Roger Dean Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Abacoa community of the town of Jupiter, Florida

Jupiter, Florida

Jupiter is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 39,328. The estimate population for 2009 is 50,606. As of 2006, the population had grown to 50,028, according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research....

. The stadium was built in 1998, holds 6,871 people, and features luxury sky-box seating

Luxury box

A Luxury box is a special seating section located within stadiums, arenas and other sporting and entertainment venues. They are typically located in the midsection of a stadium grandstand, usually providing the best views of the event...

, 2 levels of permanent seating, parking and concessions. The Roger Dean Stadium Complex is the only stadium in the country to host four minor league

Minor league baseball

Minor league baseball is a hierarchy of professional baseball leagues in the Americas that compete at levels below Major League Baseball and provide opportunities for player development. All of the minor leagues are operated as independent businesses...

 teams: the Jupiter Hammerheads

Jupiter Hammerheads

The Jupiter Hammerheads are a minor league baseball team based in Jupiter, Florida, named for the hammerhead shark.The team, which plays in the Florida State League, is the Class A Advanced affiliate of the Miami Marlins major-league club....

 and Palm Beach Cardinals

Palm Beach Cardinals

The Palm Beach Cardinals are a minor league baseball team based in Jupiter in Palm Beach County, Florida.The team, which plays in the Florida State League, is the High-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals major-league club....

 of the Class A-Advanced Baseball Florida State League

Florida State League

The Florida State League is a Class A-Advanced minor league baseball league operating in the state of Florida. They are one of three leagues currently operating in Class A-Advanced, the third highest of six classifications of minor leagues...

, and the Gulf Coast Marlins

Gulf Coast Marlins

The Gulf Coast League Marlins are one of the Rookie Level minor league affiliates of the Miami Marlins. The team plays in Jupiter, Florida, at Roger Dean Stadium...

 and Gulf Coast Cardinals

Gulf Coast Cardinals

The Gulf Coast League Cardinals are a minor league baseball team that plays in the Gulf Coast League. The Cardinals were originally a team from 1966-1976, but were reactivated in 2007. The Cardinals play their home games in Jupiter, Florida at Roger Dean Stadium, which is also the spring training...

 of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League

Gulf Coast League

The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and South...

.

Roger Dean Stadium is the only stadium in Florida to host two Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 teams annually for spring training

Spring training

In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

: the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals

St. Louis Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

. The teams share the main stadium where the games are played. However, the teams have their own practice fields, outdoor batting cage

Batting cage

A batting cage is an enclosed cage for baseball players to practice the skill of batting.It is usually made of netting or a chain-link fence and rectangular in shape. A batter stands at one end of the cage, with a pitching machine at the opposing end...

s, several pitching mounds, and state-of-the-art conditioning rooms.

History

Through 2002 the Montreal Expos

Montreal Expos

The Montreal Expos were a Major League Baseball team located in Montreal, Quebec from 1969 through 2004, holding the first MLB franchise awarded outside the United States. After the 2004 season, MLB moved the Expos to Washington, D.C. and renamed them the Nationals.Named after the Expo 67 World's...

 shared the stadium with the Cardinals, until they swapped with the Marlins as part of the Marlins sale to Jeffrey Loria

Jeffrey Loria

Jeffrey H. Loria is an art dealer and is the owner of the Miami Marlins. Raised in Manhattan, Loria took an early interest in baseball, attending his first New York Yankees game in the late 1940s. Loria attended New York City's Stuyvesant High School and Yale University, where he initially took...

. The Expos, now known as the Washington Nationals

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals are a professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C. The Nationals are a member of the Eastern Division of the National League of Major League Baseball . The team moved into the newly built Nationals Park in 2008, after playing their first three seasons in RFK Stadium...

, then moved to Space Coast Stadium

Space Coast Stadium

Space Coast Stadium is a baseball stadium that was completed prior to the 1994 season as part of a plan to bring spring training for the Florida Marlins to Viera, Florida....

 in Viera, FL.

Roger Dean Stadium was badly damaged in 2004

2004 in baseball

-Headline events of the year:*The Boston Red Sox win their first World Series since , ending the Curse of the Bambino.*With 262 hits, Ichiro Suzuki of the Mariners breaks George Sisler's record of 257. Suzuki also sets the record for most singles in a season, with 225.*2004 also marked the final...

 by hurricanes Frances

Hurricane Frances

Hurricane Frances was the sixth named storm, the fourth hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. The system crossing the open Atlantic during mid to late August, moving to the north of the Lesser Antilles while strengthening. Its outer bands affected Puerto...

 and Jeanne

Hurricane Jeanne

Hurricane Jeanne was the deadliest hurricane in the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the tenth named storm, the seventh hurricane, and the fifth major hurricane of the season, as well as the third hurricane and fourth named storm of the season to make landfall in Florida...

.

Cliff Politte

Cliff Politte

Cliff Anthony Politte is a right-handed Major League Baseball retired relief pitcher.Selected in the 54th round of the 1995 Major League Baseball Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Politte came up to the parent club in . He threw the first pitch at the new Roger Dean Stadium in spring training that...

 threw the first pitch in the stadium's history in spring training, 1998

1998 in baseball

-Headline events of the year:*Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey, Jr., and Greg Vaughn all hit 30 home runs before the All-Star break and engage in a historic chase for Roger Maris's single-season record of 61 home runs...

.

External links

• Roger Dean Stadium Official website

• Roger Dean Stadium Minor League Ball Parks
• Roger Dean Stadium Views - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues