All-High Stadium

All-High Stadium is a football stadium in Buffalo, New York. It was opened in 1926 and was refurbished for the fall of 2006. It is part of the Bennett High School complex. It is bounded by the high school and Main Street to the northwest, Manhattan Avenue to the northeast, Hill Street to the southeast, and Mercer Avenue to the southwest.

It was used in the filming of a key scene in "The Natural", a 1984 release set in the 1930s, as a stand-in for Wrigley Field in Chicago, which was unavailable. Although there is some ivy along the walls suggesting Wrigley, the upper deck in the outfield is more suggestive of Chicago's other major ballpark of that era, Comiskey Park. In some portions of the scene, football lines are visible, which is not anomalous, as both Chicago parks served as homes to football teams at that time.

In fact, All-High Stadium has only a single level of stands with a roof. The upper deck in the film appears to have been inserted in post-production, and the scoreboard either matted in or built as a temporary structure over an existing tall smokestack on a building that stands at the north corner of the stadium, presumably part of Bennett High's heating plant.

Most of the "The Natural's" baseball action scenes were filmed in War Memorial Stadium, which has since been demolished. All-High Stadium still stands, albeit substantially remodeled since "The Natural" filmed here.

All-High Stadium served as the home pitch for the Buffalo Storm of the United Soccer League in 1983. It will be the stadium of National Premier Soccer League team Queen City FC in 2007.

External links

* [http://bps019ws01.buffaloschools.org/News/NewsInner.aspx?PID=595 An article about the stadium's 2006 refurbishment]
* [http://www.wattsengineers.com/sell_sheets/architecture/Y4117%20All%20High%20Stadium.pdf Another article with a couple of photos]
* [http://www.forgottenbuffalo.com/thenaturaltour.html A website with photos of various locations used in filming]