The Warren Ballpark, oldest in the country.

This is where the annual Bisbee Blues Festival was held up until two years ago when it moved to Brewery Gulch.
I worked security for a few years, got to see great bands and enjoy free beer.
One year, the ladies pouring beer from the Bud trucks were having a problem keeping up. They asked if me and my friend Jack could help. I poured hundreds of beers, working the tap for hours, and kept a beer going for me the whole time. Then a side trip to the outfield for some herbal refreshment. I got to meet Tab Benoit, a great bluesman, and a friendly guy.

Warren Ballpark

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Warren Ballpark


Location
Bisbee, Arizona

Coordinates
31°24?38?N 109°52?47?W

Construction


Built
1909

Renovated
1930

Construction cost
$3,600 [1]

General contractor
The Warren Company





Deportation of striking miners from Bisbee, Arizona, on July 12, 1917. The miners and others who have been rounded up are assembled at Warren Ballpark and are sitting in the bleachers while armed members of the posse stand in the infield.
Warren Ballpark is a baseball stadium located in Bisbee, Arizona. The ballpark was recently home to the Bisbee-Douglas Copper Kings of the independent Arizona-Mexico League. The Stadium was built in 1909 by the Calumet and Arizona Mining Company (which later merged with Phelps Dodge) as a recreation for the miners and their families, pre-dating the construction of Chicago's Wrigley Field by nearly five years.[2] It is currently the home of Bisbee High School Pumas baseball and football teams.



The ballpark spans approximately forty acres, and is surrounded by an 8-foot (2.4 m) tall wooden security fence. It is divided into two sections: a baseball field on the East side, and a football stadium on the West. The baseball field features a shaded cast-in-place concrete grandstand situated at the Northeast corner. This canopy-covered structure, built in 1909, is still in its original condition, and is listed as a state historic building. Despite ongoing maintenance by the City of Bisbee and the Bisbee Unified School districts, it will most likely need structural renovation at some point in the future. Underneath the grandstand are housed the concrete dugouts, locker rooms, showers and manager's offices. The football field is oriented North to South and consists of a gridiron with modern steel bleachers along both sides of its length. These bleachers have at times in the past been pushed back to expand the baseball outfield.

Warren Ballpark holds a place in American labor history as the location where 1,300 striking, kidnapped miners were held during the Bisbee Deportation in 1917.[3]