History
Ed Smith Stadium was formerly the spring home of the Chicago White Sox (1989–1997) and the Baltimore Orioles (1991). In 1998, it replaced Plant City Stadium as the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds remained at the facility through 2008. After Cincinnati's club moved its spring activities to Arizona, Ed Smith Stadium spent a year without major league Spring Training.
The Orioles became the stadium's tenant and operator in 2010. Baltimore had trained in Sarasota before -- at Twin Lakes Park in 1989 and 1990, as well as at Ed Smith in 1991 -- before moving to St. Petersburg and then Ft. Lauderdale for spring games.
From 1989 to 2009, the stadium hosted a series of Minor League Baseball teams, the Single-A Sarasota White Sox, Sarasota Red Sox, and Sarasota Reds. From 2004 until 2009, it housed the Gulf Coast League's Gulf Coast Reds. Ed Smith has also hosted high school and college baseball tournaments.
On November 1st, 2008, Barack Obama gave a speech to a crowd of ten thousand spectators as part of his 2008 presidential campaign.
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