Palm Springs Stadium

Palm Springs Stadium is a stadium in Palm Springs, California. It is primarily used for baseball. It used to be named Angels Stadium and was the home field of the Palm Springs Suns of the Western Baseball League in 1995 and 1996. Palm Springs Stadium is the home of the Palm Springs Power, a collegiate summer baseball team playing in the California Premier Collegiate League. The stadium is also the official home of the Power Summer Collegiate League and the California Winter League (2010). The stadium has a seating capacity of 5,185.

Formerly a polo ground, the present-day stands opened in 1949 and were expanded four times in the 1950s. They hosted exhibition games for several Pacific Coast League teams throughout the 1950s and 1960s. From 1961 to 1992, it hosted spring training for the California Angels under team owner Gene Autry, also a part-time resident. It also hosted the Chicago White Sox for spring training from 1951–53.

The class-A minor league affiliate of the Angels, the Palm Springs Angels of the California League, played "in the heat" from 1986 to their last season, 1993.

Four other teams played in the stadium, Palm Springs Promise an Independent Minor League Affiliate of Play Ball Inc operated in 1993–1994. The Cal League's Modesto A's played 20 home games that year, and the Riverside Pilots did the same in 1995 (the Pilots are now the Lancaster JetHawks). The Phoenix Firebirds of the AAA-level Pacific Coast League played 20 "home" games at the stadium in 1997 before they became the Tucson Sidewinders and their opponents were the Tucson Toros, who became the Fresno Grizzlies.

For a while, the only bond with the major leagues was softball. But the Pepsi All-Star softball game went to nearby Cathedral City in 1998 at the Field of Dreams complex. The Palm Springs Heat of the Western States Football League had lackluster games^{[clarification needed]} in the 1993 season with a 4–10 record before they folded operations. So has the 2007–09 Desert Valley Knights.

The status of Palm Springs Stadium was unclear in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The city council had refused to pay for renovation in the past, when Sonny Bono, then-mayor of Palm Springs, had shown little interest. As a result, baseball was lost, teams left, and locals debated whether baseball could survive in an area known for summer heat and more local interest in golf and tennis.

But the issue has largely been resolved. The City of Palm Springs repainted the entire stadium in May 2007, right before the start of Power Baseball's 2007 season. In addition, the Power have made additional capital improvements to the stadium and the field.

The stadium played an important role in times of discrimination and limited access to the major leagues: In the mid-century (1920s/30s, 40s and 50s, and ending in the 1960s or 70s), the stadium held some games of some all-Black/African-American, Latino/Mexican American (with visiting Mexican national baseball teams), White ethnic (i.e., Jewish religious organizations), women's (the "Pony League"), all-senior citizens and all-wheelchair/disabled teams or leagues were formed in this state as well.^{[citation needed]}