Holleman Field

2300 Avenue M Map | News | ID#: Timeline 1948 Constructed Spring 1949 First home game 1983 Renamed for Holleman May 21, 2005 Last home game Namesake DeWitte Holleman Architect Unknown Contractor(s) Unknown A 1948 photograph from the Houstonian showing the installation of the culvert. An aerial view (c. early 1970s) of the Josey School buildings (upper right) and the baseball field. A 2007 view of the field and the plaque honoring Holleman. A close-up photograph of the dedication plaque, installed after Holleman's death. The silent scoreboard in left field. A view of the field from beyond right field. Beyond right field is Pineview Park and Robinson Creek, running northward from the old softball field and Horticulture Center. One wonders how closely this resembled the baseball field prior to Operation Fill-Up? Sources Operation "Fill-Up" Underway (Houstonian; Apr. 14, 1948) Ball Park Near Completion (Houstonian; Jun. 18, 1948) Bearkat News (Alumni Assoc. Jul. 1983)

Holleman Field is located southwest of main campus at the intersection of Avenue M and Josey Street. It served as the home ballpark for the SHSU men's baseball team from 1948 to 2005. Structures associated with the ballpark include:

• Dressing Room
• Home Dugout
• Practice Facility
• Pressbox/Concession
• Storage
• Visitor's Dugout

The university's earliest athletic fields for football and baseball were located on the eastern edge of Pritchett Field, area now used as part of the Sam Houston Museum grounds.

This field was constructed by students of the nearby Josey Vocational School's dirt moving class on land that was a drainage ditch. The Houstonian identifies the project to fill the ditch and "conserve space and put wasteland to a good use" as Operation Fill-Up [1]. A creek adajcent to the Josey school that ran diagonally across the field was re-routed and enclosed in an underground culvert 620 feet long and 4 feet in diameter. 16 students in the class were invovled in the project that the Houstonian says should be completed in time for the 1949 season. While this article notes "the field will be lighted for night games," [2] this apparently did not occur.

After "the baseball program was revived in 1949 after a 20-year absence" the field "was caled in 1951 one of the finest baseball facilities in the state." [3]

While exact scores are unavailable, the Bearkats won 15 of their 20 games for the 1949 season under Coach Hayden Malone.

Bearkat Field was renamed in honor of Holleman in 1983.

The SHSU Athletics website noted the ball park sat anywhere from 650 (1999) to 700 (2002) to 1,200 occupants. Dimensions of the grass playing field are:

• Left field: 300 feet.
• Center field: 410 feet.
• Right field: 340 feet.

The final home game for the Bearkats was game 3 of a three-game series against Nicholls State in May 2005; the Bearkats won 6-3, sweeping the series 3-0. The following spring the team began play in the Bearkat Baseball Complex, located in the athletics complex east of main campus.

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