Site of Phillips Field/Majors Stadium
Greenville, Hunt County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1929, Eula Lasater Phillips donated $3,500 to the Greenville Athletic Council to build an athletic field at this site in memory of her late husband, Frank Phillips. The first athletic event in Phillips Field was a football game between the Greenville High School Lions and the Leopards of Dallas Oak Cliff on Oct. 4, 1929. In 1930, the land transferred to the city, with management by the school district. Here, celebrated Coach Henry Frnka led the school football team to an undefeated season and the state championship in 1933. In 1946, the field was realigned to become the home of a minor league baseball team, the Majors, named for Truett Majors, the first Greenville resident killed in World War II. More than 160,000 people attended Majors games in 1946, and Greenville fielded a number of competitive teams in the late 1940s. In 1947, the football stands were razed and replaced with a baseball stadium. On April 10, 1949, the Majors hosted an exhibition game against the New York Yankees, defeating them 4-3. Among those who participated for the Yankees that day were Casey Stengel, manager, and Joe DiMaggio in center field. Another baseball great who played here was Monty Stratton, a Greenville native, who pitched a game for the Majors in 1950. Attendance at Majors games declined by 1950, and the team folded before the following season. Reorganized minor league teams, also named the Majors, played here in 1953 and 1957. Youth and amateur leagues used the field until the property sold in 1964 and the stadium was demolished. Today, the stadium's arched entryway, built by the Works Progress Administration in 1940, serves as a reminder of the countless athletes and fans who gathered here in the spirit of competition. (2003)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Opened in 1929 with a gift from Eula Lasater Phillips in memory of her husband, this field hosted Greenville's football triumphs—including a 1933 state championship—before being remade for baseball. Rechristened for Truett Majors, the first local man killed in World War II, the minor-league Majors drew huge crowds and once beat a barnstorming New York Yankees team fielding Casey Stengel and Joe DiMaggio. Hometown pitcher Monty Stratton also took the mound here before the stadium's demolition in the 1960s.
Why it matters
Its lone surviving WPA-built arch recalls how small-town ballparks knit communities together and how even they carried the memory of a nation's wartime sacrifice.
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Related people
- · Eula Lasater Phillips
- · Truett Majors
- · Joe DiMaggio
- · Casey Stengel
- · Monty Stratton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Greenville's post office dates to 1847, when mail was reputedly dropped at a saloon, but it moved into this Neo-classic building only in 1910, later enlarged in 1930. Its most famous moment came on June 20, 1942, when a young Hunt County man named Audie Murphy joined the Army here on his 18th birthday. Murphy went on to become the most decorated American soldier of World War II, and the city acquired the building in 1973 to preserve it.
Majors Army Airfield
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What began in 1941 as a federally aided civilian airport for Greenville quickly grew, with Congressman Sam Rayburn's help, into a $5 million Army Air Forces training base. Named for Lt. Truett Majors, the first Hunt County pilot killed in World War II, the field opened fully in January 1943 and trained cadets in BT-13s and P-47s. Alongside American airmen, it trained Women's Army Corps members and Royal Air Force and Mexican Air Force pilots before deactivating in July 1945.
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