The Life and Times of the Old Cincinnati Ballparks
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Summer 1988 Cincinnati Ballparks The Life and Times of the Old Cincinnati Ballparks Richard Miller and Gregory L. Rhodes For the newest of Cincinnati baseball fans, Riverfront Stadium is the only home the Reds have had, the only field where they have seen professional baseball played. But far removed from Riverfront, in time and space, other memories still linger across the city. Riverfront is the last of three generations of baseball parks to host Cincinnati crowds since baseball's first professional nine took the field in the West End in 1869.1 Old wooden parks dominated baseball in Amer- ica from the 1860's until the first decade of the twentieth century. These were baseball's turbulent years, and the parks, like the game itself, were unstable. Like the mining boomtowns of the 1 86o's and '70's, the old parks were built hastily and built on the site of League Park at Findlay Street and West- cheaply of wood. Inside, they were much the same as rowdy ern Avenue, were Cincinnati's contribution to this second western saloons. Fights were common, with fans and players generation of parks. Crosley Field, the old park most mixing it up with each other or themselves, and the umpire Cincinnatians remember best, evolved from Redland Field was everybody's favorite target. The winning team was not in 1934; only the name was changed. There were a few always the best, but the toughest. Like the mining towns, additions and window dressings after 1934, but basically these first wooden parks were short lived and soon deserted. Crosley Field was the same cement and iron park that opened The charm of these parks was their simplicity. as Redland Field in 1912. They were neither presumptuous nor symbols of prestige Riverfront Stadium, opened in 1970, repre- and power but were mirrors of the times. The United States sents the last generation of parks, the multi-purpose stadium was still fighting Indian wars, and the country was moving for the current era. These city-owned parks, regal concrete west. America still had a cowboy mentality, even in the East, crowns with acres of parking lots and nary a knothole to and nothing reflected this more than the old wooden ballparks. peek through, are a definite swing away from the democratic They were new frontiers in American society. Such was the character of the earlier ballparks. Today, there are domes and backdrop for the old Cincinnati parks: Union Grounds stadiums; then there were the more romantic "grounds" and (1 867-1 870), Avenue Grounds (1 876-1 880), Bank Street "yards" and "orchards." Teams now play in markets and Grounds (18 81 -1 8 84), Pendleton Park (1891), and old League regions rather than cities and neighborhoods. Park (1884-1902). The old baseball parks were as much a part of Baseball came of age during the wooden the neighborhood as the cop on the beat, the parish church, ballpark era. The cut throat competition among leagues and or the corner drug store where you could stop and see a few associations for supremacy in the cities from Massachusetts innings of baseball on the way home from school or work. to Missouri ended. Teams put down roots, and baseball Daily routines, businesses, children's games, the entire folk- became America's first truly national pastime. lore of the neighborhood were all shaped by the presence of The sense of stability and confidence in the the park. These were the sites where heroes lived and leg- future of the game was grandly evident in the new cement ends roamed, and where one can still hear the roar of an and iron parks of the early twentieth century. The Palace of afternoon crowd echoing through Camp Washington and the Fans (1902-1911) and Redland Field (1912-19 34), both the West End. Richard Miller, baseball his- Union Grounds was the home torian, is a nationally recognized of baseball's first professional authority on old ballparks. team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings. Queen City Heritage Union Grounds was the home of baseball's first professional team, the famous Cincinnati Red Stock- ings of i 8 69-1 8 70. Built in 1 8 67, it was located on the site of the fountain in front of where Union Terminal now stands, and served as the home of the Cincinnati Baseball Club from 1867 until 1870. The main wooden grandstand, called "The Grand Duchess," dominated the park. Rows of covered and uncovered bleacher seats ran part way out each foul line. The first time in Cincinnati fans paid admis- sion fees to watch a baseball game was at Union Grounds. Silver coins were scarce and fans paid their way into the park with "shinplasters," ten, fifteen, twenty-five, and fifty cent paper currency. The paper currency was thrown into a barrel at the gate and took several hours to count. In 1869 the Red Stockings won all their home games and after defeating the best teams in the East were declared the national champions. from the professional ranks. Meat packers George and Josiah The team's winning streak ended midway through the 1870 Keck owned the club and they built the new park near their season when the Red Stockings lost to the Brooklyn Atlan- business. Located just north of the stockyards on Spring Grove Avenue, the park went by several names, including AMUSEBtENTg. the Cincinnati Baseball Park, Avenue Grounds, and Brigh- STEW CIMCIJrJTATI BAHJbl-BAJLI, PARK ton Park. Regular admission charge was fifty cents, but there ONES MORE were ten cent seats, after the fifth inning, and a special Bj Special Bequest, Commencing THIS (MONDAY) AFTERNOON. Owing to the continued success of section called the "Little Dukes" for those who wanted to be near the bar. On September 6, 1877, Lipman Pike, the first Jewish player in the major leagues, and a favorite of Cincin- nati fans, hit a Jim Devlin pitch for a home run over the right field fence that won the game 1 -o for Cincinnati over Louis- ville. This was the first time in major league history that a home run won a game 1 -o for a team. The next home of the Red Stockings, the Bank Street Grounds, was closer to downtown, at the corner of Bank Street and Western Avenue. There are no known photographs or illustrations of the park. The team moved here in 1880 to a vacant lot where the circus and wild west The management hare decided to remain another week. • shows played. This turned out to be the team's last year in Afternoon «,t 8 O'Olook.. /ADMISSION 15 AND SO CENTS. the National League. Before the 1 8 81 season began, the I CHILDREN IS CENTS. league expelled the club for selling beer and renting the park This places ttfe Century's Novelty within the reaoh of all. Street Cars right to the Rate. Doors open at 1 o'clock. for Sunday baseball. In 1881 amateur and semi-pro ball GRAND STREET PARADE THIS MORNING! teams used the park. In 1882 Cincinnati joined the American tics in extra innings. At the conclusion of the i 870 season, Association, the league of Sunday baseball, twenty-five cent the team disbanded, with many of the star players, including seats, and liquor in the park. The club must have enjoyed player-manager Harry Wright, moving to Boston. Wright these new conditions for they won the league, becoming also took his famous red socks and the Cincinnati nickname in 1882 Cincinnati's first league champions (there were no with him, and created the "Red Sox." leagues in 1 869). The National League formed in 1876; Cincin- The first "World Series" occurred in October, nati rejoined the new league that year after a six year absence 1882 when the Reds, winners of the American Association The old ballparks hosted more The Reds were an American In 1884 the American Associa- than baseball games, as this Association club until 1889 tion Reds owners scrambled to 1884 advertisement indicates. when they rejoined the National find a new home—an old brick- League. yard at the corner of Western Avenue and Findlay Street. Summer 1988 Cincinnati Ballparks 27 title, and the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago supporter of the rival Union League, called the park a death Cubs), winners of the National League, played at Bank trap, suggested children be kept away, and encouraged adults Street Grounds. The series ended in a tie of one game to check their life insurance policies before visiting the park. apiece. Other owners in the American Association pressured In fact, a portion of a grandstand walkway did collapse on Aaron Stern, a clothing merchant who owned the Reds, opening day and injured a few spectators. A sensational not to play a deciding third game and risk possible embar- story in the Enquirer erroneously reported that one person rassment to the Association should the Reds lose. was killed; this myth of an opening day fatality persists to In 1 884 the Reds failed to renew their park this day. lease on time. The enterprising upstart Union League beat Although the park was not a "death trap" for them to the punch and became the new tenants of the Bank fans, its layout killed a lot of hitter's hopes. Home plate faced Street Grounds. The American Association Reds scrambled the "wrong" way, to the west, so the afternoon sun was to find a new home and settled on an old brickyard at the directly in the batter's eyes. The only major league game ever corner of Western Avenue and Findlay Street.