AIR WAY PARK
You are in the area that once housed a baseball stadium known as Airway Park,
so named due to the proximity of the airfield nearby on the present-day Boise State
University campus.
In 1868, Boise’s first amateur baseball team - the Pioneer Baseball Club - was organized. The
first games were played on the square where Idaho’s capitol now stands. Clubs from nearby
cities and teams comprised of businessmen, teachers and soldiers from Fort Boise played
each other on undeveloped fields through the early 1890’s. In 1902, Boise’s first baseball
stadium, Riverside Park, was built. The Pioneer Baseball Club entered semi-professional
baseball in 1904 by joining the Pacific International League.
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In 1939, the Pioneer League (affiliate league for Major League Baseball)
formed. That same year, Boise donated 11 acres of Municipal Park for a
baseball field. The elaborate new stadium was home to the Boise Pilots, which
joined the league along with teams from Twin Falls, Pocatello, Lewiston, Salt
Lake, and Ogden. After World War II, the stadium was expanded from 3,000
seats to 5,000.
Receiving instruction in pitching technique
TIMELINE
1939 – Pioneer League forms, Boise Pilots start inaugural season at Airway Park
In 1951, the owner of Capitol City Baseball, Inc., bought the team and
changed the name to the Boise Yankees for the 1952-1953 seasons.
1941 – Boise Pilots win Pioneer League regular season title
In March 1952, the name of the stadium changed to honor the late Joe Devine.
In the 1900s Devine, also a talented New York Yankees scout, played for a
Boise team in the Union Association League.
1953 – Future country music star Charley Pride signs and plays for the Boise Yankees
1952 – Airway Park renamed Joe Devine Stadium after New York Yankee Scout Joe Devine
1954 – Milwaukee Braves take over affiliation, name changed to Boise Braves
1956 – Bob Uecker makes his debut with the Boise Braves
1960 – Bill Lucas, first African-American general manager in Major League Baseball,
bats .311 for Boise Braves
Mark Baltes Collection
In 1954, the Milwaukee Braves obtained team affiliation rights and the Boise
Braves took the field. The park, known as Braves Field, would be home
to future Major League Baseball players including Bob Uecker and Sandy
Alomar. After the team dissolved in 1963, the Idaho Department of Fish and
Game purchased the land and demolished the stadium.
1951 – Boise Pilots name changed to Boise Yankees, new ownership for next season
1963 – Land purchased by Idaho Department of Fish and Game, stadium demolished
Airway Park, home of the Boise Pilots. Photo - August, 1941.
DID YOU KNOW?
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Boise’s other semi-professional teams have included: Irrigators, Buckskins,
A’s, and Fruit Pickers.
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Walter Johnson, one of the best pitchers in MLB history, played catch in the
historic Idanha Hotel.
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In 1902, an all-women baseball team called the New England Bloomers played
an exhibition game in Boise against the Boise Lobsters, an amateur team.
Boise Pilots players after a win
Opening Day parade, 1939
Parks &
Recreation
The Boise River Greenbelt Historical Education Project was
produced in 1990 by the Ada County Centennial Committee
The signs were renovated in 2013 by Boise Parks & Recreation
in honor of the City of Boise’s sesquicentennial.
Photos by permission of the Idaho Historical Society