West End Park

Duane's take

Now, I'm telling you this one straight from the official marker — so let's talk about West End Park. Out in Orange, Texas, there was a baseball field with wooden grandstands that stood as a fixture of that community for nearly eighty years. That's not a ballpark.

That's an institution. To understand how it all came to be, you've got to understand Orange in the nineteen twenties. The city was the center of Orange County, and it had just come through a shipbuilding boom during World War I.

The lumber mills, though — they were beginning to run out of native county timber. Orange was a city at a crossroads, and somebody with vision was going to have to do something bold. That somebody was H.I.

Lutcher Stark, a graduate of the University of Texas. Stark formed the Orange Athletic Association with one goal in mind: attract a professional baseball team to Orange for spring training. And not just any team.

The St. Louis Cardinals. Now, the Cardinals were supposed to take the field for their first practice on February 28, 1921, and it was supposed to be private.

Private. You hear that word and you already know how this is going to go. Fans — young and old — showed up anyway, because word had gotten out about who exactly was going to be on that field.

Names like Branch Rickey. Rogers Hornsby. Connie Mack.

And a man known as George "Specs" Toporcer — all of them destined for the Hall of Fame. And if that wasn't enough, the first Commissioner of Baseball himself, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis — also a Hall of Famer — visited the city and watched a game from those very grandstands. Orange's local businesses felt the boost from all that national attention, and the Cardinals agreed to return for spring training in 1922.

They didn't end up coming back that following year, but West End Park didn't go quiet. Local high schools, youth teams, adult leagues — they kept that field alive for years and years. Eventually, the West Orange-Cove Consolidated Independent School District, which owns the property, removed the last remaining dugouts and flattened the field in 2009.

The grandstands are gone. The dugouts are gone. The field itself is gone.

But somewhere in Orange, there are people who grew up knowing — really knowing — that they played on the same ground where legends once stood. And that, friend, is the kind of thing a bulldozer can't quite finish off.

What the marker says

West End Park, a baseball field with wooden grandstands, was an institution in Orange for nearly 80 years. The park was originally constructed to draw a professional baseball team to the city for spring training. Orange was the center of Orange County in the 1920s and underwent a shipbuilding boom during World War I, as the lumber mills were beginning to run out of native county timber. H.I. Lutcher Stark, a graduate of the University of Texas, formed the Orange Athletic Association to attract a professional baseball team. The St. Louis Cardinals took the field for their first practice on February 28, 1921. The practice was supposed to be private, but fans, young and old, came to catch a glimpse of some of the biggest names in baseball and hall of fame legends, such as Branch Rickey, Rogers Hornsby, Connie Mack and George "Specs" Toporcer. The first Commissioner of Baseball, Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who is also in the Hall of Fame, visited the city and watched a game from the grandstands. Orange's local businesses benefitted from the national attention brought on by the spring training camp and the Cardinals agreed to return for spring training in 1922. Though the cardinals did not return to Orange the following year, West End Park continued to be used for many years by local high schools, youth and adult baseball teams. The West Orange-cove Consolidated Independent School District, which owns the property, removed the last remaining dugouts and flattened the field in 2009. Even though it is no longer in use, the memories of thousands of orange locals that played on the same field as baseball legends remain.