Rocky Mountain Showdown - Mile High Stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High, Folsom Field, Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium (Paperback)

Chapters: Mile High Stadium, Invesco Field at Mile High, Folsom Field, Sonny Lubick Field at Hughes Stadium. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 35. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Mile High Stadium - Mile High Stadium was originally built as Bears Stadium for minor league baseball by Bob Howsam in 1948 at the site of a former landfill. The stadium initially consisted of a single 17,000-seat grandstand stretching along the north side from the left field foul pole to the right field foul pole on the west side. Luther "Bud" Phillips hit the first official Home Run out of Bears Stadium. In the late 1950s there was an attempt to form the Continental League led by the famous Dodger General Manager, Branch Rickey. Bob Howsam joined ranks with Rickey, pleading for a major league team in Denver. Advised that to get a major league franchise Denver would need a much larger ballpark, Bears Stadium would begin the first of its many expansions. Over eight thousand seats were added to the south stands, bringing stadium capacity to 23,100. The new east stands increased seating to 34,657. Major League Baseballs answer to the Continental League was to expand the league, which would eventually lead to the folding of the Continental League. Although Denver was not awarded a franchise, MLB promised teams in the future for Denver and other cities. Howsam was now trapped with a large stadium and debt he could not afford. Frantically searching for a solution, he turned to football. After meeting Lamar Hunt, Bud Adams, and George Halas, Howsam helped form the American Football League (AFL) and Denver was awarded the Broncos. A large bleacher section was added along the south side and temporary east stands were built in 1960, raising the capacity to 34,000. Howsam's ownership in the AFL was short-lived as o...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=758521