East Chicago icon is in its 70th season

Updated: May 7, 2011 9:49PM

EAST CHICAGO — The most intriguing baseball field in Northwest Indiana celebrates it’s 70th birthday next year, and yes, it looks every bit of it.

Sadly, there is no such thing as wrinkle cream for an old ballpark. As a result, the steel construction and I-beams at East Chicago’s E.J. Block Stadium have been consumed a bit by rust.

Not that this is a bad thing, though.

“It actually adds to the character of the ballpark,” said East Chicago Central baseball coach Jorge Ontiveros. “It’s unlike any other ballpark in the area.”

And oh, the stories Block Stadium could tell. And the many A-list ballplayers it’s seen.

Tim Stoddard pitched there on the way to a major-league career. Kenny Lofton, more known as a basketball player in his high school days, also began his run to the majors there. So did Ron Kittle, who both managed his first professional game at Block and whose road to the big leagues got a little bumpy there back in high school.

An area college team began its baseball program at Block. And a professional baseball team also played there — for all of one year, at least. A year that likely set a record for most managers in a season.

And to think — the ballpark was originally built with none of the above in mind.

“I always heard about that place when I was in high school and my dad drove me over there to see Tim Stoddard pitch,” said Kittle, who starred with the White Sox. “Playing there was always something you looked forward to, with the big buildings in the back down in right field. It had that Wrigley Field feel to it. It was a fun place.”

Ask just about anyone about Block Stadium (capacity around 3,500) and they will say the same thing: It’s the region’s answer to Wrigley. And like the Friendly Confines, the ballpark had a few quirks that make it, well, delightfully eccentric.

There are the old buildings lined up outside the right-field fence Kittle referred to, giving Block Stadium, shall we say, a geriatric Camden Yards look.

Fans still get to watch the game on wooden benches, which means if you sit in the right place (or maybe the wrong place), you can take a little of Block Stadium home with you.

And of course, there’s the roof over the grandstands, something no other high school ballpark has. This comes in handy when it rains. It also makes such a little thing as a foul ball entertaining.

“Every foul ball that’s hit in the air, you know you’re going to hear a loud ‘Bam!’ when it hits the roof,” said Ontiveros, who played high school ball for East Chicago from 1988 to 1991. “It’s what made Block Stadium very unique.”

Most ballparks were built for organanized baseball teams. Not old Block Stadium, though. It was built in 1941 and opened in 1942 by the Block family — the founders of Inland Steel — so that their employees and their children could have physical activity.

The Blocks probably never expected their creation to come so far. East Chicago’s high school teams have played there forever. The Puerto Rican Parade and other cultural events have called the place home. So did college baseball for five years.

“It was a great opportunity to be there,” said Calumet College athletic director Peter Haring, whose baseball team began its program at Block. “There is so much history there and from a facility standpoint, it gave us instant credibility.”

So many major league careers began there.

And one almost didn’t.

“I was kicked out of a game there in my junior year in a tournament,” Kittle said. “It was my first game there, and all the scouts were in town to watch me play, and I hit a double in my first at-bat. Then on a bang-bang play at the plate, I slid into the catcher hard and I was safe. The opposing coach was obviously friends with the umpire and I got kicked out of the game. All the scouts left, and to this day it was a heartbreaker.”

Ah, heartbreak. Can’t live 70 years and not experience a few disappointments.

In 1995, Block hosted professional baseball as home of the East Chicago Conquistadors, part of the Mid-American League. And in a neat twist, their first game at Block Stadium was against a team from Merrillville — a team managed by Kittle.

And the old ballpark might have thought the play-for-pay thing would last forever when then-Conquistadors owner Dave McNeill boldly predicted that the Mid-American League would be around for “years to come.” Not quite.

The Conquistadors — and for that matter, the league — folded after the season. But not before East Chicago ran through four managers in that one season.

For most games, Block Stadium welcomed fewer than 100 fans.

One thing the old place can brag about is its longevity. Granted, its days as the region’s ballpark of choice have long since passed — Calumet College, for example has moved to the new Whiting baseball field, which is like Justin Bieber to Block Stadium’s Tony Bennett.

But that’s OK.

Newer ballparks have a long way to go to match the stories, the history, and, yes, the quirks of Block Stadium. Simply put, more fans have left their hearts at Block than at any other athletic building in the region.

“When you play there, you’re at more than just a baseball diamond,” Haring said. “There is so much history there. For us to begin our program at Block Stadium was a great experience.”

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