the grand old ballpark a la Rickwood Field and present a variety of events, including some throwback baseball games and a stint serving as a stand-in for Ebbets Field in 42. But that effort never really took off, and of late there’s been a renewed discussion at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga—the ballpark owner—about the Engel Stadium future. Former Engel Foundation chair Janna Jahn lays out the reasons for saving Engel Stadium, arguing it’s in the city’s best interest to save a historic site. Last fall UTC outlined a plan to tear down the grandstand for a medical-research facility and use part of the site for a women’s soccer facility. Having a game plan for the Engel Stadium future in 2026 would be a landmark accomplishment; the Lookouts will be moving to what appears to be a gorgeous new ballpark, and combining that history with the opening of a very modern facility would be noteworthy.
Images courtesy Chattanooga Public Library.
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