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).




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)



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



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).




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).




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

[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...8Louisville%29

[Baseball Guru]

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]

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/Recreat..._%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