This Indiana hidden gem has hosted Hall of Famers and Hollywood

From overlooked roadside attractions to offbeat museums and obscure natural wonders, Local Hidden Gems will showcase some of the unique and unexpected treasures that make America extraordinary. We will emphasize charm, surprise and delight.

Local hidden gem: Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Long before "retro" became popular in professional baseball, there was the "original" aesthetic at American ballparks.

Brick walls. Hand-painted signs. Iron gates. Seating that made fans feel like they were as close to the action as any player on the infield.

The original lives on at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana, a city of about 115,000 people along the Ohio River.

Bosse Field was built for $50,000 and opened in 1915. It is the third-oldest ballpark still in operation in the United States, trailing only Chicago's Wrigley Field and Boston's Fenway Park.

Local hidden gems: A spotlight on the American treasures in our backyards

And over the past 109 years, it has seen its share of history.

The ballpark has been home to minor league teams of the Detroit Tigers, Boston (and Milwaukee) Braves, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers. Some of baseball's greatest players, including Warren Spahn, Hank Greenberg and Edd Roush, did time in the minor leagues at Bosse Field. Jim Leyland managed teams there in the late 1970s and early 80s.

In the early 1920s, the Evansville Crimson Giants played two NFL seasons at the stadium.

Its biggest (and most lasting) moment in the spotlight came in 1991 when Hollywood came to Evansville and used Bosse Field for scenes in the Tom Hanks/Geena Davis movie "A League of Their Own," which celebrated the World War II-era All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

In the movie, Bosse Field is the home field of the Racine Belles. Visitors to the park can still see signs paying homage to the Belles along the top rows of fan seating.

The park is now home to the Evansville Otters, an unaffiliated baseball team that plays in the independent Frontier League. And while there have been upgrades to Bosse Field in recent years − there's a video board beyond the left field wall and state-of-the-art LED lights now illuminate the playing surface − taking in a game, there still has an old-school feel.

On any given night from May through September, a general admission ticket at the front gate brings you past the iron gates, past the brick facade, up a concrete ramp and into another era in American history.

For nine innings, you can sit and watch would-be baseball pros make "gem" plays on the field while sitting in an absolute "gem" of a stadium the entire time.

Where: 23 Don Mattingly Way, Evansville, IN 47711

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: This Indiana hidden gem has hosted Hall of Famers and Hollywood