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[[Image:BabeRuthLegionField.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Babe Ruth at Legion Field]]
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{{Infobox Building|image=LegionField.jpg|caption=Legion Field circa 1940s|name=Legion Field|location= Gregory & G Streets|architect=|client=|engineer=|owner=|construction_start_date=|completion_date=[[1911]]|renovations=|date_demolished=|cost=|structural_system=|style=|size=|mapcode=}}'''Legion Field''' , also known as '''Maxent Park''' and '''American Legion Park''', was a Pensacola ballpark fronting on [[Gregory Street|Gregory]] and [[H G Street]]s featuring a single-decked, wooden grandstand. Its home team was the [[Pensacola Fliers]]. ==Construction==The park was constructed by the Pensacola Baseball Association, organized by [[C. F. Schad]], [[John G. Oliver]], and [[Edward W. Peake]]. Upon its opening in 1911, the ''Pensacola Journal'' wrote that there "is no baseball plant south of the [[Wikipedia:Ohio River|Ohio River]] that surpasses Pensacola's new park in its perfection of appointments for the comfort and convenience of patrons of the national game."<ref name="New Modern">[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32170725/maxentlegion_park/ "Pensacola's Modern New Baseball Park"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. June 16, 1911. p. 7. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref> The distance from home plate to the left field fences was 290 feet, while the distance to the right field fence was 284 feet. The outfield was sodded with Bermuda grass, and at the time the park opened, the grandstand had a capacity of 1,000 people. The park was a segregated facility, with the grandstand reserved for whites, and blacks relegated to bleachers along the left field fence.<ref name="New Modern" /> The first game at the park, then unnamed, was played on [[June 16]], [[1911]], between a Pensacola team and a team from the U.S. Navy's battleship ''[[Wikipedia:Greek battleship Lemnos|USS Idaho]]''.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32170635/opening_game_maxentlegion_park/ "Idaho Defeats Pensacola 4 to 1 in the Opening Game"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. June 17, 1911. p. 7. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref> Park management announced on September 6, 1911 that the park had been named the Maxent Baseball and Amusement Park.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/clip/32170644/maxent_park_named/ "Peres Coming Here to Play; Park is Named"]. ''The Pensacola Journal''. September 7, 1911. p. 7. Retrieved June 1, 2019 – via [[Wikipedia:Newspapers.com|Newspapers.com]]</ref> On March 16, 1927, the Pensacola City Commission adopted an ordinance changing the name of the park from Maxent Park to American Legion Park, "as a testimonial to the grateful appreciation of the people of Pensacola of the unselfish and patriotic services of the [[Wikipedia:American Legion|American Legion]] to the community, state, and nation."
On [[March 31]]. [[1929]],{{date uncertain}} the [[Wikipedia:New York Yankees|New York Yankees]] — including star players [[Wikipedia:Babe Ruth|Babe Ruth]] and [[Wikipedia:Lou Gehrig|Lou Gehrig]] — played the Fliers as part of a spring training tour of the South. More than 3,000 fans turned out for the game, which the Yankees won 12-2.
==Other images==
<gallery>
Image:BabeRuthLegionField.jpg|Babe Ruth at Legion Field
</gallery>
==References==
{{refbegin}}*Deborah J. Dunlap & Tracey L. Martin. ''Remember When... (Volume One): A Pictorial Journey into Pensacola's Past''. Bayshore Publishing Group, 2002.{{refendreflist}}
{{hist-stub}}
[[Category:Recreation complexes]]
