Hamtramck Stadium – Norman "Turkey" Stearnes Field

01 / The story of this place

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Built in 1930 on the site of an old lumberyard, Hamtramck Stadium became home field for the Detroit Stars of the Negro National League, and Ty Cobb himself threw out the first pitch on opening day. The Stars, and later the Detroit Wolves, fielded some of Black baseball's greatest players here, including Turkey Stearnes, Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Willie Wells, Cool Papa Bell and Mule Suttles, and the stadium hosted the deciding games of the 1930 Negro National League championship series. As Negro league baseball faded after Jackie Robinson broke the majors' color line, the stadium slipped into decades of decline, but it survived, one of only a handful of Negro league parks still standing anywhere in the country. It earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012, and in 2020 its field was renamed for Turkey Stearnes, the Hall of Fame outfielder who starred here for the Stars. A two-and-a-half-million-dollar restoration rebuilt the grandstand around the original brick and steel and reopened the ballpark in 2022.

1. Built in 1930; Ty Cobb threw the first pitch
2. Home of the Detroit Stars, with stars like Turkey Stearnes and Satchel Paige
3. One of only a handful of surviving Negro league ballparks
4. Field renamed for Turkey Stearnes in 2020; restored and reopened in 2022