Some 19th Century Ballparks

[Baseball Guru]

Here is a little info on some of the ballparks used in the late 1800's...

Note: All material i have put together is from the great site of Ballparks by Munsey and Suppes: http://ballparks.com/baseball/index.htm

It is probably the best site I have seen as far as ballpark information goes...

I put a pic here and there as well as a little info.. If you click on the links I put for each park bio, you can view all the dimensions directly from the site...

It also has other past, present and future park info as well!

If anyone has any other parks to add, please do so:)

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: Pittsburgh Pirates (NL)
Opened: 1890
First Pirates game: April 22, 1891
First night game: Never
Last Pirates game: June 29, 1909
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 16,000 (1914)

For more info as well as a few photos go here: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/exposi.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: Philadelphia Phillies (NL)
Opened: April 30, 1887
Reopened: April 14, 1904
First night game: Never
Last game: June 30, 1938 (14-1 loss to the NY Giants)
Demolished: 1950
Capacity: 18,000 (1895); 20,000 (1929); 18,800 (1930).

http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/bakerb01.jpg


For more information on this park visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/bakerb.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
Opened: April 27, 1893
First night game: Never
Last Cardinals game: June 6, 1920
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 14,500 (1893); 15,200 (1899); 21,000 (1909).


For more information on this park visit:http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/robiso.htm

[Baseball Guru]

E Grounds I .........................S E Grounds II .........................S E Grounds III
Tenants: Boston Braves - A.K.A. Red Caps, Doves, Rustlers, Beaneaters, Bees (NL, 1876-1914)
Opened: May 16, 1871 ..........May 25, 1888 ..........................July 20, 1894
Last game: Sep. 10, 1887 ......May 15, 1894 ..........................Aug. 11, 1914
Capacity: n/a ......................6,800 (1888) ...........................n/a
Fate: Demolished 9/87 ...........Burned down ...........................Demolished
Surface: Grass (all three ballparks)

http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/sthend01.jpg

For more info as well as more great pics, visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/sthend.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: Brooklyn Superbas (later Dodgers; NL)
Opened: April 30, 1898
First night game: Never
Last Superbas game: October 5, 1912
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 18,800 (1914).

For more info visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/washin.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: Chicago Cubs (NL)
Opened: May 14, 1893
First night game: Never
Last Cubs game: October 3, 1915
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 16,000

http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/wstsid01.jpg

For more info visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/wstsid.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenant: Detroit Tigers (AL)
Opened: 1896
First Tigers game: April 25, 1901
First night game: Never
Last Tigers game: September 10, 1911 (Tiger Stadium was built on the site in 1912).
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 5,000 (1896); 8,500 (1901); 14,000 (1910).


http://ballparks.com/baseball/american/bennet01.jpg

For more info visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/american/bennet.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Tenants: Washington Senators I (Minnesota Twins; AL), 1903-1960; Washington Senators II (Texas Rangers; AL), 1961.
Opened: 1891
First Senators game: Aprill 22, 1903
Rebuilt: July 24, 1911
First night game: May 28, 1941
Last game: September 21, 1961
Demolished: January 26, 1965
Capacity: 32,000 (1921); 27,550 (1961).

http://ballparks.com/baseball/american/griffi01.jpg


For more info visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/american/griffi.htm

[Baseball Guru]

Polo Grounds I
Tenant: New York Giants
Opened: 1883
Last game: 1888
Capacity: n/a
Location: Northern edge of Central Park between 5th & 6th Aves. from
110th to 112th Sts.
Fate: Abandoned when NYC confiscated the property



For more info please visit: http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/pologr.htm


http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/pologr02.jpg

[Baseball Guru]

Boundary Field is a former baseball ground located in Washington, D.C. The ground was home to the Washington Nationals of the American Association in 1891 and then the National League from 1892 to 1899 after the League absorbed the Association. The League contracted in 1900 and the Nationals were a casualty.

The field was also called National Park and was on the same site as Griffith Stadium.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundary_Field

[Baseball Guru]

Eclipse Park is the name of two former baseball grounds located in Louisville, Kentucky. The first ground was home to the Louisville Colonels of the American Association from 1882 to 1891 and then the National League from 1892 to 1893 after the League absorbed the Association. Semi-pro baseball had been played at this site as early as 1874.

The second Eclipse Park was also the home of the Louisville Colonels of the National League from 1893 to 1899. This ground was located in another site in Louisville, actually right across the street from the old park. This is also the ground at which Hall of Famer Honus Wagner made his Major League debut on July 19, 1897.

The unusual name for these ballparks derived from the original name of the Association club, the Eclipse. The obvious name Colonels eventually won out. Nonetheless, Eclipse was among the early team names to be a singular word, despite sounding like a plural.

A destructive fire in 1899 contributed significantly to the once-strong Louisville club being contracted after the end of the season. Team owner Barney Dreyfuss moved on to acquire the Pittsburgh Pirates. Instead of being scattered to the wind, the best players from the Louisville team roster were brought onto the Pittsburgh payroll, including Wagner, third baseman Tommy Leach, outfielder-manager Fred Clarke, and ace righthander Deacon Phillippe.

This "hybrid vigor" effect soon turned the perennial cellar-dwelling Pirates into a three-peat pennant winner, and a participant in the first modern World Series. Meanwhile, Louisville is still waiting in vain for major league baseball to return someday.

Both Eclipse Parks were located at the corner of 7th and Kentucky streets.

Some sources:

Green Cathedrals, by Phil Lowry
Ballparks of North America, by Michael Benson.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_Park_%28Louisville%29"


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eclipse_Park_%28Louisville%29

[Baseball Guru]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/91/Leagueaerial.jpg/300px-Leagueaerial.jpg

League Park was a baseball stadium located in Cleveland, Ohio. It was home to the National League Cleveland Spiders, the American League Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Buckeyes of the Negro American League. It was located at the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and E. 66th Street.

League Park was opened on May 1, 1891, and sat 9,000 on wooden seats at the time. The Spiders played there until going out of business after a disastrous 20–134 season in 1899 due to having their best players stripped from their roster by an unscrupulous owner. They were replaced the very next year by an entry in the new American League, which was initially a minor league and became a major league a year later. The stadium was rebuilt for the 1910 season, with concrete and steel grandstands, now seating 21,414. The owner renamed the park after himself, so for a while it was called "Dunn Field". After ownership changed hands, the name reverted to the more prosaic "League Park" (there were a number of professional teams' parks called by the generic "League Park" at one time, but in this case the name stuck). The Indians began playing night, holiday and weekend games at the far larger Cleveland Stadium in 1932, although in some years following they played exclusively at League Park. They split games between the two stadiums off and on until the end of the 1946 season. Lights were never installed at League Park, and it was thus impossible to play night games there. For 1947, under the ownership of Bill Veeck, the Indians moved to Cleveland Stadium full-time.

Because of a need to squeeze the ballfield into the Cleveland street grid, the stadium was rather oddly shaped by modern standards. It was only 290 feet down the right field line—though batters still had to surmount a 60-foot fence to hit a home run (by comparison, the Green Monster at Fenway Park is only 37 feet high). The fence in left field was only five feet tall, but batters had to hit the ball 375 feet down the line to hit a home run, and it was fully 460 feet to the scoreboard in the deepest part of center field. The diamond, situated in the northwest corner of the block, was slightly tilted counterclockwise, making right field not quite as easy a target as Baker Bowl's right field, for example.

After the demise of the Negro American League Cleveland Buckeyes following the 1950 season, League Park was no longer in use as a regular sports venue. The Cleveland Browns football team would continue to use the aging facility as a practice field until the late 1960s.

Today the site is a public park, which includes a baseball field in the approximate location of the original; a small section of the old first-base lower deck stands, including the exterior brick facade; and also the old ticket office behind what was the right field corner. The grandstand remnant was taken down ca. 2005 as part of a renovation process to the decaying playground.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_Park

[Baseball Guru]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1d/Det_Rec_Park.JPG/250px-Det_Rec_Park.JPG

Recreation Park is a former baseball stadium located in Detroit. The ballpark was home to the Detroit Wolverines of the National League from 1881 to 1888. The Wolverines won the National League Pennant while playing at Recreation Park during the 1887 season. Recreation Park was also home to minor league teams in Detroit during 1889-1891 before being demolished in 1894.

The Park was on a rectangular site some distance north of the downtown. The field was laid out so that the foul lines hit the fences at a 135 degree angle, similar to the Polo Grounds and various other parks of that era. It was bounded on the south by Brady Street, on the east by Beaubien Street, and on the west by Harper Hospital, beyond which lay John R Street. Brush Street made a T-intersection against Brady at the southwest corner of the lot where the main entrance gate was. For that reason, the location is often given as simply "Brady and Brush Streets." A dirt track surrounded the baseball field and wooden stands.

Although the ballpark is long gone, Harper Hospital still exists, overlooking the site where the major league Wolverines once roamed. An historical marker commemorating Recreation Park is placed in what was once left field, among the buildings of the present Detroit Medical Center.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recreation_Park_%28Detroit%29

[Baseball Guru]

Haymakers' Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Troy, New York. The ground was home to the Troy Haymakers of the National Association from 1871 to 1872 and the home of the Troy Trojans of the National League from 1880 to 1881.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymakers%27_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

The Bank Street Grounds is a former baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. The park was home to Major League Baseball's Cincinnati Reds in 1880 and from 1882 to 1883. When the Reds were kicked out of the National League for selling beer on Sundays, violating its self-instituted "blue law", they disbanded for the 1881, but reformed as an American Association club in 1882. The AA had had no such rules against Sunday beer sales. Indeed, the American Association was known informally as a "beer and sausage" league. 1884 saw the formation of the Union Association, and a team called the Cincinnati Outlaw Reds was that organization's entry in the Queen City. The league folded after just one season.

After the 1889, season, the Cincinnati Reds rejoined the National League for good.

The Bank Street Grounds was located at the intersection of McLaren Avenue, less than one mile northwest of the then-future site of Redland/Crosley Field, which was the Reds' home from 1912-1970. The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority and CSX Transportation are current tenants on the property.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Street_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Mansfield Club Grounds, also know as Mansfield Park and Fort Hill Grounds, is a former baseball ground located in Middletown, Connecticut. The ground was home to the Middletown Mansfields baseball club during the 1872 season.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansfield_Club_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Messer Street Grounds (also known as Messer Park or Messer Field) was a former baseball ground located in Providence, Rhode Island. The ground was home to the Providence Grays baseball club of the National League from 1878 to 1885.

The new ballpark opened to the public on May 1, 1878. The following account from the Providence Morning Star captures the excitement and provides the a very detailed description of the park:

Click on the source to see the detailed description as well as other facts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messer_Street_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Olympic Park is a former baseball ground located in Buffalo, New York, USA. The ground was home to the Buffalo Bisons baseball club of the National League from 1884 to 1885.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Park_%28Buffalo%29

[Baseball Guru]

Swampoodle Grounds was the home of the Washington Nationals baseball team of the National League from 1886 to 1889. The right field and the infield are now part of Union Station (Washington, D.C.), and left field is now the Main Post Office. Swampoodle Grounds held 6,000. The Washington Statesmen folded after the end of the 1889 season.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swampoodle_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

St. George Cricket Grounds is a former baseball ground located on Staten Island, New York, USA. The ground was a part time home to the New York Giants of the National League from April 29 to June 14 in 1889.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._George_Cricket_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Seventh Street Park is a former baseball ground located in Indianapolis, Indiana. The ground was home to the Indianapolis Hoosiers of the American Association in 1884. A hospital now stands at the site.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh_Street_Park

[Baseball Guru]

Kennard Street Park is a former baseball ground located in Cleveland, Ohio. The ground was home to the Cleveland Blues of the National League from 1879 to 1884.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennard_Street_Park

[Baseball Guru]

Jefferson Street Grounds was a baseball ground located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The ground was home to the Philadelphia Athletics of the National Association from 1871 to 1875, the National League for the 1876 season, and the American Association from 1883 to 1890. It was also the home ground for Philadelphia Whites team in the National Association from 1873 to 1875.

The ground was the location of the first National League game on April 22, 1876 between the Philadelphia Athletics and the Boston baseball club; Boston won the game 6-5.

The ground is currently the site of the Daniel Boone Public School in Philadelphia.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Street_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Hartford Ball Club Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Hartford, Connecticut. The ground was home to the Hartford Dark Blues of the National Association from 1874 to 1875 and of the National League for the 1876 season.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford_Ball_Club_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Putnam Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Troy, New York, USA. The ground was home to the Troy Trojans baseball club from May 28, 1879 to September 20, 1879.

Putnams' Grounds is in what is now the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. It was at this baseball park in 1860 that the championship game was called a tie as a result of fan conduct. The Brooklyn Atlantics were the team to beat, but the Brooklyn Excelsiors were winning. The failure of the Atlantics to acknowledge a loss resulted in continuing tension between the teams.

(Reference: Elysian Fields, the Birthplace of Baseball, pages 87-88)


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Putnam_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Allen Pasture is a former Baseball ground located in Richmond, Virginia, USA. The ground was home to the Richmond Virginians of the American Association in 1884.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Pasture

[Baseball Guru]

23rd Street Grounds, also known as State Street Grounds, was a baseball park located in Chicago, Illinois. The ballpark was home to the Chicago White Stockings of the National Association from 1874 to 1875 and remained their home when they joined the National League in 1876, through 1877.

It also hosted one game for the Boston Red Stockings of the National Association in 1873.

The ballpark was on a block bounded by 23rd Street, State Street, 22nd Street (now Cermak Road) and what is now Federal Street. No illustration of the park appears to have survived. From contemporary newspaper descriptions, it appears that the diamond was in the north end of the block, i.e. an imaginary line drawn from home plate through second base would have pointed south. That would leave the fair territory area "home plate shaped" by modern standards, although home plate itself was square at that time rather than five-sided.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23rd_Street_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

The original Lakefront Park was the home of the Chicago White Stockings of the National League from 1887 to 1882. It was located south of Randolph Street between Michigan Avenue and the Illinois Central Railroad.

For the 1883 season, after winning three consecutive pennants, the White Stockings enlarged Lakefront Park to 10,000 seats, the most in baseball at the time. It included eighteen rows of private boxes with curtains and arm chairs. They moved to West Side Park in 1886.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakefront_Park

[Baseball Guru]

Capitoline Grounds was the name of a baseball park in Brooklyn, New York during part of the latter half of the 19th century.

Built on a large block bounded by Halsey Street, and Marcy, Putnam and Nostrand Avenues, the grounds were intended to rival the Union Grounds, the first enclosed ballpark, from which it was not too many blocks distant.

It was the home field for several early professional teams in Brooklyn and New York City from its opening in 1864 until around 1880. Its most prominent occupant was the Atlantic Club of Brooklyn.

Probably the most famous event at the Capitoline Grounds occurred on July 2, 1870, when the Atlantic club of Brooklyn defeated the Cincinnati Red Stockings, ending the Reds lengthy and storied winning streak.

Later that summer, sportswriter Henry Chadwick arranged a public demonstration of the curveball at the Capitoline Grounds. At Chadwick's instigation two stakes were placed twenty feet apart in a line between the pitcher and batter's boxes. A young pitcher named Fred Goldsmith, who would later star with the Chicago White Stockings, threw a ball to the right of the first stake, and to the left of the second. Prior to this demonstration, it had been believed by many that the curveball was merely an optical illusion.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitoline_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Congress Street Grounds is a former Baseball ground located in Boston, Massachusetts. The ground was home to two versions of the Boston Reds, the Players League version in 1890 and the American Association version in 1891. Between May and June of 1894, Congress Street Grounds was the home to the Boston Beaneaters while their home grounds, the South End Grounds, were being rebuilt after the Great Roxbury Fire of May 15, 1894. It had a close left field fence, which benefited Boston's Bobby Lowe on May 30, 1894, as he became the first batter to hit 4 consecutive home runs in a single game.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_Street_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Troy Ball Clubs Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Troy, New York. The ground was home to the Troy Trojans Baseball club for the 1882 season.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Ball_Clubs_Grounds

[Baseball Guru]

Speranza Park is a former baseball ground located in Toledo, Ohio. The ground was home to the Toledo Black Pirates during the 1890 season.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speranza_Park

[Baseball Guru]

Avenue Grounds is a former baseball ground located in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. The ground was home to the Cincinnati Reds baseball club from April 25, 1876 to August 27, 1879.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_Grounds

[The Kid]

Any body here heard of the Huntington Ave. Baseball Grounds?
two words: CY YOUNG!

[Brian McKenna]

Any body here heard of the Huntington Ave. Baseball Grounds?
two words: CY YOUNG!

Care to elaborate or is this just a nothing post?

[Centreville82]

Tenant: St. Louis Cardinals (NL)
Opened: April 27, 1893
First night game: Never
Last Cardinals game: June 6, 1920
Surface: Grass
Capacity: 14,500 (1893); 15,200 (1899); 21,000 (1909).


For more information on this park visit:http://ballparks.com/baseball/national/robiso.htm

http://www.suntala.com/evol_images/robison_660w.jpg

[TonyK]

http://www.suntala.com/evol_images/robison_660w.jpg

Could a fly ball down the LF line travel over the 3B grandstand, bounce before the LF Bleachers, and then end up rolling away from the LFer as it moved into the area behind the 3B grandstand?

[catcher24]

Posted by keepthefaith3:
Any body here heard of the Huntington Ave. Baseball Grounds

I was a little surprised as well that this field wasn't mentioned, but then in checking my sources I discovered that the Huntington Avenue Grounds was in use by the Redsox (Boston Americans 1901 - 1907) from 1901 through 1911. Of course, they moved into Fenway in April of 1912. Huntington Avenue grounds was located in the railyard district of Boston. It was the site of the first World Series game in 1903. Some other facts, courtesy of Ballparks by Munsey & Suppes:

* Built across the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad tracks from the South End Grounds, home of the Boston Braves.
* Scene of the first American League - National League World Series in 1903.
* Had the deepest center field in the big leagues (635 feet).
* Built on a former circus lot, there were large patches of sand in the outfield where grass would not grow.
* A tool shed in deep center field was in play.
* Cy Young threw the first modern perfect game there on May 5, 1904.
* Site is now occupied by Northeastern University.
* The World Series Exhibit Room in Cabot Physical Education Center, on the current site, is devoted to mementoes of the 1901-1911 Red Sox era.
* A plaque on the side of the Cabot Physical Education Center, commemorating the location of where the left field foul pole used to be, was unveiled in 1956.
* In 1993, a statue of Cy Young was placed where the pitchers mound and home plate used to be.

Interestingly enough, this ballpark and the Boston Braves' South End Grounds (third incarnation) were across the railroad yards from each other. Looking at a map, it seems that a good power hitter could almost hit a ball from one into the other.

Photo of Huntington Avenue Grounds:

http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/huntin01.jpg

Photo of Grounds during 1903 World Series:

http://www.ballparks.com/baseball/american/huntin02.jpg

(Photos courtesy of Munsey & Suppes Ballparks website)

[hubkittel]

compton park, also called the compton avenue base ball park or red stocking base ball park, was home to the st. louis red stockings who played in the national association during the 1875 season. the reds played at compton park from the early 1870's until their demise in 1881.

there is a rare picture of compton park, drawn by camille dye and published in richard compton's 1876 pictorial st. louis . as far as i know, it's the only picture of the ballpark in existence. you can find the picture here (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/map_item.pl?data=/gmd416m/g4164m/g4164sm/gpm00001/pa00073m.jp2&style=pmmap&title=Pictorial+St.+Louis&itemLink=r?ammem/gmd:@filreq(@field(NUMBER+@band(g4164sm+gpm00001)) +@field(COLLID+pmmap))).

there is an option for zooming in and out beneath the picture. check the circle for how much you want to zoom in and then move your cursor over to the navigator view and left click the center of the ball park. i know that sounds like a lot of work but it's pretty intuitive and it's worth it to see the details of the ball park (you can see little guys running around :D ).

theoretically, there should be a picture of the grand avenue grounds in pictorial st. louis as well. it was the home of the na/nl st. louis brown stockings of 1875-1877 (not to be confused with the american association browns) and sportsman's park would later be built on the site. i haven't found it yet but i'm still looking.

[LGehrigFan]

http://www.19cbaseball.com/images/elysianFieldsBaseballGame.jpg

Elysian Fields
Location: Hoboken, NJ on 11th Street
Capacity: 20,000
Opened: 1945
Closed: 1873
Notable games: The first game of baseball between the Knickerbockers of New York and New York Metropolitans.