Boardwalk and Baseball was a theme park built near Haines City, Florida, at the southeast corner of the Interstate 4-US 27 interchange. It replaced Circus World at the same location, and was owned by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Park Group (now Harcourt, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). It opened in April 1987, and closed January 17, 1990.
The park reused many of Circus World's rides and exhibits. The petting zoos were removed, the rides and shows were rethemed, and Baseball City Stadium was built on the site. There were several exhibits that borrowed artifacts from the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. HBJ attracted the Kansas City Royals from Fort Myers, Florida, to make Baseball City Stadium their new spring training home and the site of their Class A Florida State League affiliate, the Baseball City Royals. They also had a Rookie-level affiliate in the Gulf Coast League, one of two lowest level minor leagues in the U.S. (along with the Arizona League).In addition, ESPN taped a quiz bowl-style game show, Boardwalk and Baseball's Super Bowl of Sports Trivia, on the site which aired in 1988 and 1989.Although the park was considered superior to its predecessor, it was predicted to fail by industry observers at the grand opening. It mostly reused Circus World's relatively standard rides, which were considered no match as a Walt Disney World competitor. Industry observers were proved correct, as the project was quickly falling into financial ruin within 18 months of its grand opening, at which point, employee layoffs and reduced hours were used to try to cut costs. To further limit expenses, the park closed before sunset for almost the entire year, rendering its antique style gas lighting (that cost over $1 million to install) useless.
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