History
The first ballpark at this site was built as Pioneer Memorial Stadium in 1947. It was renamed Sec Taylor Stadium in honor of the longtime Des Moines Register sports editor on September 2, 1959. The park served as home of the Des Moines Bruins of the Class A Western League (1947-1958) and the Des Moines Demons of the Class B Three-I League (1959-1961). It became the home of the Iowa Cubs (originally the Iowa Oaks of the American Association) in 1969.
By the late 1980s the original stadium was becoming run down, and was starting to develop a seedy reputation as the wooden seats and bleachers were splintering and unpainted. After Des Moines voters approved a bond issue to rebuild Sec Taylor Stadium in August 1990, most of the original stadium was demolished after the 1991 season. The present facility, complete with sky boxes, plastic seats, metal bleachers and a family picnic area, was dedicated on April 16, 1992. During part of the 1993 season the stadium was submerged by the Great Flood of 1993, but the team still went on to win the American Association championship. The Triple-A All-Star Game was held here in 1997. In 2004, Chicago Cubs pitchers Mark Prior and Kerry Wood—both former I-Cubs players—pitched rehabilitation starts in Des Moines and attracted sellout crowds in the process. Wood made two additional rehab starts at Principal Park in June 2005 and one start on May 12, 2006.
On August 5, 2004, Sec Taylor Stadium was renamed Principal Park after the Principal Financial Group purchased the naming rights to the facility. The playing field is still known as Sec Taylor Field. The $2.5 million deal covered part of a $6.8 million renovation project that took place during the 2005-2006 off-season. The project included the addition of over 1,000 new seats in the right field grandstand, replacement of all other seats, construction of new right field bleachers, installation of a new scoreboard and video board, replacement of the stadium field lighting system, and other structural changes.
Principal Park hosted its first Iowa High School Athletic Association state baseball tournament in 2005 and is scheduled to host the tournament through 2008.
Principal Park's single-game attendance record was set on June 8, 2007, when 15,188 fans watched an I-Cubs game against the New Orleans Zephyrs. However, the highest attendance for any event at the stadium was set on September 25, 2009, when a Dave Matthews Band concert brought in a sellout crowd of 17,646.
On June 14, 2008, the Iowa Cubs beat the Nashville Sounds 5-4. The paid attendance was 0 due to flooding concerns in the Downtown Des Moines area.
Read more about this topic: Principal Park
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