HoHoKam Stadium - The Mesa HoHoKam Organization - chicago cubs spring training stadium - hohokam field - spring training ballpark

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HoHoKam Stadium - Mesa, Arizona - Spring Training Home of the Chicago Cubs

The HoHoKam Organization
If you come to see the Cubs play a spring training game in Mesa, you'll notice friendly, red-jacketed volunteers parking cars, selling programs, helping guide you to your seat. They're all part of a civic group known as the Mesa HoHoKams. They were originally founded in 1951, led by Dwight "Pat" Patterson, to sponsor the spring training activities of Major League Baseball. In 1952, the HoHoKams first hosted the Chicago Cubs at Rendezvous Park in Mesa. This valued group has been an integral part of the Mesa community since those early days, and donate their proceeds to local youth sports activities.

A note from Tim, "The Mesa HoHoKams allowed me to help out with their spring training endeavors in 1984, and have invited me back every year since. I have gained invaluable experience, grown as a person, and found a wealth of friendship because of my association with this benevolent group."

At the Buckhorn Baths, March 1952

HoHoKam the Stadium
HoHoKam Stadium and the Chicago Cubs own the ALL-TIME MAJOR LEAGUE ATTENDANCE RECORD for home games during a spring training season. In 2007 the Cubs set a Cactus League single game attendance record with 12,906.

The Cubs spring home attendance of 193,993 in 2005 broke the previous MLB record set by the Cubs in 2004. That's an average of 12,125 per game for the Cubs 16 games at HoHoKam.

In 2008, the Cubs will spend their 30th consecutive, and 44th overall spring training in Mesa, and 56th year spring training in the state of Arizona. This is their 12th season in the new HoHoKam Park/Fitch Park facilities.

HoHoKam Park is operated by the city of Mesa with assistance from the HoHoKam organization. HoHoKam Park's seating capacity is 12,575. There are 8,000 fixed seats and 2,000 bleacher seats to go with an outfield lawn seating capacity of 2,575. The stadium was designed by HOK Architects of Kansas City, Mo., designers of Baltimore’s Camden yards, Cleveland’s Jacobs Field, and Coors Field in Denver.

Stadium dimensions are:
• 340 feet down the leftfield line
• 350 feet down the rightfield line
• 410 feet to straight-away centerfield
• 390 feet to the power alleys

The batter's eye in centerfield is 80 feet wide by 40 feet high. The outfield fence is 15 feet, 4 inches high.

HoHoKam Park also has a practice field, a practice infield, four batting tunnels, bi-level bullpens in right-centerfield and a 13,955-square foot clubhouse. The facility, which includes paved and grass parking for 3,000 cars, was built on a 48.45-acre site.

Following the 1996 spring campaign, a new Fitch Park practice complex was built on a 31-acre lot. Fitch Park has four practice fields, one practice infield and a 29,733-square foot clubhouse with lockers for 200 players and 36 coaches.

Mesa is the 14th different training site used by the Cubs since 1900 and the fifth site since 1921. In some instances, the team's exhibition games were not played at the training site.

Cubs Spring Training Sites Since 1900

Selma, AL-1900
Champaign, IL-1901-1902
Los Angeles, CA-1903-1904
Santa Monica, CA-1905
West Baden, IN-1906-1908
Shreveport, LA-1909
West Baden, IN-1910-1911
New Orleans, LA-1912
Tampa, FL-1913-1916
Pasadena, CA-1917-1920
Catalina Island, CA-1921-1941
French Lick, IN 1942-1945
Catalina Island, CA-1946-1951
Mesa, AZ-1952-1965
Long Beach, CA-1966
Scottsdale, AZ-1967-1978
Mesa, AZ-1979-present

Cubs Original Spring Home in Mesa

A Little History on Baseball in Mesa

By the 1920’s Mesa was home to several amateur baseball teams, the most well known being the Mesa Jewels. The teams needed a better baseball field which led the community to build their first permanent diamond in 1921, at the corner of 2nd Street and Sirrine. With the development of the nearby Rendezvous Hall, for social events, and Rendezvous Pool, the ballpark gradually became known as “Rendezvous Park.”

The Chicago Cubs first expressed interest in training in Mesa as early as 1942, when a contingent of Cubs officials met with City officials to evaluate the ballpark and lodging facilities. But it was not until 1952 that the final decision was made for the Chicago Cubs to use Mesa as their spring training home. Six major league exhibition games were played in Mesa that season, against the Cleveland Indians, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, and crosstown rival Chicago White Sox.

Amenities at the old Rendezvous Park were less than ideal. The clubhouse was too small to accommodate the players’ luggage; the trunks were moved outside each morning and returned to the clubhouse at the end of the day. Extra bleachers were rented to accommodate the large number of spectators, and 500 wooden chairs were acquired from Los Angeles Wrigley Field, to serve as “box seats.”

Improvements were made to Rendezvous Park over the years, with the Cubs training at the site through 1965. After a three-year absence, spring training returned to Mesa when an agreement was reached with the Oakland A’s. Mesa was Oakland’s spring training site for 10 years, including their three consecutive world championship seasons from 1972 to 1974.

Rendezvous Park fell victim to the wrecking ball in November 1976, replaced by the first stadium at Hohokam Park, dedicated in 1977. The A’s continued training at this new facility until 1979, at which time the Chicago Cubs relocated back to Mesa from Scottsdale. It was during the mid-1980s that the Cubs enjoyed unprecedented attendance, ranking as the Cactus League’s largest draw, and at or near the top of all major league teams in spring training admissions.

This support from area residents and winter visitors played a large role in the development and building of the new Hohokam Stadium in 1996/1997. With outfield berm seating and a capacity of 12,575, Mesa’s Hohokam Stadium is known as one of the top spring training facilities in all of Major League Baseball.

Hohokam History

Hohokam Stadium (pronounced “HO-HO-COM”) takes its name from some of the earliest Arizona residents: the Native American Tribe known as the Hohokam, who occupied this region from the year AD 1 until the mid-1400s. The name “Hohokam” is derivative from a Pima Indian word for “those who are gone.”
The Hohokam were one of the world’s most advanced prehistoric civilizations, and were able to flourish in central Arizona’s desert region for more than a thousand years by developing a sophisticated system of irrigation canals, totaling more than 125 miles. These canals were so effective that much of today’s canal system follows along the same pattern engineered by the Hohokam centuries before.
Hohokam Stadium is located just a few blocks east of the Mesa Grande Ruin, at the corner of Date and 10th Street, believed to contain the remnants of one of the key Hohokam temples and gathering structures. This site was purchased by the City of Mesa in the late 1980s for future preservation and study, and a visitor’s center and museum is planned.

The reason for the sudden disappearance of the Hohokams around 1450 is still subject to debate, although many theories (drought, disease, warfare with neighboring tribes) have been proposed. Artifacts from the Hohokam civilization, as well as replicas of Hohokam dwellings, are on permanent display at the City of Mesa’s museum of history, the Arizona Museum of Natural History.