When the stadium opened in 1938 it was actually sans the roof. The 5000 seat stadium
began life as an "open air" ballpark, but was "topped off" before WWII. The
first baseball teams to call this home were the semi-pro Cascade League's
Giustina Reds and Eugene Caseys. These teams played throughout the region before
the Northwest League took a firm foothold after WWII. When professional baseball
came to town however, they would find that their town ballpark would not
become easily available to them. |
Civic Stadium was owned by the school district, and the relationship between this
school district would be a tenuous one at best. Disagreements with the district
caused Eugene's new pro baseball team to go play at Bethel Field for almost 20
years, before being allowed to step foot on this hallowed ground, and
eventually the brittle relationship between the Em's and the bureaucracy of
the school district reached the boiling point in 2009 bringing the end to baseball
altogether at this beautiful baseball cathedral. |