Built in 1926, Bowman Field has long been noted as Pennsylvania's oldest operating minor league baseball park and the nation's second oldest. The first professional game here was played April 27, 1926, between the Williamsport Grays and the Negro league Harrisburg Giants. Over the years the park became home to successive Williamsport teams and hosted many major league teams for exhibition games. It was originally called Memorial Field and was renamed in 1929 for J. Walton Bowman.