Left Field Lounge

The Left Field Lounge is the area beyond the outfield fence in Dudy Noble Field, Polk-DeMent Stadium at Mississippi State University. It is truly unique in college baseball,^[1] and has enabled the grounds to be named the "#1 place to watch college baseball" and among the "100 things you gotta do before you graduate" by Sports Illustrated.^[2] In 2009 the Left Field Lounge was named "the country's best tailgaiting experience" (among all venues and sports) by ESPN Magazine.

The famed author John Grisham is an alumnus of Mississippi State and avid fan of MSU college baseball. For the book Inside Dudy Noble: A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball, he wrote an introduction about his time at MSU and in the Left Field Lounge.^[3]

The Left Field Lounge started out in the 1960s with just fans driving cars and trucks into the area to watch a game. In the late 1960s, fans started bringing grills, tables, and ice chests full of drinks for a full tailgate party experience. At that time, fans would drive in before the game to set up their tailgates, and then take it all down after the game and drive back out. As the area became more popular, a line would form to get in before the game, the area would fill up, and some would be turned away. In a 2003 article by a Mississippi State alumnus:^[4] In the early 1970s one truck driven to the Left Field Lounge would not start and was unable to leave after the game was over, so the owners just left the truck there. For the next game, the truck was still there, creating an automatic reserved spot. Other fans took advantage of this and brought in trucks and grills intending to leave them there. Some trucks that were no longer drivable were towed into a spot. To allow more fans to share a space, home-built seats and bleachers were built onto the beds of the trucks. Later, motor homes and flat bed trailers were brought in with more elaborate and sturdy bleachers. Eventually the university established rules for the cherished spots in Left Field Lounge. Spaces are rented for the season, and after all of the spaces are filled, those not receiving a space are placed on a waiting list. The trucks/trailers/motor homes must be on wheels, brought in by a certain day before the season starts, and removed after the season ends.

NCAA Record Attendance

SEC weekend games typically draw the largest crowds, giving rise to huge weekend gatherings. Mississippi State currently holds the NCAA record for the largest single game on-campus baseball attendance at 15,586 and the largest SEC crowd for a 3-game weekend series at 29,915. In 2007 versus the Clemson Tigers, MSU had the NCAA's top two all-time highest attended Super Regional games with 12,620 and 13,715 fans.

Mississippi State has all of the top 11 on-campus crowds in the history of college baseball. Overall, DNF-PDS has held 15 crowds over 12,000 and 31 crowds over 10,000.

Top Baseball Crowds at DNF-PDS

Rank	Attendance	Opponent	Date	Record Broken
1	15,586	Mississippi	April 12, 2014	NCAA On-Campus Record
2	14,991	Florida	April 22, 1989	#2 NCAA On-Campus Record
3	14,562	Auburn	April 20, 2013	#3 NCAA On-Campus Record
4	14,556	Louisiana State	April 16, 1988	#4 NCAA On-Campus Record
5	13,761	Arkansas	April 25, 1992	#5 NCAA On-Campus Record
6	13,715	Clemson	June 9, 2007	#6 NCAA On-Campus Record NCAA Super Regional Single-Game Record
7	13,617	Georgia	April 8, 2006	#7 NCAA On-Campus Record
8	13,324	Mississippi	April 11, 2014	#8 NCAA On-Campus Record
9	13,123	Mississippi	April 15, 2000	#9 NCAA On-Campus Record
10	12,708	Auburn	April 24, 1993	#10 NCAA On-Campus Record
11	12,620	Clemson	June 8, 2007	#11 NCAA On-Campus Record #2 NCAA Super Regional Single-Game Record
12	12,360	Georgia	April 6, 2002	#13 NCAA On-Campus Record
13	11,763	Auburn	April 12, 2003	#16 NCAA On-Campus Record
14	11,496	Florida State	May 27, 1990	#19 NCAA On-Campus Record NCAA Regional Single-Game Record
15	11,201	Florida	April 9, 2011	#22 NCAA On-Campus Record
16	11,174	Florida	April 13, 1991	#23 NCAA On-Campus Record
17	11,127	South Alabama	May 26, 2000	#25 NCAA On-Campus Record
18	11,124	South Alabama	June 1, 2013
19	11,102	Central Arkansas	May 31, 2013
20	11,089	Tennessee	April 17, 2010
21	10,958	Auburn	April 9, 2005
22	10,832	Notre Dame	May 28, 2000
23	10,688	Washington	May 25, 1997
24	10,617	Florida	April 17, 2004
25	10,588	North Carolina	May 28, 1989
26	10,555	Kentucky	April 18, 2009
27	10,382	Florida	April 25, 1987
28	10,324	Kentucky	March 31, 2007
29	10,284	Middle TN St.	May 30, 2003
30	10,226	Central Arkansas	June 2, 2013
31	10,050	Alabama	April 10, 1999
32	9,784	Notre Dame	May 27, 2000
33	9,593	Vanderbilt	April 21, 1990
34	9,424	Georgia	March 29, 2008
35	9,264	Louisiana State	March 24, 2001
36	9,243	Louisiana State	May 15, 1993

References

↑ "Left Field Lounge". Retrieved 2008-11-30.
↑ "100 things you gotta do before you graduate". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2008-11-30.
↑ "Inside Dudy Noble: A Celebration of Mississippi State Baseball". Retrieved 2008-11-30.
↑ "Out in left field". Retrieved 2008-11-30.

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs baseball

Venues	Dudy Noble Field, Polk–DeMent Stadium (1967–present)

Culture & lore	Left Field Lounge

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

College World Series appearances in italics

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