Bush Stadium

Owen J. Bush Stadium was a baseball stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. It was home to the Indianapolis Indians from 1931 to 1996. It was also home to a few Negro league teams, as well as a Continental Football League team, the Indianapolis Capitols, who won the league's final championship in 1969. The stadium closed in 2001, and since 2014, has been converted into apartments.

Bush Stadium was commissioned by Norm Perry, owner of the Indianapolis Indians baseball club, in 1931. The facility was originally named Perry Stadium as a memorial to his brother Jim, the former owner of the club who had died in a plane crash during a solo flight from Schoen Field on the eastside of Indianapolis in 1929. The $350,000 stadium was designed by Osborn Engineering of Cleveland, Ohio, and built by the William P. Jungclaus Company of Indianapolis. The firm also built Yankee Stadium and constructed or renovated nearly 25 steel and concrete stadiums across America.

Construction began in late May 1931 and Perry set the inaugural game for September 5, 1931. By late August much remained to be done: The grandstand roof was incomplete. The 13,000 grandstand seats and right field bleachers were not completed until the week before the first game. The game was held despite the main entrance, lobby, and administrative offices not being finished until a few weeks later. Initially there was no stadium lighting because the lighting that had recently been installed at Washington Park was to be moved to the new stadium. The Indians lost to the Louisville Colonels, 3–4.

English ivy was planted on the brick outfield walls of Perry Stadium prior to its opening. P. K. Wrigley liked the appearance of the ivy, and subsequently instructed the iconic Wrigley Field ivy in Chicago to be planted. The ivy in Indianapolis remained until 1996, when the Indians moved to the current Victory Field ballpark downtown.

The formal dedication was held on July 1, 1932, in which the Indians again lost to Louisville, 6–11.

During the 1930s, Perry Stadium was home to many Negro league teams. These included the ABCs (1932, 1938, and 1939), American Giants (1933), Athletics (1937) and Crawfords (1940). Later, it would be home to the Indianapolis Clowns, a barnstorming team that was well known for "comical antics". The Clowns won the Negro American League championship in 1952, with the help of Hank Aaron. They played in Indianapolis from 1944 to 1962. Later, the Clowns featured Toni Stone, the first female Negro leagues player in history. Even after the Indianapolis Indians integrated in 1952, the Clowns continued to play at the stadium.

Perry Stadium was renamed Victory Field on January 21, 1942. The name was the winning entry of a fan contest held by the club's new owners, which yielded more than 60 suggestions. The day of its renaming, the Indianapolis News stated that the renaming was chosen "because of its timeliness with current affairs; its popularity among [contest] proposals; and its possibilities for elaborate public displays".

After Perry sold the baseball club to Frank E. McKinney and former player Donie Bush that year, he retained ownership of the stadium.