Looking back at the Tulsa Drillers

Originally Published: Apr 5, 2010 8:30 PM CDT

Oklahoma Sports Staff

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Baseball came to Tulsa in 1893. The first games were played on makeshift fields on the outskirts of town.

Tulsa's first professional game was played in 1905 at the city's new field, Athletic Park, at West Archer and Elwood. The team moved to two other ballparks before settling at McNulty Park in 1919, the team’s home for the next 10 years.

In 1934 - after brief stint in a spot now occupied by Fair Meadows Race Track- Tulsa baseball moved to its new home, Tulsa County Stadium, in another section of the fairgrounds. The name was changed the following year to Texas League Park.

Texas League Park was renamed Oiler Park in 1961, and by then the wooden stadium had started to show its age. In 1977, part of the stands collapsed under the weight of fans seeking shelter from a storm. No one was killed, but 20 people were hurt and the city bulldozed the park.

On April 16, 1981 the first pitch was thrown out at Tulsa's new stadium at 15th and Yale. The park was named Driller's Stadium in 1990 after the team that took the same name during the last few years at Oiler Park.

Now, more than a century after the city's first pitch, Tulsa baseball has come home to downtown, bringing with it a piece of the past.

In October of 2009, a helicopter flew the home plate from the Old Drillers’ stadium to the new OneOK Field.

The new stadium is the crown jewel in a pitch to revive what was once the heart of a vibrant city.

The Drillers open up OneOK stadium with a six-game home stand starting Thursday.