Cashman Field opened for professional baseball on April Fools’ Day with an exhibition game between the San Diego Padres and Seattle Mariners that ended in a 1-1 tie after 10 innings before an overflow crowd of 13,878. The Las Vegas Stars later won their Pacific Coast League debut 11-8 against the Salt Lake Gulls, with Harold Reynolds becoming the first batter in modern Las Vegas baseball history and Bruce Bochy hitting the first home run for the home team.
The field hosted a Big League Weekend preseason game between the Chicago White Sox and Cubs that drew a record 15,025 spectators, including a 9-8 White Sox win where Bo Jackson made memorable plays in the outfield. Cashman also held the Triple-A All-Star game, during which Morganna Roberts, known as 'The Kissing Bandit,' ran onto the field and kissed PCL MVP Eddie Williams. Tim Worrell threw the first no-hitter by a Las Vegas pitcher, a 2-0 win over the Phoenix Firebirds, later matched by Lindsay Gulin’s 7-0 no-hitter against Tacoma 11 years later.
Cashman Field became the first minor league stadium to host a Major League Baseball season opener when the Oakland Athletics played the Toronto Blue Jays, with the A’s going 2-4 in their first six games there during the Oakland Coliseum renovation. The final baseball game at Cashman Field took place on Sept. 3, 2018, when the Las Vegas 51s trailed Sacramento 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth. Shortstop Luis Guillorme led off with a triple, and Pete Alonso hit a walk-off home run over the America First Credit Union billboard, circling the bases bare-chested as a piece of ceiling tile fell in the press box. It was Alonso’s last minor-league at-bat before he went on to hit 307 home runs in the majors.
As Cashman Field lowered the curtain with a minor league soccer match on Saturday night, fans remembered its highlights and occasional lowlights, including Alonso’s home run, which echoed the cinematic drama of 'The Natural' and stood as one of the greatest moments in the ballpark’s history.
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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