Unfair Grounds

Exterior of Tim McCarver Stadium, Aug-1998.

Seating in front of the press box and on the first-base side.

The artificial turf infield and the grass outfield are clearly visible.

Chronological Tour: Stop 146

• Location: Mid-South Fairgrounds, Memphis, Tenn. (map it using Google Maps)
• Opened: 1968 as Blues Stadium
• Additional names: Tim McCarver Stadium (1978)
• Closed: 1999 (for pro baseball)
• Demolished: 2005
• Home team: Memphis Blues, Texas League (1968-73), International League (1974-76); Memphis Chicks, Southern League (1978-97); Memphis Redbirds, Pacific Coast League (1998-99)
• Capacity: 8,800

Rating: 1 baseball

The facility, originally called Blues Stadium but renamed for former major league catcher and later commentator Tim McCarver in 1978, suffered the unfortunate fate (along with Lawrence-Dumont Stadium in Wichita) of an artificial turf infield combined with a grass outfield.

For this reason, as well as its age beginning to show, a new park went up in downtown Memphis (near Beale Street) to replace this one. It opened in 2000.

Site visitor Russ Hancock advised that as of July 2002, McCarver Stadium was still being used for area scholastic and semi-pro baseball. However, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported in January 2004 that “about the only things it has hosted the past two years have been parked cars during the Mid-South Fair”, according to Wayne Boyer of the Memphis Parks Division. Boyer was drawing up a fairgrounds master plan that would include demolition of the ballpark.

In April 2005, site visitor Andrew Edgerley advised that the park was completely gone; however, Michael Mavrogiannis reported at the end of May that while the stadium structure had been demolished, the light towers and scoreboard were still standing. I have no intention of visiting Memphis in the immediate future, but it is clear that the stadium is on the way out.