750 Filled City Park for 1935 Nightball

Crowds of up to 1,000 spectators packed the grounds of City Park in the summer of 1935 to watch the inaugural season of the Las Vegas Nightball Association.

The league formed in June 1935 after the Federal Emergency Relief Administration announced plans to improve the baseball diamond located behind the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse on Stewart Avenue. Fourteen teams paid a $10 entrance fee to join the league, which met at the Hotel Apache on Fremont Street to approve bylaws. Southern Nevada Power Company provided donated equipment and labor to install lighting, allowing games to begin in early July.

The Las Vegas Evening Review-Journal covered the league with detailed box scores and batting averages. The paper, which fielded its own team, dubbed the sport "nightball." Local figures participated in the league, including Reed Whipple, who pitched for First State Bank, and Bill and Bob Peccole, who starred for the Big Four bar team. Whipple later served on the Las Vegas City Council, while Bill Peccole developed the Peccole Ranch and Bob Peccole managed casinos.

Spectators initially lined the foul lines and stood behind home plate because bleachers did not yet exist. League officials issued a rule requiring games to halt if crowds crowded the field. In mid-July, player J. Miller ran over 6-year-old Victor Santa Cruz while chasing a foul ball. The boy sustained a cracked skull and underwent emergency surgery. The league expressed regret but noted that the public provided little cooperation in staying off the field.

The accident hastened the construction of bleachers along the third base line in September. The season concluded with a best-of-five "Little World Series" between the Big Four and the Barbers. Fans paid 25 cents for bleacher seats and 10 cents per car occupant for parking. The Big Four won the first two games, but the Barbers took the third and fourth contests. The teams failed to play the fifth game after a dispute over scheduling and player eligibility.

A censored advertisement in the Review-Journal revealed that the Big Four claimed the Barbers had recruited players from other teams. The ad also alleged that a Black team from the Westside had been maneuvered out of the championship slot. The league expanded in 1936 to include Boulder City teams, and a playoff game in 1937 drew more than 2,000 spectators.

City Park was renamed Squires Park in 1954. The field hosted minor league baseball in 1947 and youth leagues through the 1960s before making way for the U.S. 95 Expressway.