Stadium are plaques bearing the names of the New Britain Sports Hall of Fame. Including the 2020 class, there are 292 inductees representing the city's athletic history from 1850 to date. History The need for New Britain Stadium grew out of a new set of ballpark standards issued by the National Association of Professional Baseball Clubs in the early 1990s. Due to the growing popularity of minor league baseball, and the wide variety of facilities that were in use at the time, that governing body thought it best to establish consistency and minimum standards for such things as dugouts, locker rooms, press boxes, seating capacity, etc., across all the minor leagues. On a case-by-case basis, franchises were given certain time periods in which to achieve compliance. At this time, the Rock Cats were still playing at Beehive Field, which—despite some recent improvements—still fell far short of meeting the league minimums. A big hangup was the seating capacity, which was about 2,000 shy of the new requirement of 6,000 to support a double-A franchise. The estimate was that bringing Beehive Field into compliance would have cost at least $2–3 million, and this was also at a time when other brand-new stadiums were being constructed around the Eastern League. Rock Cats owner Joe Buzas was also faced with pressure from the Boston Red Sox organization (which was the team's major-league affiliate at the time) to move the team closer to the heart of Red Sox Nation—preferably Springfield, Massachusetts. Eventually in August 1994, after receiving pledges of financial support from the City of New Britain, Connecticut governor Lowell Weicker, and New Britain's largest employer, Stanley Works, Buzas announced that he would keep the team in the city and begin construction of a new ballpark. Groundbreaking occurred on June 1, 1995, and construction moved quickly while the Rock Cats played out their last season at Beehive Field located right next door. New Britain-based Kaestle-Boos, Inc., was selected as the architect, and the Brunoli Construction Company of Avon was chosen as general contractor. The new stadium was built from scratch in less than 11 months. Obstacles along the way included the need to move New Britain High School's baseball and softball fields (also located next door; those teams now use the still-standing Beehive Field); environmental issues including redirecting the flow of a nearby stream; and jurisdictional conflicts, since part of the stadium grounds is actually