Smith-Wills Stadium
The exterior of Smith-Wills Stadium, Aug-1993.
The woods are only broken up by light towers and the scoreboard.
Quick Facts:
- Location: Cool Papa Bell Drive, Jackson, Miss.
- Opened: 1975
- Home team: Jackson Mets (1975-90), Jackson Generals (1991-99), Texas League; Jackson DiamondKats (2000), Senators (2001-05), Texas-Louisiana / Central League
- Capacity: 5,200
 Chronological Tour: Stop 44 |
Rating:
2 baseballs
Texas League baseball arrived at Jackson in 1975, when Smith-Wills Stadium opened to host a New York Mets farm club. The team became an Astros affiliate known as the Generals (for Gen. Andrew Jackson, of course; the city’s named after him as well) in 1991. The club was purchased by a group led by major league strikeout king Nolan Ryan in 1999, and moved to Round Rock, Texas (north of Austin) for 2000. A team in the independent Texas-Louisiana League moved in that summer.
The most notable thing about Smith-Wills Stadium for me was nothing about its architecture, location, or amenities. The night I got to the park in 1993, Cleveland Indians great Bob Feller was making a promotional appearance. I chose to wait to meet Feller, until he appeared at New Jersey’s Skylands Park the next summer.
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Site and images Copyright © 1993 Charles O’Reilly. All rights reserved.
This page updated 11-Feb-2010