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West Side Story Downtown Houston, looking wail, to. 1940. NONYA GRENADER HfHED H011ST01I PLflVED BHSEBHLL IT THE 11JEST E H D 1 H U PARK Before the Astrodome, even before Butt those of such previous local teams as the Stadium, the West End Ball Park provid- Red Stockings, the babies, or Moore's ed a setting for professional baseball m Marvels. The Buffs would endure for six Houston, Built about 1905 and located decades, winning numerous Texas League on what is now the edge of downtown pennants and spanning a period of pro- at Andrews and I leincr streets, just found change in the structure of both west of the YMCA and Allen Center, baseball and the society that embraced the former ball park claimed an area the game. now taken over by the Pierce Klevated The West Knd stadium nurtured many segment of Interstate 45. Its location players at the beginning of distinguished marked the intersection of two city grids, careers. Tris Speaker, who would spend one formed by downtown blocks and the 23 years in the majors and be inducted other In residential lots in neighboring into the Baseball I lall of Fame, signed a Fourth Ward. contract with the Buffaloes in 1907 for a With the completion of the West record $ 100 per month — then one of I ml si.ILIIIIm. games no lunger li id to the highest salaries ever paid to a Texas share the fairgrounds at Mc< iowen and League player. Milam. The new ball p.uk was construct- Beginning in 1909, Housto n spawned ed entirely of wood and seated approxi- a pennant dynasty, w i n n i n g c h a m p i o n - mately 3,500. A central grandstand ships in five of the next six years. As with behind home plate was elevated over the most w i n n i n g streaks, a lapse f o l l o w e d , The West End loll Podt, to. 1920. concession stand. Slender columns sup- and owners O t t o Sens and Doak Roberts ported a generous canopy ili.it covered sold the club m 1l * \l>. I In- stink was Cardinal acquisition was not publicly the Texas League permitted tune pitchers most of the seating along the first- and dispersed a m o n g a variety of owners. admitted until 1925. t o continu e the practice, the last (legal) third base lines. I lome plan- vi.i-> in the Although some was retained locally, the The park's equipment and policies spitball was thrown in 1932. Games were northwest corner, so fans could catch the St. Louis Cardinals quietly began acquir- underwent change as w e l l . Unstructured made more accessible to younger fans prevailing southeast breeze. ing a majority interest in the Buffaloes, gloves evolved into enormous m o d e r n - with the f o r m a t i o n of the " K n o t I lole The Houston team was known as the with the result that H o u s t o n became the day mitts, enabling fielders to make one- Gang," w h i c h , as described by Buff o f f i - Buffaloes, a name annexed from the first Texas League franchise to be c o n - handed catches w i t h dazzling reliability. cials in 1922, " a d m i t t e d any white boy bayou just blocks away and more inte- trolled by a major league club. Indepen- Spitball pitching was banned in 11>_! !, from age 7 to lf> to become a member by grally linked to I louston history than dent owners vehemently objected, and the following the national t r e n d , but because signing an agreement of clean sportsman- 43 e started with a blueprint of Vision... We added a foundation of Integrity... And we built on our ship and high ideals and morals. A In an attempt to pacify the many 10 year framework of Excellence.. membership card costing twenty five I Imistunians upsel at the Ins-. .>l iheir cents gave admittance to all games except stadium, the company installed a small Sundays and holidays."' America's pas- baseball museum in its new building, time was noi immune i<' prejudice; the purportedly at the location of Buff game excluded as many as it included. Stadium's home plate. Texas League teams, like the viewer At a time when team owners are seating, would remain segregated for charging that the Astrodome is no longer years to come. adequate and that public money should The park's long history was not limit- be spent for a new facility, it is interesting ed to baseball. According to the WPA to recall the simple West Fnd stadium, a guide to Houston, published in 1942, structure that typified the promise of a "Collegiate football was inaugurated in growing city. Today, downtown's edge Houston in 1912 when Rice Institute is delineated by the irrefutable concrete played its games in West End Park, the barrier of the Pierce Elevated. Flow much players 'furnishing their own shoes, more congenial it must have been when socks, and uniforms, and doing their business district segued into neighbor own laundry work.'"- hood around the grassy diamond and The West End Ball Park was super- wooden bleachers of the West End ceded in 1928 by the new But! Stadium, Ball Park. • a built on St. Bernard Street (now Culletl Boulevard) on a sue just north of Interstate 45 where the Finger Furniture Company now has a showroom. The k: IONS UNIQUE, NEO-TRADITIONAL PIECES created by ROBERT PEEPLESJR CUSTOM HARDWOOD DESIGNS FOR HOME • O F F I C E • P U B L I C A R E A S West Knd field continued to be used and 1 hmr Scon and Mora Tht Autobiography •</ Frtd V. Attkmntm, v.. 1887-1979, ed. st.mk-v Siegel enjoyed for years by community teams (Houston: Texas dull i oasi llntnrif.il Association, and high school players. Buff Stadium — 1980), p. 39. COMALDES1GN 2 Workeri "i tlu- Writers' Program of tht Work with its Spanish-style entrance, decorative Projects Administration in thi State <>t Texas, buffalo motif, and seating tor 14,000 — Houston: A History jml Guide (Houston: Anson .[ones Press, I*t2(,p.219. Private Commissions oj was thought by many to be a minor- Flaecra/fed f milium' league showplace; others complained that it was much too lar out of town, linger 1-800-861-6981 f- Decorative Art Furniture demolished the arena in 1963. AUSTIN COLOR PRESENTATION S5 .
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