U.S. Steel Yard is an open-air
baseball stadium located in
Gary, Indiana next to
I-90. It is home to the
Gary SouthShore RailCats, a professional baseball team and member of the
American Association. It seats 6,139 people. It also hosts many
Little League Baseball games as well as
high school baseball games. The ballpark is notable for holding a memorial service for the late pop musician and Gary native
Michael Jackson on July 10, 2009, in which over 6,000 fans, with much of Jackson's family in attendance. The ballpark has had over 1,000,000 fans in attendance during the RailCats team history.
History
In February 2001, the
Northern League's
Board of Directors approved a request by company
Northwest Sports Ventures to start an expansion baseball team in
Gary, Indiana. The team was scheduled to start play in the 2002 Northern League season. Later that year, a liability company named
Victory Sports Group took the task to build a ballpark in downtown Gary. Then, in July 2001, the City of Gary and Victory agree on a 15-year lease that would facilitate the building of a state-of-the-art ballpark with construction scheduled to be completed in May 2002; the
groundbreaking ceremony was held at this time. In September 2001, the ownership names this baseball team the
Gary SouthShore RailCats, with their stadium to be called RailCats Stadium.
Then, in October 2001, the City of Gary and the construction and architectural companies involved in the building of the new ballpark announced...
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