Bowman Field
Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Built 1926. Long noted as Pennsylvania's oldest operating minor league baseball park and the nation's second oldest. The first professional game here was played April 27, 1926, between the Williamsport Grays and the Negro league Harrisburg Giants. Over the years this park became home to successive Williamsport teams and hosted many major league teams for exhibition games. Originally Memorial Field; renamed 1929 for J. Walton Bowman.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
When Bowman Field opened in 1926 as Memorial Field, minor league baseball was a fixture of nearly every American town, and Williamsport's new park quickly earned its place in the game's lore. Its very first professional contest pitted the Williamsport Grays against the Harrisburg Giants of the Negro leagues — a reminder that Black professional baseball drew crowds and talent in an era of segregation. Renamed in 1929 for J. Walton Bowman, the ballpark went on to host home teams and major league exhibition clubs for generations.
Why it matters
As one of the nation's oldest surviving ballparks, Bowman Field is a living link to the golden age of minor league baseball and to the parallel world of Negro league play that thrived beside it.
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Related people
- · J. Walton Bowman
Related events
- · 1926 opening game between the Williamsport Grays and Harrisburg Giants
Themes & tags
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