Colgate and Holy Cross' Move to the Ballpark Just Feels Natural
The two old-time powers will migrate to the ballpark and the East's other ancient powers should do the same.
Recently, Holy Cross announced they were moving their October 23rd home game vs Colgate from venerable Fitton Field to Polar Park, the newly-minted home of the Worcester Red Sox. The move provides a unique experience for Holy Cross fans, as they struggle to fill aging Fitton Field each year.
For both programs, it harkens back to a time when both programs shared the national spotlight. Both teams are no strangers to ballpark football with Holy Cross playing 38 games in their history at ballparks and Colgate playing 21.
Most of Holy Cross’ games were at Fenway, with 21 appearances, and Braves Field, with 15 appearances, as part of their fabled rivalry with Boston College. The bulk of Colgate’s appearances have been at Yankee Stadium where they have played 10 times.
During Colgate’s glory years, they were a fixture at The House That Ruth Built, playing there every year from 1930-1934, when they went 39-4-1 across those five seasons.
The 1932 “Undefeated, Untied, Unscored Upon, and Uninvited” team notched a 14-0 win over NYU on their way to a famed Rose Bowl snub, while Colgate handed inaugural Sugar Bowl champ, Tulane, their only defeat of the season at Yankee Stadium in 1934.
While Worcester’s Polar Park lacks the history of the venues mentioned above, it provides a change of scenery and a call to the past. Both programs’ most important games were played at ballparks, and this year seems to be no different, especially with Holy Cross coming off back-to-back Patriot League titles. This game is likely to be an important game in the conference race and even the FCS playoff race.
Start of a Trend?
Other schools in the Northeast can follow Holy Cross’ example and move games to ballparks. In fact, the city that the Worcester Red Sox moved from might be an ideal spot for ballpark games.
Pawtucket, Rhode Island was home to the Red Sox’s Triple-A farm team for over forty years, but the lack of an upgrade from 79-year-old McCoy Stadium caused a move.
Now, the park remains idle, but it could find new life as an occasional home for the state’s college football teams. The park holds a little over 10,000, which is more than the Rhode Island Rams’ Meade Stadium and Bryant’s Beirne Stadium. Brown’s Brown Stadium holds 25,000, but the struggling program has only averaged 4,000 fans per game.
A move to a historic ballpark in McCoy Stadium could inject life into the fanbases of the state’s teams by providing a “bowl-like” experience for their fans. Like Holy Cross and Colgate, a game at McCoy Stadium would harken back to Brown’s glory days when they played at the Polo Grounds and Fenway
It would also encourage the playing of these rivalries, especially games involving Bryant. Bryant and Brown have only played five times, while Rhode Island’s lone meeting with the Bulldogs came in 2002. Moving in-state rivalries to a historic, neutral site would only increase the stakes and make these games more profitable than they already are.
The greatest attribute of the programs of the Patriot and Ivy Leagues is their history and ballpark football puts that history at the forefront. Holy Cross and Colgate may have started a trend for not only Worcester’s Polar Park but its elder counterpart in Rhode Island as well.