That ballpark just blows my mind. Y’all’s outfielders must have had a big advantage.
On balls hit on the cliff over the CFer’s head, yes. There were not very many of those.
Did balls ever take up lodging in the cliff?
Not to my knowledge. It was solid rock. I do not think there were places a ball could get stuck, but maybe there were. I cannot say I ever inspected it carefully. As I said above, the cliff was not an oddity to me; it was a normal part of my spring afternoons. I had attended many games there in my years before college, and I was practicing and playing on my home field. Totally normal to me, which I know must seem odd to y’all.
True confession because the statute of limitations surely has run: During my senior baseball year at Austin High, we played the UT freshman team. I pitched, and we beat them. That night a bunch of us went into Clark Field (it was never locked) and spray-painted the score on the cliff in CF.
As a totally normal home field experience, I’m going to say without equivocation that cliff > fence; without ever experiencing the former.
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I wish I had taken advantage of seeing more games at Clark. My first year was its’ last year and I took academics really seriously that first year.
Was there any sort of incline to the cliff in CF? Because in the photo it looks honest-to-God vertical, and it’s tough to imagine anyone going up that - even with footholds - without also using their hands to climb.
I never saw Clark in person. Was it basically where the LBJ School now stands?
Nope, no incline. Maybe they used their hands some, don’t know, but it was mostly speed and momentum.
No. Bass Concert Hall is on top of it. It was across the street from the Stadium.
Following up on what Jim said, my recollection is that Clark Field and LBJ existed at the same time. For a short while.
I do not need that recollection. I know where Clark Field was. The field was north of the Stadium across the street which now is Deloss Dodds Way, and RF was adjacent to that street. The LBJ Library is east of and across Red River from the Clark Field LF outfield. LF and CF were adjacent to the west side of Red River. The Bass Concert Hall is on the Clark Field site.
Wasn’t Clark Field in Round Rock?
Not quite in Round Rock, it was south of and across Trinity St from the Law School, northeast of and across DeLoss Dodds Way from the football stadium, and west of and across Robert Dedman Dr from the LBJ library. According to Google Maps circa 1967, anyway.
That sure is a tiny football stadium.
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Interesting 1967 map which apparently forecast the future. Red River was moved east beginning at 18th in 1970, the LBJ Library opened in 1971, and Robert Dedman’s name was put on East Campus Drive in 2000.
ETA: If you enlarge the map, you’ll see the house which was on the Stadium grounds across from what now is Deloss Dodds Way. Joe Hague routinely peppered that house with his LH hitter shots during BP.
Not sure there’s any greater insult in this state.
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I’m sure I’m missing something but is there a map that you are referencing or the arial photo that Sphinx posted?
The aerial photo.
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