History
The groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium, then known as Blair County Ballpark, was held on March 7, 1998. The addition of Major League Baseball teams in Phoenix, Arizona, and St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1998 also created room for Minor League Baseball to expand. Two additional teams were added to the Eastern League for the 1999 season: the Altoona Curve and the Erie SeaWolves. The city of Altoona won the favor of the Eastern League over a bid from Springfield, Massachusetts.
From 1999-2002, total seating capacity at Peoples Natural Gas Field was listed at 6,176. Prior to the 2003 season, an additional 1,034 seats were created with the construction of the new left-field reserved bleacher section, the third-base picnic pavilion, and the left-field party deck.
Blair County Ballpark hosted the Eastern League All-Star Game on July 12, 2006, before a record crowd of 9,308 fans. The largest regular-season crowd was 9,255, recorded on August 10, 2003, for a doubleheader against the Harrisburg Senators.
On January 31, 2012, it was announced that Peoples Natural Gas had signed a naming-rights deal, making the new Peoples Natural Gas Field name official. In addition, Peoples Natural Gas is conducting a study for on-site green energy.
Read more about this topic: Peoples Natural Gas Field
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