SIMMONS FIELD

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Kenosha is located just inside Wisconsin on the Lake Michigan shore between Milwaukee and Chicago. Kenosha's first experience with professional baseball came in 1943 when the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League was formed. The Kenosha Comets was one of the four charter franchises along with the Rockford Peaches, Racine Belles and South Bend Blue Sox. The Comets played at Simmons Field through the 1951 season, and today the ballpark remains quite intact in its original configuration. A rectangular grandstand is situated behind home plate with genuine box seats in front and grandstand seating behind. A set of metal bleachers is placed down each baseline.

Simmons Field finally saw pro ball once more when the Minnesota Twins moved its Class A Midwest League team from rural Wisconsin Rapids in the central part of the state in 1984. The Kenosha Twins played at Simmons Field through the 1992 season when the team was moved to a bigger and more modern facility in Fort Wayne, IN. The Kenosha Kroakers of the prestigious Northwoods League, a summer collegiate league, played at Simmons Field for a few seasons after that. Wood-bat baseball is still played at this ballpark, in fact the place was being readied for a game at the time I came back with a camera to take these pictures in 2002. The Dubois County Dragons of the Frontier League relocated to become the Kenosha Mammoths and is calling Simmons Field home for the 2003 season (I returned to attend a game with my camera).

Train tracks run immediately beyond the right field fence to give this venue a true minor league feel. Other than several fan-friendly improvements, about the only change that's been made to this ballpark is that the dugouts were replaced with fenced benches due to drainage problems with rainwater; since the ballpark was no longer used by pro ballplayers, benches were deemed adequate and cost-effective replacements. New dugouts may ultimately be built with the return of pro baseball but for the time being, tarp has been attached to the chain-link fence around the players benches with plywood attached to the top; while this has provided makeshift dugouts, they're totally above ground and accordingly cause obstructed views from the best seats on the first and third base sides.

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Original main grandstand with two rows
of real old-time box seats in front

A prominent bronze plaque memorializes the home of the
Kenosha Comets of the AAGPBL

A 2003 Kenosha Mammoths game