Originally called Howard J. Lamade Memorial Field, the ballpark opened for the 1959 tournament.[3] Howard J. Lamade was the son of Grit newspaper founder Dietrick Lamade.[4] The younger Lamade was a vice president at Grit Publishing, and served on the board of directors for Little League Baseball in the 1950s.[2] A donation from Grit Publishing was used to purchase land where the stadium is located.[2] The ballpark received its current name in 1968, when the original wood and steel stands were replaced with a concrete stadium.[3]
Renovations
The exterior of Lamade Stadium in 2007
Lights were added in 1992 to facilitate night game play in conjunction with expansion of the series to round robin play.[5]
In 2006, the fences were moved back 20 ft (6.1 m) to 225 ft (68.6 m) to all fields. This was done because home runs were becoming too common. Other renovations included the extension of the stadium roofs to the end of the grandstands, and some bleachers replaced with individual seats with backs, increasing seating of that type from approximately 600 to 1500.[2]
