Another former home of the Twins will be disappearing in 2014. Tinker Field in Orlando will be joining the Metrodome in the dustbin, the Orlando Sentinel reports, probably in the next 60 days.
In the shadow of Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium (whose expansion will eat into the old ballpark) and unused by pro baseball since 1999, Tinker Field hasn't been associated with the Twins since 1990, or one year after that photo of Kirby Puckett at spring training. However, the history is hard to escape, and not just because it was built in 1914 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Close to 1,000 wooden seats from old Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., were moved there.
- A plaque to Clark Griffith is in the stadium.
- Harmon Killebrew peppered the football stadium with home-run balls, even amazing with the sound of his bat in 1974.
- The stadium is named for former Cubs shortstop Joe Tinker. You might recognize his last name grouped with Evers and Chance in baseball poetry.
- Spring training baseball was played there since the 1920s.
- And Parker Hageman shares the tale of a Sea World ad being altered so the killer whale featured the No. 14 of Kent Hrbek.
Here are some historic photos from Tinker Field, including shots of Calvin Griffith here and here. Patrick Reusse has two more tales from Tinker Field here and here.
A video with the Sentinel's Mark Schlueb explains the plan for the demolition and the future:
