I was able to catch the last few innings of a Princeton baseball team scrimmage on Friday afternoon. The weather was delightfully pleasant under bright sunshine, a contrast to the expected chilly, gray days when the Tigers will play their first home games of the 2027 season.
That will be the last hurrah for Bill Clarke Field, the Tigers’ home since they played their first game there in 1962. Ground has been broken for a new field scheduled to open in 2028.
Clarke Field will ultimately give way to construction of a new academic research facilities. Already, just off the third base line, ground work is underway.
I took my camera with me to the scrimmage, not only to get a look at the team but also to see what impact that neighboring construction work is having on the field. I’ll still be able to shoot along the third base line, but fans who for years have sat on the bluff above it will have to find vantage points behind home plate or along and above the first base line.
This is definitely a time of transition for the Princeton baseball program, which parted ways with head coach Scott Bradley in June. He’d led the team for 28 seasons.
In July, Princeton named Ryan Forrest to replace Bradley. Forrest was pitching coach at Boston College and earlier, when pitching coach at the Air Force Academy, was instrumental in the conversion of Paul Skenes from a catcher into a pitcher.
The 2027 promises to be an interesting one, with new coaches and another crop of incoming first-year students to take spots vacated by Class of 2026 graduates. 🧢
