Sam Lynn Ballpark

Written by Bakersfield Magazine

The first pitch; a swing and a miss. Nothin’ worse than the sound of a whiff. Though baseball in Bakersfield has a bit of a motley history, it has never struck out with fans—even the ones in suits.

And that’s saying something as this charter member of the California League has changed monikers more in its 68 years than Elizabeth Taylor has changed husbands. Crowds rallied behind the Badgers, Indians, Boosters, Bears, Outlaws, Mariners, and Dodgers before they rooted for the Blaze.

However, the mystique has less to do with the team mascot and more with the man behind the west-facing plate.

Before Sam Lynn was immortalized with a ballpark, he was the owner of the local Coca-Cola bottling plant and consecutively sponsored the aptly named Bakersfield Coca-Cola’s, a semi-pro baseball team. Lynn’s passion and funding brought a resurgence of excitement back to the sport and soon, Lynn and San Francisco Seals President Charlie Graham had pieced together the backbone for what would be the California League. That was in 1938.

It took three years for the league to see its inaugural season and Lynn died before the first pitch.

Since then, the ball club has been home to some incredible players including Hall-of-Fame pitcher Don Drysdale, been in jeopardy when their agreement with the Brooklyn Dogders ended after the 1955 season, and even broken some records (the largest single game attendance in a California League game with 8,175 fans on July 3, 1995).

Most importantly, Lynn’s spirit and love of the game has been kept alive and well with generations of fans packing the stands (which they’ll do again this year after the season starts on April 16) to watch those runs keep coming. No whiffs for us.

Article appeared in our 26-1 Issue - April 2009