Riverside Sports Center

Riverside Sports Center, Aug-1994. Nice field, nice scenery, horrible park for pro ball.

Chronological Tour: Stop 69

• Location: Blaine Street at Rustin Avenue (east of Moreno Valley Freeway, CA 60), Riverside, Calif. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1988 (for pro baseball)
• Closed: 1995 (for pro baseball)
• Home team: Riverside Red Wave (1988-90), Riverside Pilots (1993-95), California League; UC Riverside Highlanders, Big West Conference
• Capacity: 3,500

Rating: 1 baseball

The home of the Riverside Pilots when I visited in 1994 was this nondescript playing field whose primary purpose was to serve the University of California at Riverside, on whose campus it was located.

Hardly anyone went to the games. The facility itself contributed, but a larger factor was that UC-Riverside never allowed the Pilots to sell beer.

Mercifully, the Pilots were history a short time later, their tenure about as long as that of the Seattle Pilots. The club relocated to Lancaster in 1996, the second pro occupant to move after just three seasons. The Riverside Red Wave moved to Adelanto in 1991 and became the High Desert Mavericks.

The field continues to be used by the Highlanders of UC-Riverside.