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33-1003: Next to Hillcrest Park is the site containing Nat Bailey Stadium , home of the Vancouver Canadians baseball team; the Millennium Sports Centre , home to both the Phoenix Gymnastics Club and the Pacific Indoor Bowls Club; and the Vancouver Racquets Club. The little league Little Mountain Baseball has its ballpark and clubhouse in Hillcrest Park. They also use ballparks at Riley Park for the younger age groups. In addition, there are two larger diamonds used by Vancouver Community Baseball. During

66-490: A 2-0 shutout for the Rainiers over the rival Portland Mavericks. Though Sick's Stadium was primarily a baseball venue, it also occasionally held other events, including rock concerts — most famously, an Elvis Presley concert on September 1, 1957 (one of the first concerts to be held at a major outdoor stadium), which was attended by a young Jimi Hendrix . The Sunday night concert followed an afternoon ball game during

99-690: A converted football stadium at the current location of Seattle Center 's Memorial Stadium . Sick's Stadium first opened on June 15, 1938, as the home field of the Seattle Rainiers (formerly the Seattle Indians) of the Pacific Coast League (PCL). It was named after Emil Sick , owner of the team and of the Rainier Brewing Company . The stadium was constructed five years after a previous ballpark at

132-530: A domed stadium could be completed. It soon became obvious why Daley (who bought a stake in the Pilots) and Finley were wary about Sick's. It was understood that the American League wanted Sick's Stadium expanded to at least 30,000 seats by Opening Day 1969, but the league did not formally specify that figure in the franchise agreement. Eventually, the city agreed to spend at least $ 1.175 million to expand

165-413: A new Seattle Rainiers team, in the short-season Class A Northwest League , played at Sicks' to sparse audiences. The major leagues returned in 1977 with the expansion Seattle Mariners at the new Kingdome (originally approved by area voters as a condition of getting the Pilots). The Washington Huskies baseball team used the venue during the 1973 season while their on-campus venue, Graves Field ,

198-593: Is 6,500 and as of 2019 they led the short-season A clubs in attendance and outdrew Vancouver's AAA team. Their major league affiliation remains with the Blue Jays. The Canadians ownership signed a long term lease at Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium in February 2007. They have significantly improved and modernized the stadium while also restoring parts of the park to their original 1951 condition. In April 2023, team officials announced that Rogers had acquired

231-568: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about a Winter Olympics venue is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nat Bailey Stadium Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium , also known as The Nat , is a baseball stadium in western Canada , located in Vancouver , British Columbia . It is home to the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League High-A . The stadium

264-716: Is located in Hillcrest Park immediately north-east of Queen Elizabeth Park in the Riley Park neighbourhood of Vancouver. It replaced Athletic Park , which had opened in 1913. Originally built in 1951 as Capilano Stadium , it was renamed Nat Bailey Stadium in 1978 for Vancouver restaurateur (and founder of the White Spot restaurant chain) Nat Bailey after his death to honour his tireless effort to promote baseball in Vancouver. On June 16, 2010, Scotiabank and

297-430: Is named for Bud Kerr, the team's official historian until his death in 2009, and celebrates the players who have spent some of their careers there including: Rich Harden , Sammy Sosa , and Tim Raines , who helped open the museum. The stadium was used as the home of the fictional Santa Barbara Seabirds Class A Minor League Baseball team in the " Dead Man's Curveball " episode of the television series Psych . It

330-686: The 1970 season and became the Milwaukee Brewers (Milwaukee had lost the Braves to Atlanta after the 1965 season ). After two years without pro baseball, Seattle fielded a second Rainiers team that played in the Class A Northwest League between 1972 and 1976 before giving way to the major league Mariners at the Kingdome. The last professional baseball game at Sicks' Stadium was played September 1, 1976, when local product George Meyring pitched

363-533: The Kansas City Athletics to Seattle in 1967, but when he came to scout out Sick's Stadium, he quipped that it was a "pigsty" and refused to consider playing there even on a temporary basis. When the American League finally granted the franchise in October 1967, it explicitly stated that Sick's Stadium was not suitable as a major league facility, and was only to be used on a temporary basis until

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396-641: The Vancouver Canadians , owned by Harry Ornest . He purchased most of the primary assets of Sick's Stadium in Seattle and shipped them north for use at Nat Bailey. The Canadians stayed in Vancouver through the 1999 season, then relocated south to Sacramento, California . The following season, a second incarnation of the Canadians began playing in the short-season Class A Northwest League and now play in Class High-A . The stadium's seating capacity

429-498: The Labor Day weekend. Hendrix himself later performed at the stadium in the rain on July 26, 1970, as did Janis Joplin , just months before their respective deaths. In boxing, Floyd Patterson knocked out Olympic gold medalist Pete Rademacher in six rounds on August 22, 1957. Future heavyweight champion Sonny Liston defeated Portland's Eddie Machen in a 12-round decision at Sick's on September 7, 1960. From 1972 to 1976,

462-628: The Millennium Sports Centre. The new facility houses a new community centre, library, ice rink, curling arena, and the Percy Norman Aquatic Centre. Construction of the arena started in March 2007 and was mostly completed by February 2009. The aquatics portion of the building was completed in spring of 2009, and the final renovations to finish the community centre occurred after the 2010 Winter Games. The project

495-605: The Pilots' defense, they were originally set to begin play in 1971, but the date was moved up two years when Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri demanded that the Pilots' expansion brethren, the Kansas City Royals , start play in 1969 . Professional baseball had been played in Kansas City in one form or another from 1883 until the A's left for Oakland after the 1967 season , and Symington would not accept

528-837: The Vancouver Canadians announced a naming rights agreement that led to the name Scotiabank Field at Nat Bailey Stadium until that agreement ended in 2019 and the stadium reverted to its prior name. The stadium was first home to the Vancouver Capilanos in the early 1950s and later attracted the Oakland Oaks , who became the Vancouver Mounties of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League , from 1956 to 1962, and 1965 through 1969. The PCL returned to Vancouver in 1978 with

561-621: The best stadiums in the minors, it had not been well maintained in the four years since the city bought it. The park's rapid deterioration was obvious by the time the Cleveland Indians considered moving to Seattle in the early part of the decade. Owner William Daley dispatched general manager Gabe Paul to scout out the city. When city officials balked at paying for the upgrades necessary to bring Sick's Stadium up to something approaching major league standards, Paul advised Daley against moving to Seattle. Charlie Finley considered moving

594-524: The cash registers, is a circle where the mound and pitching rubber were. The store has a glass display case containing mementos of the Pilots, Rainiers, and Angels. Most of the primary assets of Sick's were bought for $ 60,000 in 1978 by Harry Ornest , the owner of the new Vancouver Canadians for use at Nat Bailey Stadium in Vancouver , British Columbia . Another purchaser was Washington State University in Pullman , which bought bleachers, fencing, and

627-421: The circumstances, only 678,000 fans came to see the Pilots, 20th out of 24 teams and nowhere near enough to break even. The team was forced into bankruptcy after only one season. Despite the poor stadium conditions, the ticket prices were among the highest in the major leagues. The team was sold out of bankruptcy court to a Milwaukee -based group on March 31, and the team moved at the end of spring training for

660-463: The defense in the early evening hours. The recommended alignment is east-northeast. On April 11, 1969, Major League Baseball came to Seattle with the American League expansion Seattle Pilots debuting at Sick's Stadium. Seattle had been mentioned earlier in the decade as a possible major league city. However, Sick's Stadium had not aged gracefully. While it had once been considered one of

693-443: The grandstand roof. The clubhouse facilities were second-class. Also, no upgrades were made to the stadium's piping, resulting in almost nonexistent water pressure when attendance was anywhere near capacity. The visiting team's announcers couldn't see any plays along third base or left field . The Pilots had to place a mirror in the press box, and the visiting announcers had to look into it and "refract" plays in those areas. Under

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726-590: The location, named Dugdale Field , was destroyed in an arson fire. The Rainiers played at the stadium through 1968, though they changed their name to the Seattle Angels in 1964. In 1946, the stadium was briefly the home of the Negro league Seattle Steelheads of the short-lived West Coast Negro Baseball Association , who played at the stadium while the Rainiers were on the road. After Emil Sick died in 1964, and various members of his family shared ownership,

759-406: The name of the park was changed to reflect that fact, from the singular possessive form "Sick's Stadium" to the plural possessive form "Sicks' Stadium". The city bought the stadium in 1965, in anticipation that part of the property was needed for a proposed freeway. The field alignment was southeast, home plate to center field, which results in difficult visibility conditions for the left side of

792-416: The naming rights to the stadium in an agreement through the 2027 season. The stadium was then renamed to Rogers Field at Nat Bailey Stadium. The Bud Kerr Baseball Museum is located inside Nat Bailey Stadium within the stadium concourse along the third base side. The museum, which opened on June 18, 2008, is dedicated to the more than sixty years of baseball that have been played in that stadium. The museum

825-474: The prospect of Kansas City having to wait three seasons for baseball to return. This forced Seattle to hurriedly start play in 1969 as well in order to balance the schedule. By the middle of the season, it was obvious that Sick's Stadium was completely inadequate even for temporary use. The stadium expanded to 25,000 seats by June, but many of those seats had obstructed views. There were no field-level camera pits, so photographers had to set up their equipment atop

858-547: The soccer season the ballparks are converted to be used as soccer fields by various competitive and recreational leagues. Hillcrest Park also is home to the Vancouver Curling Club . It had been at the south-west corner of the park in a small building, with only 5 sheets. With the 2010 Winter Olympics coming to Vancouver the club gained and expanded facility, at the Hillcrest Centre , next door to

891-503: The stadium to 28,000 seats. That figure dropped to 25,000 when none of the bids budgeted for expanded seating. However, work didn't begin in earnest until January, three months before Opening Day. Cost overruns brought the final renovation bill to $ 1.5 million. Due to poor weather and other delays, only 18,000 seats were ready by opening day. While 15,014 people showed up, those sitting in left field had to wait three innings to take their seats because workers were still putting them together by

924-448: The time of the first pitch. The new right-field bleachers were nowhere near completed. There were no restrooms in some parts of the seating bowl or in any bleacher sections, forcing many fans to make do with port-a-potties. Seats in several sections had just been finished when the Pilots returned from their second road trip. However, the paint hadn't dried by the start of a May 6 game, forcing the Pilots to foot numerous cleaning bills. In

957-498: Was also used as the home of the fictional Seacouver Chiefs in the " Manhunt " episode of Highlander: The Series . It is also the setting for a scene between MacGyver and Reggie Jackson in the MacGyver episode "Squeeze Play". Sick%27s Stadium Sick's Stadium , also known as Sick's Seattle Stadium and later as Sicks' Stadium , was a baseball park in the northwest United States in Seattle , Washington . It

990-510: Was located in Rainier Valley , on the NE corner of S. McClellan Street and Rainier Avenue S (currently the site of a Lowe's hardware store). The longtime home of the Seattle Rainiers of the Pacific Coast League (PCL), it hosted the expansion Seattle Pilots during their only major league season in 1969 . The site was previously the location of Dugdale Field , a 1913 ballpark that

1023-803: Was made available from all levels of government. Through the Canada-BC Infrastructure Program (CBCIP), administered by Western Economic Diversification Canada , the Government of Canada (GoC) and the Province of BC invested $ 1.7 million. The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation provided $ 250,000, and agreed to lease the land to the Vancouver Millennium Sport Facility Society for $ 1 per year-an in kind donation equivalent to more than $ 2 million. This Vancouver -related article

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1056-436: Was renovated. In 1979, Sicks' Stadium was demolished, and an Eagle Hardware & Garden store opened there in 1992, which became a Lowe's home improvement store in 1999. The stadium site is currently marked by a sign (on the corner of Rainier and McClellan) and a replica of home plate (near the store's exit) as well as markings inside the store where the bases were. 60 ft 6 in (18.44 m) from home plate, near

1089-649: Was the home of the Rainiers' forerunners, the Seattle Indians . That park burned down in an Independence Day arson fire in 1932, caused by serial arsonist Robert Driscoll. Authorities would later claim that Driscoll was one of the most dangerous arsonists in the United States during the Great Depression . Until a new stadium could be built on the Dugdale site, the team played at Civic Field,

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