RIVERFRONT STADIUM

Waterloo, Iowa

Here's another old wooden throwback, a great old minor league ballpark that was state-of-the-art when it first opened its gates. Although the city of Waterloo has hosted pro baseball since the late 1800's, Riverfront Stadium is a post-WWII ballpark. It was home to minor league baseball serving the White Sox, Red Sox, Royals, Indians and Padres organizations through most of its lifetime:

Waterloo White Hawks, Class B Three-I League, 1946-56

Waterloo Hawks, Class D Midwest League, 1958-62

Waterloo Hawks, Class A Midwest League, 1963-71

Waterloo Royals, Class A Midwest League, 1972-76

Waterloo Indians, Class A Midwest League, 1977-88

Waterloo Diamonds, Class A Midwest League, 1989-93

In the 1960's when the Boston Red Sox had the farm club, the right field fence was actually a 30-foot high green-painted corrugated aluminum barrier, a "Green Monster", which protected the dead in the cemetery beyond from being disturbed by home run balls landing amongst the tombstones. For many years until the early 1980's, instead of a gravel warning track, the outfield had a sharp incline which outfielders had to run up which told them they were close to the fence.

Since 1995 Riverfront Stadium has been the summertime home to the Waterloo Bucks of the collegiate Northwoods League with some measure of success. The stadium is also put to very good use in the spring as the home of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers baseball team. At the time I visted Riverfront Stadium with a camera, the team was on the road and the ballpark was secured from me despite my best breaking-and-entering efforts. This ballpark will remind you of Danville Stadium.

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As unpretentious as they come

A nifty party deck down the first base line

The train runs behind left field