Dickey–Stephens Park – Little Rock, Arkansas
Address: 400 W. Broadway, North Little Rock, AR 72114
Capacity: 7,300
Opened: April, 2007
Dickey–Stephens Park, in Little Rock, Arkansas, is the home of the Arkansas Travelers, the Double-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners of the Texas League.
It opened in 2007 as a replacement for Ray Winder Field in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The ballpark is named after two pairs of local Arkansas brothers: Baseball Hall of Famer Bill Dickey, former Major League Baseball catcher George Dickey, and businessmen Jackson T. Stephens and W. R. Stephens.
Hook Slide Corner, the first-base-side beer garden, is named after Walter “Hook Slide” Bradshaw.
Bradshaw was a Travelers regular in the Ray Winder Field days, known for doing his “hook slide” into a popcorn-box base, on concrete, while wearing jean shorts. Fans would buy him beer as a reward for these antics, which, once consumed, would inevitably end up as part of a teetering can pyramid.
The ballpark was also the location where Tulsa Drillers batting coach Mike Coolbaugh was killed during a game against the Travelers. During the July 22, 2007 game, Coolbaugh was struck in the neck by a hard-struck line drive as he was standing in the first base coaches’ box, and died an hour later from the impact of the injury that resulted in a severe brain hemorrhage.
Coolbaugh’s death led Major League Baseball (MLB) general managers to require base coaches to wear helmets on the field during games, starting with the 2008 MLB season.
Game Log:
San Antonio Missions vs. Arkansas Travelers (Texas League) – July 19, 2024