Goss Stadium At Coleman Field

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Realizing A Dream (3/23/09)

In 2009, Goss Stadium at Coleman Field will go from one of the best ballparks on the West Coast into one of the top collegiate stadiums in the nation.

A project spearheaded by head coach Pat Casey to expand the stadium gave the ballpark a facelift. Nearly 1,000 seats were added down the left and right field lines, enabling more Oregon State fans to witness one of the top programs in the nation.

The seating addition is far from the only change fans will see this season. A stadium suite, called the Omaha Room, now looms over right field with seating for approximately 70. Modeled after the club level at football's Reser Stadium, it can also be used for team banquets and other various events.

Underneath the Omaha Room are two new rooms -- an academic room and a Hall of Fame room. The academic room and Hall of Fame area will be utilized to celebrate the fine history at Oregon State and to allow its current student-athletes the chance to excel in the classroom. Last, but certainly not least, is a new player's lounge located underneath the left field stands that will give Oregon State players the chance to relax before games and unwind afterwards.

The expansion completes a string of stadium upgrades as a video board located in right field was installed prior to the 2007 season. The board is the first of its kind in the Pacific-10 Conference and allows fans to watch replays and enjoy capabilities rivaled by Major League stadiums. Attendance has spiked at the campus park. The Beavers saw an average of 1,899 per home game in 2008, including a mark of nearly 2,200 over the last 14 games of the season. In 2007, Oregon State fans went through the turnstiles at record rates. Oregon State averaged 2,005 fans per game at Goss in 2007, up from 1,642 in 2006 -- the Beavers' first NCAA title season. In 2005, the same season as OSU's first trip to Omaha since 1952, the Beavers averaged 1,484 fans.

In fact, in each of the three seasons Oregon State has hosted a regional or super regional, each game, totaling 13 in all, surpassed the 2,000 mark in attendance. Also, the Beavers saw crowds of 3,000 or better in six of those 13 games.

Oregon State rode that wave of support to an incredible home-field advantage. OSU went 14-7 at home last season and over the past three seasons, the Beavers are 84-23 (.785) at home, keeping in line with the team's all-time winning ways. In 100 years at what is now Goss Stadium -- and 98 seasons -- OSU is 1,004-434-1 at home, posting an impressive .698 winning percentage.

Pat Casey, now in his 15th season at Oregon State, has utilized Goss Stadium, taking the fans' passions and his team's talents and turning them into wins. In 14 years, Casey's clubs have posted a 221-97 (.695) mark at home. In 2005, Oregon State set a program record with 26 home wins. A year later, the Beavers set the record again, finishing with 27 wins at venerable Goss Stadium.

Casey, just one four coaches in the past 60 years at Oregon State, has seen two of the most significant stages of Goss Stadium. Previous to the 2008 expansion, in 1999, the park, then known just as Coleman Field, saw a major renovation. That renovation brought improved seating areas, a new press box and improved locker rooms and dugouts.

Nine years later, and with the completion of the new seating areas, Casey and Oregon State fans will have a ballpark he has strived for since coming to Corvallis prior to the 1995 season.

Over the past seven seasons, Goss Stadium has seen other improvements. In the spring of 2002, lights were added to the ballpark, making night games a possibility. And prior to the 2007 season, a new scoreboard with video replay capabilities went up in right-center field. During that same period, the Beavers got a new playing surface in the infield as FieldTurf was installed. The outfield remains natural grass.

The stadium's videoboard is the first of its kind in the Pacific-10 Conference. Located in right center field, it is a welcome addition to the historic ballpark. Fans have the opportunity to watch replays, catch game highlights from past Oregon State victories and keep abreast of play in other conference games. As one of the few teams in the nation with a videoboard, the Beavers have the ability to provide a true gameday experience.

Goss Stadium at Coleman Field has an interesting history, to say the least.

When Oregon State began fielding a varsity baseball team in 1907, the school laid out a diamond on a lot just south of the main campus. A century later, that same site still serves as the home of the Beavers, making Goss Stadium at Coleman Field the oldest diamond in the Pacific-10 Conference and one of the oldest college fields in the country.

When Goss Stadium was added to Coleman Field in 1999, OSU owned not only one of the most historic home ballparks in the country but one of the finest, as well.

Over the past nine decades, the campus has grown around Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, making it one of the most picturesque settings in college baseball. The ballpark is a short walk down Waldo Place from the Memorial Union and OSU's central campus area, making it easy for students to stop by a game between classes.

The field is named for former Oregon State player and coach Ralph Coleman, who guided the Beavers for 35 seasons from 1923-66. The stadium is named for John and Eline Goss, whose major lead gift to the $2.3-million fundraising effort made the project possible. John Goss was an Oregon State track and field letterman in the 1930s. The naming of the stadium is also a memorial to his older brother, James Goss, an Oregon State graduate.

John and Eline Goss made additional contributions to OSU toward endowed scholarships for student/athletes and other top academic students, including graduates of Portland's Grant High and members of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Over the 2005 and 2006 seasons, when Oregon State won back-to-back Pacific-10 championships, advanced to the College World Series and won the 2006 national title, the Beavers went 53-9 at home. In both those seasons, OSU won both the NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals in its own ballpark, giving national cable television audiences a look at the Beavers' diamond.

The park is symmetrical, measuring 330 feet down the foul lines, 365 to the power alleys and 400 to center. The fence is 14 feet high from left field to left-center, then eight feet high from left-center to right field.

The concrete, steel and brick structure has a press box, a lobby/concession area, restrooms, locker rooms, dugouts and storage areas. The stadium was designed to complement the architecture of the surrounding campus, and to evoke the aura of baseball's historic parks. The first game after the addition of Goss Stadium to Coleman Field was on March 12, 1999, when defending national champion Southern California topped the Beavers 5-2. The stadium was dedicated on April 17, 1999 as OSU beat California 11-5 before a crowd of 1,246 and a national cable television audience.

The ballpark saw its first night game on April 26, 2002, as the Beavers beat fourth-ranked Stanford 3-1. A set of lights meeting professional Class Triple-A standards was installed that spring thanks to the generosity of longtime OSU boosters Bert and Shirley Babb. Goss Stadium at Coleman Field has batting cages behind the left-field fence. When conditions call for indoor practice, the Beavers head for OSU's Truax Indoor Practice Facility, which opened in August, 2001.

The addition of Goss Stadium to Coleman Field ended years of speculation over whether the Beavers would be able to remain playing baseball at their longtime home.

As Oregon State expanded, land near the center of campus became scarce and the school's master plan called for the site to eventually be turned over to academic uses.

In 1961, The Oregonian newspaper noted: "In the not-too-distant future, Oregon State baseball hopefuls won't have railroad tracks as a long-distance batting target. Coleman Field will eventually hold no basepaths, only buildings in this era of construction for higher education. Already one classroom building for this site is beyond the drawing board stage."

For over 30 years, that possibility prevented any major improvements to Coleman Field. Long-term plans for the OSU campus called for moving the baseball field southeast of the intersection of Western Boulevard and 26th Street.

In 1996, the baseball program explored building a press box and storage/concession building at Coleman Field. The possibility of building a stadium was also looked into, and that gradually became the goal of the baseball program and many Beaver boosters. The generous donation from the Goss family was the key to a private fundraising effort in the late 1990s. The ballpark's name would be ammended to Goss Stadium at Coleman Field in their honor in 1999.

With no buildings slated for the Coleman Field site in the next 20 years, objections to a stadium were overcome in early 1997. The OSU campus master plan was changed at that point, assuring that the Beavers will continue playing at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field well into the future. Now the Beavers are out to make that future as interesting as their home ballpark's past.

Over the past nine decades, the campus has grown to surround Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. More than 1,200 games have been played on the site, against foes ranging from Northern Division rivals to teams from Japan and Canada, barnstorming Negro Leaguers, local minor leaguers and military teams.

Coleman began coaching at Oregon State in 1923, and the first reference to the ballpark as Coleman Field came in the mid-1940s. The name quickly grew into common usage; however, it wasn't until 1981 that OSU officially named the field in honor of the longtime coach.

When the students at Oregon Agricultural College got their wish and the school started a varsity baseball team in 1907, the football field was located on the present site of McAlexander Fieldhouse and the physical plant building. The baseball diamond went on a far corner of the field, next to brand-new Waldo Hall.

In 1910, "the armory" - now McAlexander Fieldhouse - was built and football and track leapfrogged the baseball field to find a new home behind the first baseline, an area that became Bell Field. That was the first of many changes in Goss Stadium at Coleman Field's surroundings.

The Men's Gymnasium - later renamed Langton Hall - opened in 1914, adjacent to the athletic fields. In 1946, the Navy ROTC quonset huts were tucked behind the right-field corner and a year later Cascade Hall opened beyond center field. In 1959, Snell Hall opened across the street from the leftfield corner. In 1967, Finley Hall went up across the railroad tracks from right field.

In 1973, Bell Field saw its last intercollegiate athletic event as the track and field program moved to a new facility. Dixon Recreation Center opened on that site in 1976 and Stevens Natatorium was added in 1994.

As Oregon State's campus changed and grew around Goss Stadium at The generous donation from the Goss family was the key to a private fundraising effort in the late 1990s. The ballpark's name would be ammended to Goss Stadium at Coleman Field in their honor in 1999.

With no buildings slated for the Coleman Field site in the next 20 years, objections to a stadium were overcome in early 1997. The OSU campus master plan was changed at that point, assuring that the Beavers will continue playing at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field well into the future. Now the Beavers are out to make that future as interesting as their home ballpark's past.

Over the past nine decades, the campus has grown to surround Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. More than 1,200 games have been played on the site, against foes ranging from Northern Division rivals to teams from Japan and Canada, barnstorming Negro Leaguers, local minor leaguers and military teams.

Coleman began coaching at Oregon State in 1923, and the first reference to the ballpark as Coleman Field came in the mid-1940s. The name quickly grew into common usage; however, it wasn't until 1981 that OSU officially named the field in honor of the longtime coach.

When the students at Oregon Agricultural College got their wish and the school started a varsity baseball team in 1907, the football field was located on the present site of McAlexander Fieldhouse and the physical plant building. The baseball diamond went on a far corner of the field, next to brand-new Waldo Hall.

In 1910, "the armory" - now McAlexander Fieldhouse - was built and football and track leapfrogged the baseball field to find a new home behind the first baseline, an area that became Bell Field. That was the first of many changes in Goss Stadium at Coleman Field's surroundings.

The Men's Gymnasium - later renamed Langton Hall - opened in 1914, adjacent to the athletic fields. In 1946, the Navy ROTC quonset huts were tucked behind the right-field corner and a year later Cascade Hall opened beyond center field. In 1959, Snell Hall opened across the street from the leftfield corner. In 1967, Finley Hall went up across the railroad tracks from right field.

In 1973, Bell Field saw its last intercollegiate athletic event as the track and field program moved to a new facility. Dixon Recreation Center opened on that site in 1976 and Stevens Natatorium was added in 1994.

As Oregon State's campus changed and grew around Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the ballpark itself stayed roughly the same. Sets of bleachers came and went, fences were torn down and replaced. The infield was rebuilt several times. Players were finally treated to the field's first dugouts in 1972, and that was the same year the first enclosed press box was constructed. The Scott Halbrook Memorial Scoreboard was added in 1986 and was in service through 2006.

When the weather forces an OSU practice inside, the Beavers are able to use one of the country's finest indoor practice facilities - the Merritt Truax Indoor Center. The building opened in September, 2001.

The 85,000-square-foot building is large enough to house a regulation football field. The entire playing surface is Fieldturf, the same as the infield at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. In addition, the building is equipped with four batting cages.

The Merritt Truax Indoor Center was designed with ample windows to provide daylight for workouts, and the brick exterior blends with Oregon State's campus.

The structure is named in honor of Merritt Truax, a 1934 Oregon State graduate who founded one of the nation's leading commercial and retail gasoline outlets.

McAlexander Fieldhouse, adjacent to the ballpark, also houses batting cages.