The most encouraging place in America to play baseball?

“It is said that Jim Thorpe once hit a ball into an adjoining state when playing semi-professional ball in Texas. I don’t know what the big deal is; they do that all the time in Rhode Island.’’

— Jim Hart, in “Swing for the Fences” speech in Des Moines on July 25, 2001

Cardines Field, in Newport, home of the Newport Gulls, a collegiate summer baseball team. The Gulls have played at Cardines Field since 2001.

America’s Cup Boulevard is to the left.

— Photo by Nick Lima