-
ROBERTSON FIELD AT SATOW STADIUM
DIRECTIONS | BAKER ATHLETICS COMPLEX | BAKER ATHLETIC COMPLEX MAP (PDF) | COMMUNITY INFORMATION
QUICK FACTS
Official Name: Robertson Field at Satow Stadium
Date Opened: Fall 1923
Seating Capacity: 1,500
Surface/Structure: Field Turf Revolution 360 playing surface
Location: Baker Athletics Complex, Inwood-Manhattan, New York City
Original Cost: $1 million
Structure Named For: Phil Satow ‘63CC
Field Named For: Hal Robertson ‘81SEAS
Address: 505 West 218th Street, New York, N.Y. 10034
First Baseball Game: 1923 season opener, vs. NYU
THE FACILITY
Robertson Field at Satow Stadium is one of the best college baseball facilities in the Northeast and in the Ivy League. Robertson Field received an update during the summer of 2019 as new turf was installed.
Previously named Andy Coakley Field for 86 years, the venue was updated and renamed Robertson Field in 2007 and then its current Robertson Field at Satow Stadium after additional improvements in 2011. In fall 2007, the playing surface was rebuilt with FieldTurf™, enabling the Lions to have more outdoor practice opportunities during the offseason. Another upgrade took place during the summer of 2010 when stadium-style seating was installed, adding to the stadium's capacity. Included in the renovations were upgraded dugouts, rebuilt scoreboard and an extended press box as the facility officially became known as Robertson Field at Satow Stadium. Then in 2016, updated batting cages were installed beyond the leftfield wall.
The stadium is the site of America’s first-ever televised sporting event, a Columbia-Princeton baseball contest on May 17, 1939. The game was carried on live television by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) to 400 or so sets then capable of receiving its broadcast. Satisfied with the result, NBC decided to try broadcasting a Major League Baseball game live from Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. At that point in time, the stadium was named Andy Coakley Field. The venue also has hosted the Ivy League Baseball Championship Series four times—in 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2015. Columbia won three consecutive Ivy League titles from 2013-15.
Thanks to the generosity of former baseball players Phillip Satow '63CC and Hal Robertson '81SEAS, this goal has become a reality for the Columbia baseball team. As a result of Satow's and Robertson’s leadership gifts, the baseball program was able to install a state-of-the-art artificial surface. The surface is a hybrid fiber, rubber and sand infill blend designed to have a more consistent feel. It covers both the infield and outfield, with the only dirt covering the mound and home plate.
The FieldTurf™ surface is more resilient than a grass field, allowing the team to practice outdoors more often in February in preparation for the spring season. With the installation of the new field, the weather has become less of a factor. In the past, the Lions have been forced to spend most of their pre-season indoors due to precipitation during the winter in the Northeast.
“Phil and Hal have taken our facilities to the top of the Ivy League,” Columbia Head Baseball Coach Brett Boretti said. “Having a great facility is extremely important in the recruiting process and also in the everyday teaching capability of our staff. We now feel we have the best facility in order to teach our guys as best as we can.”
Satow played baseball, both in high school, where he captained the Erasmus Hall High team and at Columbia. He played second base on several excellent Lion teams, including the 1963 squad that won the Eastern/Ivy League title in a tie with Dartmouth and Navy.
“[The gift] was a natural fit,” Satow said. “I love Columbia. I have always been a supporter of Columbia Athletics. And I love baseball; it is one of the loves of my life.”
Satow graduated in 1963 with a degree in economics and entered Naval Officers Candidate School. He served four years as a naval officer, rising to the rank of lieutenant junior grade, the final two in Washington, D.C. While stationed there, he earned a masters in economics at Georgetown, and later spent 14 years at Pfizer, rising to Vice President, Pfizer Europe, and later moved on to Forest Laboratories, joining the firm when it was just a small concern. He became Forest's Executive Vice President for marketing and a member of its board, and then the President of Forest Pharmaceuticals. He also founded a pharmaceutical company, JDS Pharmaceuticals, with his son Michael ‘88CC.
“I started it with my son, we worked it together and sold it. It was the highlight of my career.”
Later, well after graduation, Satow became deeply involved in Columbia College alumni affairs, serving as president of the College Alumni Association, and on the Board of Visitors. His wife Donna is a 1965 General Studies alumna and two of his three children graduated from the College.
“We are all,” he says, “Columbia people.”
Robertson is a former two-sport student-athlete for Columbia. Not only was he a defensive back for the Lions’ football squad, he started at second base for the baseball team and served as Columbia’s co-captain during his senior year. As a sophomore, Robertson received All-Ivy League recognition after hitting .328 with 24 runs batted in and seven home runs in just 30 games. His seven home runs equaled Lou Gehrig’s 1923 total and ranked second in single-season school history at the time.
“I thought about how much the university has meant to me over the last 30 years and thought it was the right thing to do,” said Robertson of his leadership gift. “Columbia gave me my start to my professional career and this was an opportunity to give back.”
Robertson began his career as an industrial engineer in the food processing industry in Cincinnati after graduating in 1981 with a degree in industrial engineering. For the next several years, Robertson worked in the banking industry while he pursued a master’s in finance at the University of Cincinnati at night. Upon completion of his degree, he went on to work for a Fortune 200 company where he managed the corporate data center.
Two years after he began consulting in the banking industry, Robertson founded Methods Research, Inc. In addition to this company, he is also a majority owner of his own home building business, Heartwood Builders, LLC. Hal and his wife, Katie, live in Cincinnati with their five children.
ROBERTSON FIELD AT SATOW STADIUM AMENITIES
- Competition home for Columbia baseball team
- Brand-new Field Turf Revolution 360 installed in 2019
- Batting Cages beyond left field wall
- Upgraded dugouts
- Stadium-style seating
- Daktronics scoreboard and videoboard
- Press Box
- Access to Chrystie Field House (locker rooms, training room, equipment room)
- Access to Campbell Sports Center (team meeting rooms, weight room, coaches’ offices)
