Ballpark

 

Minot Municipal Ballpark

The Minot Municipal Ballpark was built in 1935 - 1937 under the Federal Emergency Relief Administration program.  Ira Rush of Minot was the Architect. Beginning in 1947 the Minot Park Board began upgrading the Municipal Ballpark by raising money to install a roof on the grandstand as shown above. Dr. V. A. Corbett, president of the board, also campaigned for field lights and advertising billboards. The twenty billboards were to block the “free” view of people that watched the games from their automobiles from high ground beyond the outfield fence. The first lighted night game under ten 80 foot tall light towers was played May 5, 1949 between the Minot Rox and Minot Oscars. Plumbing was also added for the locker rooms and after the 1949 season, Darius Ritchey, superintendent of Minot parks oversaw addition of 150 cubic yards of black soil and 50,000 square feet of sod. The sod was taken from Lincoln Park in northwest Minot.  Home plate was relocated further out from the grandstand so that it was viewable from the broadcast booth on the roof. This shortened the leftfield fence from 348 to 333 feet.

Ballpark autos

Head Groundskeepers

 

Over the past 55+ years there have been only three head groundskeepers for Municipal  Ballpark/Corbett Field: Art Emanual, Eli Anderson and currently Mike Littler. Mike has been the Head Groundskeeper since the early 1960's. The facility is maintained by the Minot Park District and these days, the field  is in excellent condition.