BATTLE CREEK BOMBERS

C.O. Brown Stadium has been the cornerstone of baseball for the city of Battle Creek, Michigan. The stadium was erected in 1990 and is a part of Bailey Park, a longtime home of amateur baseball. In 1994 C.O. Brown Stadium was the former home of the Michigan Battlecats, which was a Class A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros. Then in 2003 the Battle Creek Yankees arrived which was the Class A Affiliate of the New York Yankees. The name changed again in 2005 to the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, a former class A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. In 2007 C.O. Brown Stadium became the current home of the 2011 Northwoods League Summer Collegiate Champions, the Battle Creek Bombers.

The seating capacity for C.O. Brown stadium is 4,701 and the stadium was named for Cooper Othniel Brown. Brown was a baseball entrepreneur who helped make Battle Creek a hub for amateur tournament baseball in the 1930s and served as the first president of the American Amateur Baseball Congress. Baseball has been a part of the Battle Creek community since 1895 when the Battle Creek Adventists first took the field. Since then, Battle Creek has hosted 7 different Minor League teams. These include the Cero Frutos of 1902, the Battle Creek Crickets from 1906-1915, and the Battle Creek Custers from 1918-1920. In 1928, Hall of Famers Babe Ruth & Lou Gehrig brought their barnstorming team to Battle Creek and beat the local Kellogg and Postum team 3-1.