The Rich History of Bosse Field and Baseball in Evansville, Indiana

Back to Evansville

Back to Don Mattingly, any kid who grew up in the 80s or 90s in Southern Indiana has a special place in his/her heart for the Yankees’ slugger, no matter how they felt about the Yankees.

Evansville is in a strange spot for baseball fans. The long arms of the NL Central are tugging at the hearts of its citizens from the East, North, and the West. Some hearts are claimed by the Reds, some bleed Cubbie blue, and many claim the Cards as their own.

I grew up idolizing Cardinals’ greats like Ozzie Smith and even got to see Albert Pujols in-person,  playing third base no less, during his rookie season. At the same time, my family had no allegiance to any team in particular, so I never really understood the sacrilege taking place when I’d also pretend to be Ryne Sandberg in the backyard instead of Ozzie.

Without the family ties to a specific team, I just grew up a baseball fan. I loved them all. Eventually my family got cable TV and the Atlanta Braves were able to travel with me all the way to Colorado and back, but that’s neither here nor there.

Evansville is a blue-collar city of roughly 118,000 people. It is the place all the rural townsfolk (like myself) would travel to for weekends of shopping, movie-going, fast-food eating, or to watch a live, professional baseball game.

As evidenced by the University of Evansville’s recent victory over the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in college basketball, many people around the country have never heard of the place. Even if they have heard of Evansville, then they probably have no idea about the treasured piece of baseball history that sits within.