Rosenblatt Stadium History
While baseball fans all over the country call it "The 'Blatt" or "The Johnny," it was originally known as the Omaha Municipal Stadium.
Constructed in 1947 and opened the following spring, it first served as the home of the St. Louis Cardinals' Class A affiliate, the Omaha Cardinals. In addition to being a minor-league affiliate for the Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodges and Kansas City Royals, the stadium has hosted numerous games and concerts during its 60 years of existence along South 13th Street.
Baseball fans, however, know the stadium better as Rosenblatt Stadium, host site of the College World Series since 1950. The city of Omaha became the host site for the College World Series, which began three years earlier in Kalamazoo, Mich., and moved to Wichita, Kan., in 1949 before finding its current home a year later.
The stadium's hilltop location in south Omaha was pushed by Johnny Rosenblatt, to whom the stadium was named for in 1964. Rosenblatt was one of the city's more upbeat leaders of the time and served as the city's mayor from 1954-1961.
Rosenblatt Stadium served as the Omaha Cardinals' home stadium from 1949-1959 as the major league team's affiliate in Class A (1949-54) and Class AA (1955-1959). After a year's absence, professional baseball returned to the stadium as the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate played there during the 1961-1962 seasons. The Dodgers moved, but when the Kansas City Royals joined the American League as an expansion franchise, they set up their Triple-A team in Omaha in 1969 and have been there ever since.
Recent Rosenblatt History
While the Omaha Royals call Rosenblatt Stadium home for 72 games each summer, they are always guaranteed an extended road trip each June. The team schedules its games around the College World Series, and will spend as much as three consecutive weeks away from Rosenblatt Stadium each June while on-field preparations are made and the tournament makes its annual two-week run at the stadium.
As the popularity of the College World Series has escalated over the years, the City of Omaha has worked with the NCAA in accommodating the growth with numerous expansion projects. Construction of additional seating, a new press box and numerous fan amenities has helped maintain the stadium as the mecca for college baseball.
The stadium has expanded numerous times and now has a seating capacity of 23,145, a total it has exceeded on numerous occasions as the two-week, double-elimination tournament has exploded in popularity over the years.
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