There were two Midway Stadiums, both gone now.

FIRST MIDWAY STADIUM

Wikipedia:

The first Midway Stadium was the home of the St. Paul Saints from 1957–1960. It was located at 1000 North Snelling Avenue, on the east side of that street. It was built with just a small uncovered and presumably expandable grandstand. It was intended to compete with Metropolitan Stadium for attracting a major league baseball team, but the already-larger capacity of “The Met” doomed Midway Stadium. It was abandoned for professional baseball once the Twins arrived in 1961 and displaced both the Saints and the Minneapolis Millers. It was used for minor events and as a Minnesota Vikings practice field for the next 20 years, and finally demolished in 1981 to make way for the Energy Park. That development, with all new streets and various buildings, rubbed out any trace of the ballpark’s existence.

 

 

 

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OPEN AIR CONCERTS

Midway Stadium was best known for a series of so-called “Open Air Concerts.”

 

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Chicago, the Doobie Brothers, and Kansas appeared at Midway Stadium on August 22, 1974.  The concert was promoted by Dick Shapiro.

 

 

 

Oddly, an article about the concert the next day described lots of things but failed to mention who was performing.  It did say that 27,500 people attended, and that all bottles and cans were confiscated at the gate.  Security men hired by Greathall Productions said “Even a can of Coke can turn into a dangerous projectile.”  As the word got out, concert-goers chugged their beer before it got tossed.  Patrons were not checked for pot, other drugs, or weapons.  The concert was delayed for two hours because of the stop and frisk, but “on the whole, people seemed to be having a good time listening to the music, cuddling with their dates and enjoying the cool evening air.”

 

Michael Anthony’s review was much more specific.  He gave the attendance as 27,037, a record for the stadium.  The St. Paul police and the managers of the stadium were

wary of possible violence (such as that which occurred at the last big Midway concert the summer of 1971), and covered the concert with nearly 100 uniformed officers, a number of plainclothes narcotics agents and four dogs.  In addition, the police department recorded crowd behavior on video tape from the roof.  No arrests were made.

One member of the crowd recalled opening band Kansas “getting a poor reception. They were pretty unknown at the time and I don’t think the crowd knew what to make of them.”  Another didn’t remember them at all.  Many people were still trying to find their seats during their set.

 

 

The Doobie Brothers were next.  Anthony felt the need to write, “The Doobie Brothers, none of whom are actually brothers or named Doobie (Doobie is California slang for “joint”)…”  They played for 85 minutes and “Lead singer Tom Johnston was flat much of the time.”

While Chicago was setting up, a female streaker ran across the stage “and was never seen again.”  Otherwise Anthony didn’t have much to say about the band.

 

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SECOND MIDWAY STADIUM

Wikipedia:

The second Midway Stadium opened in September 1982 at roughly half the size of its namesake. It was located at 1771 Energy Park Drive. That’s on the north side of that road, just west of Snelling, complemented by the Burlington Northern tracks to the north just beyond left field. Thus it was about a mile west of the first Midway Stadium site. The ballpark started out in life as Municipal Stadium. It was home of Hamline University’s baseball team. Despite its baseball configurations, some small private schools in St. Paul played football games at Midway in the fall. When Mike Veeck and Bill Murray revived the Saints and also the independent Northern League in 1993, they set up shop there, at the soon-rechristened Midway Stadium. Midway Stadium was also used, occasionally, for rock concerts and other events. In April 2014 it was announced that pioneering alternative rock band The Replacements would hold a hometown reunion concert at the venue on September 13, 2014.

The Saints’ slogan is “Fun Is Good” and Mike Veeck has proudly declared that Midway Stadium is “The ugliest ballpark in America!”^[ Mike’s late father, Bill Veeck, Jr. is a well-known baseball owner and counts one of his accomplishments as planting the ivy at Wrigley Field.

2014 was the final season for both Hamline and the Saints at Midway Stadium. Both teams moved into the new ballpark CHS Field in time for the 2015 season. Midway Stadium was torn down in June 2015. The 12-acre site will be used for an office or warehouse development, which is in line with the industrial area that surrounds the stadium.