For generations of Orlando residents, the sight of Tinker Field tucked beside the massive Citrus Bowl was simply part of the city.
Long before Orlando became synonymous with theme parks, professional sports arenas, and sprawling tourist developments, baseball was being played just west of downtown. Tinker Field became one of the city's most enduring sporting landmarks, hosting minor league baseball, Major League Baseball spring training, legendary players, and one of the most significant moments in Orlando's civil-rights history.
The grandstands are gone today, but the history that happened there stretches back more than a century.
The Beginning
Baseball was being played at the Tinker Field site as early as 1914, but the ballpark most associated with the Tinker Field name took shape in the early 1920s. The original field and buildings were constructed in 1922, and the ballpark was officially dedicated on April 19, 1923. (City of Orlando)
The stadium was named for Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Tinker, one-third of the legendary Chicago Cubs double-play combination immortalized as "Tinker to Evers to Chance."
After his playing career, Tinker became deeply involved in Orlando. He entered the real-estate business during Florida's booming 1920s and became an important figure in the city's early baseball scene. He managed Orlando's professional baseball team and helped establish the ballpark that would eventually carry his name. (Baseball Reference)
The original wooden Tinker Field seated roughly 1,500 spectators. Over the decades, however, the little ballpark would grow into one of Orlando's most recognizable sports venues.
Orlando's Spring Training Home
Long before spring training became associated with elaborate complexes around Florida and Arizona, Major League clubs often trained in relatively modest local ballparks.
Tinker Field became one of those places.
The Cincinnati Reds used Orlando as their spring training home from 1923 through 1933. The Brooklyn Dodgers followed for the 1934 and 1935 seasons. Then came the relationship that would define Tinker Field's spring training history. (Wikipedia)
In 1936, the Washington Senators began holding spring training in Orlando.
When the Senators relocated to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season, their connection with Orlando continued. The Twins trained at Tinker Field through 1990, giving Orlando an association with the same Major League franchise spanning more than half a century. (Baseball Reference)
For generations of Central Florida baseball fans, this meant Major League Baseball wasn't something that existed only on television or hundreds of miles away.
Every spring, it came to Orlando.
Legends Played at Tinker Field
Considering its relatively humble appearance, the list of baseball legends who stepped onto Tinker Field is remarkable.
According to the City of Orlando, Hall of Famers who played there included Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, Joe DiMaggio, Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, and Bert Blyleven. (City of Orlando)
Imagine that for a moment.
The same patch of ground beside the Citrus Bowl saw some of the greatest names in baseball history.
Generations later, Orlando residents could sit in those same stands watching future Major Leaguers work their way through the minor leagues.
That connection between baseball's past, present, and future became one of Tinker Field's defining characteristics.
Minor League Baseball in Orlando
Tinker Field wasn't simply a spring training facility. For decades, it was the heart of professional baseball in Orlando.
A long list of Orlando minor league teams called the ballpark home, including the Orlando Colts, Orlando Senators, Orlando Dodgers, Orlando Twins, Orlando Sun Rays, Orlando Cubs, and eventually the Orlando Rays. (Baseball Reference)
For many longtime Orlando residents, the Orlando Twins era is particularly memorable.
From 1963 through 1989, the Orlando Twins served as the Minnesota Twins' minor league affiliate at Tinker Field. They were followed by the Orlando Sun Rays from 1990 through 1992 and the Orlando Cubs from 1993 through 1996.
In 1997, the team became the Orlando Rays.
These weren't the enormous sporting events Orlando residents are accustomed to today. A night at Tinker Field offered something different.
It was intimate.
Fans were close to the field. Tickets were affordable. Players who might eventually become Major League stars were only a few feet away. The enormous Citrus Bowl rising beyond the ballpark created a backdrop that immediately identified the stadium as Orlando.
For countless Central Florida families, a summer night at Tinker Field was simply part of growing up here.
Baseball History Beyond the Major Leagues
Tinker Field also played a role in a much broader story about baseball and race in America.
Negro League baseball was played at the ballpark, and in April 1939, sportswriter Shirley Povich watched the Homestead Grays play the Newark Eagles at Tinker Field alongside legendary pitcher Walter Johnson.
The following day, Povich published an influential column questioning baseball's racial color barrier after seeing the talent on the field in Orlando. (Baseball Reference)
It was one small part of a much larger national movement that would ultimately culminate in Jackie Robinson breaking Major League Baseball's modern color barrier in 1947.
And Robinson himself would later be among the legendary players who stepped onto Tinker Field.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Comes to Orlando
As important as Tinker Field was to baseball, arguably its most historically significant moment had nothing to do with sports.
On March 6, 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the pitcher's mound at Tinker Field and addressed thousands of people.
His speech, known as "Integration Now," was King's only public speech in Central Florida. (City of Orlando)
The timing was extraordinary.
The March on Washington, where King delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech, had taken place only months earlier in August 1963. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 had not yet been signed into law.
Orlando was still wrestling with segregation and the same racial divisions affecting communities throughout the South.
And right there on the pitcher's mound of the city's baseball stadium stood one of the most important figures in American history.
It transformed Tinker Field from simply an old ballpark into an important piece of Orlando's social and cultural history.
Did You Know?
Tinker Field contained pieces of another historic American ballpark.
When Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. was demolished in the 1960s, nearly 1,000 of its seats were reportedly relocated to Tinker Field. Griffith Stadium had been home to the Washington Senators and also hosted the Negro League's Homestead Grays. (Wikipedia)
That meant fans sitting at Tinker Field were occupying seats that had already witnessed decades of baseball history before ever arriving in Orlando.
Tinker Field also occasionally hosted events outside baseball. College football games were played there, including the 1937 Orange Blossom Classic, and evangelist Billy Graham held a revival at the field in 1951. (Baseball Reference)
And if the ballpark looks familiar even to someone who never attended a game there, there's another possible reason: Tinker Field appeared in the 1989 Ron Howard movie Parenthood, portions of which were filmed around Orlando. (Baseball Reference)
The End of Professional Baseball at Tinker Field
By the 1990s, Orlando was a dramatically different city from the one that had welcomed the Cincinnati Reds in 1923.
Professional sports had grown substantially. The Orlando Magic arrived in 1989. New stadiums and sports complexes were being developed throughout Central Florida, and minor league baseball facilities were becoming increasingly elaborate.
Tinker Field was showing its age.
The Orlando Rays played their final season there in 1999 before moving their games to the baseball complex at Disney's Wide World of Sports.
For the first time in generations, Tinker Field was no longer Orlando's everyday professional baseball home. (Baseball Reference)
The old stadium remained standing, however, almost like a time capsule beside the Citrus Bowl.
For longtime residents driving along Tampa Avenue or attending events at the Citrus Bowl, there it was.
The grandstand.
The light towers.
The outfield.
A reminder of an older Orlando.
The End of Tinker Field
The final chapter arrived as Orlando undertook a massive reconstruction of the adjacent Citrus Bowl.
The football stadium's renovation and expansion altered the surrounding property and affected Tinker Field's right-field area. Continuing to operate the site as a traditional baseball stadium was no longer considered practical. (Baseball Reference)
Despite Tinker Field having been added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004, the decision was made to remove the stadium structures. (Wikipedia)
In 2015, the grandstands and remaining buildings were demolished.
For Orlando history fans, it was difficult to watch.
A ballpark that had survived generations of change in Central Florida was suddenly gone.
But the story didn't completely end there.
What Is There Today?
The City of Orlando ultimately created Tinker Field History Plaza to commemorate the site's remarkable history.
The historic baseball diamond and field were landmarked by the Orlando City Council in 2015, and the history plaza later opened in 2018. (City of Orlando)
Today, visitors can find historical displays commemorating the baseball players, teams, and important events associated with Tinker Field.
The site remains beside what generations of Orlando residents knew as the Citrus Bowl, today called Camping World Stadium.
But the experience is obviously different.
You can no longer walk into that old grandstand, buy a ticket and watch the Orlando Twins take the field.
You can't hear a bat crack against a baseball while the giant football stadium towers over right field.
The physical ballpark may be gone, but its location remains one of Orlando's most historically significant pieces of ground.
Remembering Tinker Field
Tinker Field's story is really the story of Orlando itself.
It existed before Walt Disney World.
Before Interstate 4.
Before the Orlando Magic.
Before the skyline filled with office towers and before millions of visitors began arriving in Central Florida every year.
For decades, Orlando residents watched professional baseball on a modest field just west of downtown.
They watched future Hall of Famers.
They watched minor leaguers chasing their dreams.
They watched the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins arrive every spring.
And on one extraordinary day in 1964, thousands gathered as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood on the pitcher's mound and spoke about America's future.
Few places in Orlando could claim that kind of history.
Tinker Field could.
The grandstands may have disappeared from the Orlando landscape, but for generations who spent summer nights and spring afternoons there, Tinker Field will always be part of the Orlando they remember.
Do You Remember Tinker Field?
Did you ever catch a game at Tinker Field?
Maybe you watched the Orlando Twins, Sun Rays, Cubs, or Rays. Maybe you attended Minnesota Twins spring training. Maybe you remember sitting in those old seats with the Citrus Bowl towering beyond the outfield.
Or maybe you simply remember driving past the stadium and seeing it sitting there, seemingly unchanged while the rest of Orlando grew around it.
Share your Tinker Field memories, photographs, ticket stubs, programs, or stories. Every memory helps preserve another piece of Orlando history.
About Retrolando
Retrolando celebrates the Orlando that lives in our memories.
From forgotten restaurants and legendary nightclubs to old attractions, radio stations, sports teams, roadside landmarks, and local businesses, we're preserving the stories of Central Florida's past one memory at a time.
Remember Orlando. Remember Retrolando.
Tinker Field at a Glance
Name: Tinker Field
Named For: Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Tinker
Location: Tampa Avenue beside the Citrus Bowl in Orlando
Ballpark Dedicated: April 19, 1923
Primary Use: Minor League Baseball and Major League Spring Training
Notable MLB Tenants: Cincinnati Reds, Brooklyn Dodgers, Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins
Notable Orlando Teams: Orlando Senators, Orlando Dodgers, Orlando Twins, Orlando Sun Rays, Orlando Cubs and Orlando Rays
Historic Event: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Integration Now" speech, March 6, 1964
National Register of Historic Places: Added in 2004
Grandstands Demolished: 2015
Today: Tinker Field History Plaza
Sources & Further Reading
-
City of Orlando — Tinker Field History Plaza
-
National Register of Historic Places records
-
Baseball-Reference — Tinker Field historical records
-
Florida Historical Society — Joe Tinker and Orlando baseball history
Historical information is compiled from available records, archived publications, photographs, baseball records, and community memories. If you have additional information, photographs, or corrections about Tinker Field, we'd love to hear from you.