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COLUMBIA SOFTBALL STADIUM
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QUICK FACTS
Official Name: Columbia Softball Stadium
Date Opened: Fall 1998
Seating Capacity: 750
Surface/Structure: Field Turf
Location: Baker Athletics Complex, Inwood-Manhattan, New York City
Original Cost: $1 million
Dimensions: RF-210 feet; CF-200 feet; LF-200 feet
Address: 505 West 218th Street, New York, N.Y. 10034
First Softball Game: March 21, 2000, vs. Briarcliffe
THE FACILITY
The Columbia Softball Stadium was built in 2000 for Columbia’s inaugural varsity season of softball. It has been home to the softball program since the program started as a club team in 1998. Softball became a full-fledged NCAA Division I varsity sport at Columbia during the spring of 2000.
As part of Columbia’s Baker Athletics Complex, located at the corner of 218th Street and Broadway at the northern tip of Manhattan, the venue features an outfield FieldTurf™ and a dirt-skinned infield. The outfield FieldTurf™ was renovated in 2010, enabling the Lions to have more outdoor practice opportunities during the offseason. The FieldTurf™ surface is more resilient than a grass field, allowing the team to practice outdoors more often in February in preparation for the spring season. The foul poles are 210 feet down both lines with the center field fence 200 feet from home plate. The facility holds two batting cages, two newly renovated clay pitching mounds and a spacious designated tee area with a built-in screen for hitters to warm up.
Additionally, during the spring of 2017, a navy-blue windscreen lining the outfield fence was added to compliment the FieldTurf™.
The Columbia Softball Field overlooks Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, Rocco B. Commisso Soccer Stadium and Robertson Field at Satow Stadium and is adjacent to the Columbia Field Hockey Venue. Looking out from the right field side, you can see the beauty of the Henry Hudson Bridge along with the historic “C” painted on the cliff wall of the northern side of Spuyten Duyvil.
The tract of land on which the Baker Athletics Complex stands was purchased for the University on December 30, 1921, by financier George F. Baker. Then a $700,000 gift, the 26-acre area was dedicated in April 1922 and hosted spring football practice that same year. In the fall, Columbia's football team continued to practice uptown but played its games at South Field on the Morningside Heights Campus. The first stadium at the site, then known as Baker Field, opened in the fall of 1923 with 15,000 seats in temporary stands. Five years later, the University built the 32,000 wooden-seat stadium that served Columbia fans for 55 years, until the spring of 1983.
Baker has been upgraded several times since 2005, including state of the art surfaces for all of Columbia's teams that compete at Baker Athletics Complex. Columbia's baseball, field hockey, softball and soccer teams all play on sport-specific surfaces for their respective sports.
COLUMBIA SOFTBALL STADIUM AMENITIES
- Competition home for Columbia softball team
- Field Turf installed in 2010
- Batting Cages beyond first base stands
- Upgraded dugouts
- Bleacher seating
- Daktronics scoreboard
- Access to Chrystie Field House (locker rooms, training room, equipment room)
- Access to Campbell Sports Center (team meeting rooms, weight room, coaches’ offices)
