Dedication Plaques - Volume 3 - Target Field

Target Field Dedication Plaque
I took a great trip to Minnesota late this summer to visit the one year old Target Field. Its a great ballpark and a HUGE upgrade from the Metrodome. The Twins really paid alot of attention to little details which made nice park a great one.

This plaque, dedicated to the people of Minnesota, is located on the main entrance plaza. Its near the ticket windows to the right of the "Gate 29" entrance. As usual, the plaque lists the owners of the Twins, various local politicians that made financing possible and the designers and builders of the stadium. (I believe this is the first major league ballpark that uses the new Populous name. Citi Field's plaque lists "HOK Sport" as the architect.)

An interesting touch is the laser engraved image of Target Field itself. I've never seen something like that on a dedication plaque. The plaque seems to be made of regular sheet metal with all of the names/images engraved on it. Teams seem to be getting away from the heavy brass plaques that older parks had and are now going with ones of this type of metal and plastic like at Citi Field.

You can check out all of my photos from Target Field at StadiumPage.com.

Dedication Plaques - Volume 2 - Angel Stadium

Original Anaheim Stadium Plaque

Anaheim Stadium opened in 1966 as the home of the Angels. Its original plaque actually lacks a few items normally on building dedication plaques. First, there is no opening date. Second, the official name of the ballpark is not on the plaque. One interesting part of it is at the very bottom. The general contractor company is listed as Del E. Webb Corporation. Webb, who made his fortune in construction, was the owner of the New York Yankees from 1945 to 1964.


1998 "Re-Dedication" Plaque

In 1998, renovations were made to re-make Anaheim Stadium into a baseball-only facility. With that, the new owners erected a new dedication plaque. Along with the renovation came a new name: Edison International Field. The Edison Field name only lasted through the 2003 season when the naming rights deal was not renewed. At that point it was renamed Angel Stadium of Anaheim.


Location of the Two Plaques

The two plaques are located on the left and right of the main home plate entrance to Angel Stadium. By 2006, when I visited Angel Stadium, there was no third plaque for the current name.

Check out these images and many more of Angel Stadium at StadiumPage.com.

Dedication Plaques - Volume 1 - Shea Stadium

One thing I always try to find whenever I visit a ballpark is the park's dedication plaque. Most ballparks have them, but they're sometimes difficult to find.

Shea Stadium's plaque was located near the Gate E ticket window. Like all dedication plaques, Shea's shows its full proper name (William A. Shea Municipal Stadium). In addition, the plaque highlights the civic leaders of the time starting with the NYC mayor, comptroller, etc. Also listed was Robert Moses. While he played a large role in the Dodgers and Giants leaving New York in 1957, he was also the main proponent of the placement a ballpark in Queens. The site was actually offered to the Dodgers, but they declined and moved to Los Angeles.

Also listed on the plaque is Shea Stadium's Engineer/Architect Praeger-Kavanagh-Waterbury. PKG was involved in the design of other ballparks such as Dodger Stadium and the 1970's renovation of Yankee Stadium.

Finally, the most important item listed on the plaque is the year of dedication, 1964. These plaques are often overlooked, but they're something I always look for when visiting a park for the first time.