American colonial period The
Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as Far East Games) was a small Asian multi-sport competition considered to be a precursor to the
Asian Games. In 1912, E.S. Brown, president of the Philippine Athletic Association and Manila Carnival Games, proposed the creation of the "Far Eastern Olympic Games" to
China and Japan. It was at that time that
Governor-General William Cameron Forbes was the president of the Philippine Amateur Athletic Association from 1911-1913. Governor-General Forbes formed the Far Eastern Olympic Association. The first Far Eastern Championship Games was held in the Manila Carnival Grounds in Malate, Manila, Philippines on February 4, 1913. Forbes was also the one who formally declared the games open. Six countries participated in the eight-day event:
The Philippine Islands, Republic of
China, Empire of
Japan, British East Indies (
Malaysia), Kingdom of
Thailand and British crown colony
Hong Kong. The Philippines also hosted the games in 1925 and 1934. The Manila Carnival Grounds was redeveloped into the
Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in 1934, named in honor of the country's national hero,
Jose Rizal, before the 10th Far Eastern Games. Baseball was a main event in every Far Eastern Games and in that year, the games were played at the new Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium. Legendary American
New York Yankees players
Lou Gehrig and
Babe Ruth hit the first and second home runs, respectively on December 2, 1934. The game that saw the participation of an all-star team, which included Gehrig, Ruth and
Philadelphia Athletics MVP Jimmie Foxx, was one of the highlights of the stadium’s history. The record is etched on the walls of the baseball stadium. The Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium suffered devastation due to the war. By April 1945, garrisoned American & Filipino soldiers under the
United States Army,
Philippine Commonwealth Army &
Philippine Constabulary were playing baseball before thousands of spectators at the ruins of the stadium after the liberation. The stadium was repaired with the floodlights of the then newly renovated stadium first opened by January 1946.
Post-Commonwealth era The stadium was the venue of the
1954 Asian Baseball Championship. The year 1954 is considered as the beginning of the golden era in Philippine baseball history as the Philippines won first place in the Asian Baseball Championships. The Philippines was the inaugural champions of the Asian Baseball Championships in 1954 but finished fourth in seven of the next eight editions of the biennial events. In 2024, retrofitting of the Baseball Stadium began to upgrade the facilities to be in accordance to international standards. This will include a covered roof over an improved grandstand or spectators’ area, a high-resolution LED scoreboard, and protective netting and stainless-steel railings with glass. Renovation is set to fenished by late 2026. == Architecture ==