Tinker Field
Home-plate gate at Tinker Field, Aug-2003.
The seating bowl, taken from the first-base line warning track.
The Florida Citrus Bowl football stadium looms in right field.
Quick Facts:
- Location: Florida Citrus Bowl complex, Tampa Avenue at East-West Expressway, Orlando, Fla.
- Opened: 1923
- Home team: Orlando Bulldogs (1923-24), Colts (1926-27), Gulls (1937), Senators (1938-53), CBs (1954-55), Seratomas (1956), Flyers (1957-58), Dodgers (1959-61), Twins (1962-72), Florida State League; Orlando Twins (1973-89), SunRays (1990-92), Cubs (1993-96), Rays (1997-99), Southern League; spring training, Cincinnati Reds (1923-30), Brooklyn Dodgers (1934-35), Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins (1936-42, 1946-90)
- Capacity: 5,104
Tinker Field had a successful 77-year run in central Florida. Its minor league teams played in three incarnations of the Florida State League, and then, as Orlando grew as a market, its team moved up as well. The Twins moved their team into the Double-A Southern League in 1973, and Tinker Field remained a stop on the circuit until 1999.
For the 2000 season, the newer facilities at Disney’s Wide World of Sports enticed the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to move their Orlando Rays down to Walt Disney World. However, attendance there suffered because Orlando residents didn’t want to drive 20 miles down a freeway in rush-hour traffic to cheer on their ball club. The team is moving to Montgomery, Ala., for 2004.
The still-serviceable Tinker Field stands in the shadow of the Florida Citrus Bowl, the home of the University of Central Florida football team as well as the bowl game that bears the name of the stadium.
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This page updated 22-Apr-2004