Bowman Field

The class “A” 1962 Williamsport Grays went 82-58 and won the Eastern League regular season pennant. The team was coached by future MLB manager Frank Lucchesi and featured a roster that would produce 11 big leaguers including two time All-Star Ray Culp and future Phillies manager Pat Corrales. Also on that roster was a 20 year old outfielder from Wampum named Richard Anthony (Dick) Allen. He led the team with a .329 batting average with 20 home runs and 109 RBI’s. In 2010, Dick Allen was inducted into the Bowman Field Hall of Fame.

The Grays played their home games at Williamsport’s historic Bowman Field. The first professional baseball game at Bowman Field featured the Williamsport Grays played the Harrisburg Colored Giants on April 27, 1926. In that game, Oscar Charleston, Harrisburg first baseman and manager, hit the first home run at the new ballpark. Charleston was one of the all-time greats of the Negro Leagues and was later enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Bowman Field is currently the third oldest ballpark in minor league baseball.

On April 21st, 2014, fifty two years after his grandfather played on the same field, a local high school baseball player named Richard Anthony (Tre) Allen added his name to the 1000’s of players that have enjoyed the old stadium in Williamsport.