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These old baseball stadiums were once home to some of the greatest ball players and memorable stories in major league baseball history. Within their walls baseball’s position as our national pastime was solidified and sustained.
Relive the exciting moments. Discover a whole new perspective on the greatest game in the world. This is where baseball history happened.
Orioles | Red Sox | Yankees | Rays | Blue Jays
White Sox | Indians | Tigers | Royals | Twins
Astros | Angels | Athletics | Mariners | Rangers
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Cubs | Reds | Brewers | Pirates | Cardinals
Diamondbacks | Rockies | Dodgers | Padres | Giants
Baltimore Orioles
Memorial Stadium
Baltimore Orioles
1954 – 1991
Dimensions: Left – 309 / Center – 405 / Right – 309
Capacity: 53,371
Memorial Stadium helped lure the St. Louis Browns to Baltimore in 1954 and served as the Orioles’ home for 38 years. It featured a Memorial Wall to the city’s war veterans, and fans were entertained during games by “Wild Bill” Hagy, a cheer-leading fan in section 34.
Sportsman’s Park III
AKA: Busch Stadium I
St. Louis Browns
1909 – 1953
Dimensions: Left – 351 / Center – 420 / Right – 310
Capacity: 30,500
The fourth park to bear some version of the Sportsman’s Park title replaced its wooden namesake in 1909. This one, with a grandstand composed of reinforced concrete like the other old baseball stadiums of its era, lasted more than 50 years and saw the famous appearance of Eddie Gaedel, Bill Veeck’s 3′ 7″ pinch-hitting publicity stunt in 1951.
Sportsman’s Park II
St. Louis Browns
1902 – 1908
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 8,000
When the franchise relocated from Milwaukee in 1902 the owners took the former team name, location, and iconic ballpark name of the National League club. This version of Sportsman’s Park was once again made of wood, despite the fires that had ruined its predecessors, and was quickly updated with a more modern concrete facility in 1909.
Lloyd Street Grounds
AKA: Milwaukee Baseball Park
Milwaukee Brewers
1901
Dimensions: Left – 290 / Center – 400 / Right – 290
Capacity: unknown
Originally built for the Brewers of the minor Western League in 1895, the Lloyd Street Grounds location provided better access to downtown than the city’s other ballparks. However, poor attendance prompted the young American League to move the franchise to Baltimore after only one year and the stadium was torn down after the Western League folded in 1903.
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Boston Red Sox
Braves Field
AKA: The Bee Hive
Boston Red Sox
1915 – 1916 (World Series games)
Dimensions: Left – 402 / Center – 440 / Right – 375
Capacity: 40,000
The Red Sox, which were already playing in Fenway Park, decided to play their home games for the 1915 and 1916 World Series games at the more spacious Braves Field. The team won both titles and clinched the 1916 championship in front of a then-record crowd of 42,620.
Huntington Avenue Grounds
Boston Americans/Red Sox
1901 – 1911
Dimensions: Left – 350 / Center – 635 / Right – 320
Capacity: 11,500
Few of the old baseball stadiums boast the historical significance of the Huntington Avenue Grounds, the site of the first World Series championship celebration in 1903 and Cy Young’s first modern-era perfect game in 1904. It had the deepest center field fence in the league after a 1908 expansion and featured a single turnstile through which fans entered the park.
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New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium II
New York Yankees
1976 – 2008
Dimensions: Left – 318 / Center – 408 / Right – 314
Capacity: 57,545
After being purchased by the city of New York, Yankee Stadium underwent an overhaul in the mid-1970s that saw the famous “Monument Park” moved behind the center field wall, the copper facade shifted to the outfield scoreboard, and luxury suites added. The team quickly responded with a World Series title their first year in the new ballpark.
Shea Stadium
New York Yankees
1974 – 1975
Dimensions: Left – 341 / Center – 410 / Right – 341
Capacity: 57,333
While Yankee Stadium was undergoing its makeover the team played for two years at Shea Stadium, the home of the National League’s New York Mets.
Yankee Stadium I
New York Yankees
1923 – 1973
Dimensions: Left – 301 / Center – 463 / Right – 296
Capacity: 65,010
Arguably the most famous of all the old baseball stadiums, “The House That Ruth Built” played host to some of the greatest players and teams in the history of the game. It featured a 15-foot copper facade on the third deck and the famous “Monument Park” in center field.
Polo Grounds IV
AKA: Coogan’s Bluff, Brush Stadium
New York Highlanders/Yankees
1912 – 1922
Dimensions: Left – 287 / Center – 433 / Right – 256
Capacity: 34,000
The New York Highlanders, in the midst of a 100-loss season in 1912, were allowed to sign a 10-year lease with the mighty New York Giants to also play in their new majestic ballpark that would eventually be one of the most memorable old baseball stadiums of all time. Little did the Giants know that by the time their American League counterparts moved into their own stadium they would own two World Series titles and be on their way to becoming the most successful franchise in baseball history.
Hilltop Park
AKA: American League Park of New York
New York Highlanders
1903 – 1912
Dimensions: Left – 365 / Center – 542 / Right – 400
Capacity: 16,000
The franchise arrived from Baltimore unwelcome and hastily erected a last-minute wooden ballpark in less than two months. The new stadium featured a single grandstand around the infield and bleachers down the foul lines and eventually in center field. Despite its unflattering legacy, one of the most famous old baseball photographs, featuring Ty Cobb sliding into third, was taken at Hilltop Park.
Wiedenmayer’s Park
New York Highlanders
July 17, 1904
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 6,700 (attendance)
Because it was illegal to charge admission to games on Sundays in New York City, the Highlanders played a “home” game against the Detroit Tigers in Newark, New Jersey on Sunday, July 17, 1904 at Wiedenmayer’s Park. Future Hall of Famer Clark Griffith three-hit the Tigers in a 3-1 win.
Oriole Park IV
Baltimore Orioles
1901 – 1902
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
Following several Oriole Parks that hosted the defunct franchise of the American Association and National League, this one provided a home for the first American League version of the Baltimore Orioles that would eventually become the New York Yankees.
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Tampa Bay Rays
There are no old baseball stadiums associated with the Tampa Bay Rays franchise.
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Toronto Blue Jays
Exhibition Stadium
Toronto Blue Jays
1977 – 1989
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 410 / Right – 330
Capacity: 44,649
The frozen tundra of Exhibition Stadium opened under snow cover on April 7, 1977 as the Blue Jays played (and won) the franchise’s first game. Over the years the stadium would be plagued by seagulls, fog and even a game called on account of wind. There aren’t many old baseball stadiums, even from the 1800s, that had those kinds of problems. Needless to say the team was more than ready to move into the Skydome, with its retractable roof, in 1989.
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Chicago White Sox
Comiskey Park
AKA: White Sox Park
Chicago White Sox
1910 – 1990
Dimensions: Left – 347 / Center – 409 / Right – 347
Capacity: 43,951
Some old baseball stadiums seemed to deteriorate as they aged, but Comiskey Park took on a life of its own over the years despite the extended futility of the post-Black Sox teams it housed. It featured the famous “exploding scoreboard” of Bill Veeck and one of the most notorious groundskeeping home field advantages of all time.
Milwaukee County Stadium
Chicago White Sox
1968 – 1969
Dimensions: Left – 320 / Center – 402 / Right – 315
Capacity: 43,394
The White Sox played a total of 20 “home” games in Milwaukee during the 1968 and 1969 seasons as Bud Selig attempted to bring baseball back to the city following the departure of the Braves. The Sox drew about one-third of their total home attendance just during those few games, but Milwaukee still missed out on the 1969 expansion.
South Side Park III
Chicago White Sox
1901 – 1910
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 400 / Right – 330
Capacity: 15,000
The White Sox played at the third South Side Park during their first decade in the American League. This wooden pitchers’ park, nicknamed “The Hitless Wonder,” saw the Sox clinch their first World Series title in 1906 against the crosstown rival Cubs. It finally became too small for the team’s popularity, and they moved into their new steel and concrete home, Comiskey Park, in the middle of the 1910 season.
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Cleveland Indians
Cleveland Municipal Stadium
AKA: Cleveland Stadium, Lakefront Stadium
Cleveland Indians
1932 – 1993
Dimensions: Left – 320 / Center – 404 / Right – 320
Capacity: 74,483
Cleveland Stadium was the first stadium to be built using public funds, probably why few old baseball stadiums have dealt with more scrutiny, but the Indians didn’t make it a permanent, full-time home until 1947. Instead, after a year and a half at the oversized ballpark, they used it mainly for games on Sundays and holidays and went back to League Park for most of their home schedule. “The Mistake by the Lake” saw the end of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941 and the franchise’s second World Series title in 1948.
League Park II
AKA: Dunn Field
Cleveland Naps/Indians
1910 – 1946
Dimensions: Left – 375 / Center – 420 / Right – 290
Capacity: 21,414
Cleveland upgraded and expanded League Park in 1910, rebuilding it with the steel and concrete design popular at the time, and called it home for more than 35 years. They even continued to play in the oddly-shaped park after a new stadium was built for them in 1932, but eventually a lack of lighting forced it to close its doors in 1947.
League Park I
Cleveland Blues/Bronchos/Naps
1901 – 1909
Dimensions: Left – 385 / Center – 460 / Right – 290
Capacity: 9,000
The new Cleveland Indians franchise of the American League moved into the former home of the Cleveland Spiders 1901. The wooden park took on a rectangle shape to accommodate land owners who refused to sell, creating a shallow right field with a wall taller than Boston’s Green Monster. In 1907 the Vermilion Independents, a men’s semi-pro team, played here in front of a crowd of 3,000 spectators anxious to watch female pitching sensation Alta Weiss.
Mahaffey Park
Cleveland Bronchos/Naps
1902 – 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 6,000 (attendance)
The Cleveland teams of 1901 and 1902 used the Canton, Ohio park for a total of three Sunday “home” games. The park featured such a shallow left field fence that balls hit into the crowd in left were considered a double.
Neil Park I
Cleveland Bronchos/Naps
August 3, 1902 & May 17, 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 4,500 (attendance)
The Cleveland teams used the home of the Columbus Senators, of the minor league Western Association, for a Sunday game both 1902 and again in 1903. The park was the first of the old baseball stadiums built with steel and concrete and had the home team’s clubhouse beyond the center field wall.
Jail Flats
AKA: League Park
Cleveland Bronchos
June 22 & August 31, 1902
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 3,500 (attendance)
Cleveland played a couple of late-season Sunday games during 1902 in Fort Wayne, Indiana on the grounds known as Jail Flats, beating the Senators 6-4 in June but losing to Cy Young and Boston in August, 3-5. The ballpark was also one of many referred to as League Park.
Fairview Park
Cleveland Bronchos
June 8, 1902
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 4,900 (attendance)
Cleveland played its first Sunday game away from home in Dayton, Ohio at Fairview Park. Future Hall of Fame catcher Roger Bresnahan hit the game’s only home run as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Bronchos 6-2.
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Detroit Tigers
Tiger Stadium
AKA: Briggs Stadium, Navin Field
Detroit Tigers
1912 – 1999
Dimensions: Left – 340 / Center – 440 / Right – 325
Capacity: 52,416
Tiger Stadium opened the same day as Boston’s Fenway Park and was a legend among old baseball stadiums. Players battled the ballpark’s signature oddities like the center field flag pole and the overhanging second deck in right field, Reggie Jackson hit his memorable 1971 All-Star Game blast off the stadium light tower in right-center field, and Lou Gehrig’s streak of consecutive games played ended here at 2,130.
Bennett Park
Detroit Tigers
1901 – 1911
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 14,000
Before historic Tiger Stadium held its location at Michigan and Trumbull, the Tigers played there at Bennett Park. The wooden stadium, named after a popular 19th century catcher, Charlie Bennett, who lost his right leg and left foot trying to jump back on a train leaving the station, hosted the franchise during their 1900 season in the Western Association and then as they joined the American League in 1901.
Neil Park II
Detroit Tigers
July 23-24, 1905
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 5,000 (attendance)
The Tigers lost 6-1 to Cy Young and the Boston Americans in Columbus, Ohio at the newly expanded Neil Park as the teams avoided the Sunday “blue laws” in Detroit. They then turned around on Monday and lost to Boston again, 7-1.
Armory Park
AKA: Military Park
Detroit Tigers
June 28 & August 16, 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 6,000 (attendance)
The Tigers played two mid-season Sunday match-ups in Toledo, Ohio at Armory Park, home of the Toledo Mud Hens of the minor American Association. They lost 7-3 to Chief Bender and the Athletics in June, but got a 5-hit game from “Wahoo” Sam Crawford in August as they beat the New York Highlanders, 12-8.
Ramona Park
Detroit Tigers
May 24, 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 6,000 (attendance)
One of the more unique old baseball stadiums played host to the Tigers for one game in 1903 as they beat the Washington Senators 5-4. Ramona Park, located on the shores of Reeds Lake just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was one of the more popular amusement parks of its time that would eventually bring in acts like the Marx Brothers and Will Rogers.
Burns Park
AKA: West End Park
Detroit Tigers
1901 – 1902
Dimensions: Left – 295 / Center – 390 / Right – 340 (est.)
Capacity: 5,000+ (attendance)
Burns Park in Springwells, Michigan was built specifically for the Tigers’ Sunday games in 1900 by owner James Burns on his own property when the team was a minor league franchise. They continued to use the park during their first two years in the American League for avoiding the “blue laws,” but the rough neighborhood and often unruly crowds forced them to look elsewhere for alternate sites.
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Kansas City Royals
Municipal Stadium
AKA: Muehlebach Field, Ruppert Stadium, Blues Stadium
Kansas City Royals
1969 – 1972
Dimensions: Left – 369 / Center – 421 / Right – 338
Capacity: 35,561
The Kansas City Royals played at the former home of the Kansas City Athletics, Monarchs and Blues for the franchise’s first four seasons. The franchise’s first two games in April of 1969 both went into extra innings, winning in walk-off fashion in the 13th and 17th innings against the Minnesota Twins.
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Minnesota Twins
Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
Minnesota Twins
1982 – 2009
Dimensions: Left – 343 / Center – 408 / Right – 327
Capacity: 55,883
The “Thunderdome” provided the Twins with an indoor baseball facility to keep out the harsh Minnesota weather and gave them some unique home-field advantages. Opposing fielders would often lose fly balls in the backdrop of its Teflon-coated fiberglass roof, and pitchers would lose their cool under the intense noise levels. But old baseball stadiums simply shouldn’t have a wall referred to as the “Hefty Bag.”
Metropolitan Stadium
Minnesota Twins
1961 – 1981
Dimensions: Left – 343 / Center – 402 / Right – 330
Capacity: 45,919
One of the roughest of the old baseball stadiums, the “Met” transitioned from a minor league park to a major league stadium when the Senators moved from Washington to Minneapolis in 1961. Heavy winds, a condemned third deck and brutal traffic flow eventually led to the building of the Metrodome, and the fantastic, standing-room-only view from behind the chain-link fence in left were quickly forgotten. The Mall of America now stands on the site where Harmon Killebrew carved out his place in baseball history.
Griffith Stadium
AKA: American League Park, Beyer’s Seventh Street Park, League Park, National Park
Washington Senators
1911 – 1960
Dimensions: Left – 388 / Center – 421 / Right – 320
Capacity: 27,550
After the burning of its predecessor during Spring Training of 1911 Griffith Stadium was erected in time for Opening Day, though it was officially finished in July. It featured a downhill slope to first base for the slow-footed Senators and a speaker horn blaring from the center field wall, and a second deck was added to the seats beyond the infield in 1920.
American League Park II
Washington Senators
1904 – 1910
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
William Howard Taft became the first President to accept an invitation to throw out the Opening Day first pitch at the second version of American League Park, this one built on the old Boundary Field location, on April 14, 1910. The next preseason a fire from a plumber’s blowtorch would completely destroy the stadium.
American League Park I
Washington Senators
1901 – 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 10,000+
The Senators’ first home was called American League Park as they waited for the National League to release its ownership of a more preferable location. The new National Agreement between the two leagues in 1903 ended the field’s short existence as they relocated the stands to the old Boundary Park field in 1904.
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Houston Astros
Astrodome
Houston Astros
1965 – 1999
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 400 / Right – 325
Capacity: 54,816
The original domed stadium, the Astrodome was the “Eighth Wonder of the World” as when it was built and one of the most imposing old baseball stadiums in history. But its faults were quickly apparent as outfielders lost fly balls against the glass panel roof, painting the roof panels caused the grass to die and a fake grass carpet had to be installed, introducing the world to “Astroturf” in 1966. The colossal structure also came into play on June 10, 1974 when Mike Schmidt crushed a would-be home run that hit a public address speaker mounted 117 high and 329 feet from home plate–a potential 500-foot blast relegated to a single to center field.
Colt Stadium
Houston Colt .45s
1962 – 1964
Dimensions: Left – 360 / Center – 420 / Right – 360
Capacity: 33,010
Fans attending games in the brutal Texas heat at Colt Stadium to see the city’s expansion franchise were treated with uncovered seating, pesky mosquitoes and a young Dan Rather as the public address announcer. Thankfully, it was one of the temporary old baseball stadiums as the team awaited completion of the game’s first covered stadium.
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Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Dodger Stadium
AKA: Chavez Ravine
Los Angeles/California Angels
1962 – 1965
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 410 / Right – 330
Capacity: 56,000
The Angels signed a lease to share the new home of the Dodgers in their second season, but they didn’t want to promote their crosstown rivals and referred to the stadium as “Chavez Ravine” during their stay. Owner Gene Autry ultimately secured farmland in Anaheim so the team would no longer be the city’s afterthought.
Wrigley Field L.A.
Los Angeles Angels
1961
Dimensions: Left – 340 / Center – 412 / Right – 339
Capacity: 20,457
During the franchise’s first major league season the Angels played in one of the old baseball stadiums of the minor Pacific Coast League. This historic ballpark was where the “Home Run Derby” television show was filmed, and it lived up to that reputation by yielding 248 dingers during its only year in the majors.
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Oakland Athletics
Municipal Stadium
Kansas City Athletics
1954 – 1967
Dimensions: Left – 369 / Center – 421 / Right – 353
Capacity: 30,296
It’s not a stretch to call the Athletics home in Kansas City, probably the zaniest of the old baseball stadiums, a zoo. First of all, owner Charlie Finley actually put a petting zoo with monkeys, birds, rabbits and “Charlie O,” the teams mascot mule, in left field foul territory. He also installed a mechanical rabbit, “Harvey,” that provided the home plate umpire with fresh baseballs. But to top it all off, Finley fought a battle with league authorities as he tried to copy the dimensions of Yankee Stadium. He first brought the right field wall in to 296 feet with his “Pennant Porch,” but it was ordered to be removed before the season even began. After unsuccessfully putting up an overhanging canopy, Finley finally settled for painting a line on the field indicating 296 feet and having the announcer say “That would have been a home run at Yankee Stadium!”
Shibe Park
AKA: Connie Mack Stadium
Philadelphia Athletics
1909 – 1954
Dimensions: Left – 334 / Center – 468 / Right – 331
Capacity: 33,000
Shibe Park, later renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953, was the first of the old baseball stadiums to be built of concrete and steel. It featured a 50-foot high “spite wall” in right field that was raised after Connie Mack lost a lawsuit trying to prevent 20th Street residents from watching games from their rooftops. In 1941 Ted Williams had his epic season finale in a double-header here, going six for eight and pushing his average well over .400.
Columbia Park
AKA: Columbia Avenue Grounds
Philadelphia Athletics
1901 – 1908
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 13,600
The start-up Athletics found a home in Brewerytown in northern Philadelphia for the team’s first eight years. But their popularity outgrew the park, and they moved into a new stadium named after the team’s owner, Ben Shibe, and complete with actual dugouts in 1909.
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Seattle Mariners
Kingdome
Seattle Mariners
1977 – 1999
Dimensions: Left – 331 / Center – 405 / Right – 312
Capacity: 59,166
The Mariners spent more than 20 years in the Kingdome with its speakers, air conditioners and 23-foot right field wall. Ken Griffey Sr. and Jr. became the first father/son duo to play in a game here in 1990, and falling ceiling tiles shortened its 1994 season a few weeks before the strike.
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Texas Rangers
Arlington Stadium
AKA: Turnpike Stadium
Texas Rangers
1972 – 1993
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 400 / Right – 330
Capacity: 43,521
The Dallas/Fort Worth area wanted to attract a major league franchise to the city, and after seven years of minor league ball Turnpike Stadium became Arlington Stadium, the home of the newly relocated Senators franchise. It was built into a giant hole in the ground and often felt like a convection oven in the sweltering Texas heat.
RFK Stadium
AKA: D.C. Stadium
Washington Senators
1962 – 1971
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 408 / Right – 335
Capacity: 45,016
After one year in old Griffith Stadium the Washington Senators moved into the recently-finished home of the NFL’s Redskins in 1962. Though RFK did host the All-Star Game in 1962 and 1969, the Senators never settled in and moved to Texas after a decade.
Griffith Stadium
Washington Senators
1961
Dimensions: Left – 388 / Center – 421 / Right – 320
Capacity: 27,550
After the first Senators franchise headed off to Minnesota, the nation’s capital immediately received an expansion team for 1961. Senators 2.0 played for one year in the previous franchise’s old home, Griffith Stadium, before joining the Redskins in D.C. Stadium (later RFK Stadium) the next season.
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Atlanta Braves
Atlanta Fulton County Stadium
AKA: Atlanta Stadium
Atlanta Braves
1966 – 1996
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 402 / Right – 330
Capacity: 52,013
The Braves’ first home after moving to Atlanta was as up and down as the teams that played there, but it was one of the old baseball stadiums that witnessed several historic moments. After the excitement of the new team faded, attendance plummeted during the 1970s, helped out only briefly by Hank Aaron memorable 715th home run at the beginning of the 1974 season. But new owner Ted Turner brought a Bill Veeck-type marketing energy to the franchise in 1976 and got both the team and the stadium to respectable levels as the 1990s got rolling. In 1992 Francisco Cabrera delivered one of the post-season’s most dramatic moments with his two-out, two-run game-winning single to beat Barry Bonds and the Pirates and send the Braves to their second straight World Series.
County Stadium
Milwaukee Braves
1953 – 1965
Dimensions: Left – 320 / Center – 402 / Right – 315
Capacity: 43,394
When the Braves moved to Milwaukee they played in the newly-built County Stadium, featuring Perini’s Woods beyond center field and a free view of the game for patients on Mockingbird Hill at the V.A. Hospital behind right field.
Braves Field
AKA: The Bee Hive
Boston Braves/Bees
1915 – 1952
Dimensions: Left – 337 / Center – 370 / Right – 319
Capacity: 40,000
Braves Field was the largest of the old baseball stadiums during the concrete and steel era and was home to Boston’s “other” baseball team for more than three decades. As home runs became more a part of the game the fences were moved from their original distances, 400 to 550 feet from home plate, to more a more reachable range. On May 1, 1920 Braves Field saw the most extra innings in major league history as the Braves and Brooklyn Robins played to a 1-1 tie over 26 innings!
Fenway Park
Boston Braves
1913 – 1915 & April 28, 1946
Dimensions: Left – 310 / Center – 389 / Right – 302
Capacity: 35,000
In order to take advantage of the larger seating capacity, the Braves played a few games to open the 1913 season, their home games down the stretch and during the World Series in 1914, and most of the 1915 season at Fenway Park, one of the few old baseball stadiums that is still standing. They also swept a double-header with the Phillies to open the 1946 season at Fenway while a fresh coat of paint was drying on the bleachers at Braves Field.
South End Grounds III
AKA: Boston Base Ball Grounds, Walpole Street Grounds
Boston Braves/Rustlers/Doves/Beaneaters
1894 – 1914
Dimensions: Left – 350 / Center – 440 / Right – 255
Capacity: unknown
The third and last of the old baseball stadiums on the South End Grounds was actually smaller than the previous structure, which was destroyed by fire and underinsured. It housed the Braves franchise for twenty years, and after seeing six different teams lose 100 games in eight years, it was snubbed in favor of the more spacious Fenway Park when the “Miracle Braves” swept the mighty Philadelphia Athletics in the 1914 World Series.
Rocky Point Park
Boston Beaneaters
September 6, 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 5,600 (attendance)
In order to garner more interest in a late-season game between two teams that were more than 30 games out of pennant hunt, the Beaneaters headed to Warwick, Rhode Island and the historic Rocky Point Amusement Park, certainly one of the more entertaining old baseball stadiums ever. Boston came away with a 3-2 victory.
Congress Street Grounds
Boston Beaneaters
1894
Dimensions: Left – 246 / Center – 385 / Right – 246
Capacity: 14,000
After the Great Roxbury Fire destroyed South End Grounds in 1894 the Beaneaters found a temporary home at Congress Street Grounds, former home of the Boston Reds of the Players League (1890) and American Association (1891).
South End Grounds II
AKA: Grand Pavilion
Boston Beaneaters
1888 – 1894
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 6,800
The most famous of the old baseball stadiums on the historic site, South End Grounds II was known as the “Grand Pavilion” with its iconic castle-like towers and the only double-deck structure of any of Boston’s ballparks. It met its end on May 15, 1894 when, as Boston and Baltimore headed into the bottom of the third inning , a group of boys set a small pile of wood shavings on fire under the right field seats. Recent dry weather and remnants of the center field seats proved to be the perfect environment for a blaze, and within three hours the fire had evolved from an annoying disruption to twelve acres of torched homes and buildings.
South End Grounds I
Boston Red Stockings/Beaneaters
1876 – 1887
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
When the Boston Red Stockings became a part of the new National League in 1876 they continued to play at South End Grounds, a ballpark they had called home while in the National Association since 1871.
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Miami Marlins
Sun Life Stadium
AKA: Land Shark Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Joe Robbie Stadium
Florida Marlins
1993 – 2011
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 404 / Right – 345
Capacity: 42,531
The Marlins spent nearly two decades playing ball in the home of the NFL’s Miami Dolphins. Most games saw a canvas covering the upper deck due to low attendance despite the fact that the Marlins were able to bring home two World Series championships in the franchise’s first eleven years. In 2012 the team moved to Marlins Ballpark on the former site of the Orange Bowl while also changing their name to the Miami Marlins.
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New York Mets
Shea Stadium
New York Mets
1964 – 2008
Dimensions: Left – 338 / Center – 410 / Right – 338
Capacity: 55,601
Named in honor of the attorney who worked tirelessly to bring a second baseball team back to New York, Shea Stadium finally became home to the Mets in 1964 after more than two years of construction. Its most memorable feature was the fact that planes flying in and out of La Guardia went overhead, an oversight due to the fact that the site was selected during the winter when flight patterns are different. The 1969 Miracle Mets also staged a come-from-behind win at Shea Stadium in Game 5 of the World Series to clinch their first championship.
Tokyo Dome
New York Mets
March 29, 2000
Dimensions: Left – 328 / Center – 400 / Right – 328
Capacity: 55,000
In 2000 the Mets became the first team to “host” a game outside of North America as they lost to Sammy Sosa and the Chicago Cubs 5-3 to open the season. The Mets would recover the next day, however, with an extra-inning 5-1 victory in the Cubs’ “home” game.
Polo Grounds IV
New York Mets
1962 – 1963
Dimensions: Left – 279 / Center – 483 / Right – 258
Capacity: 55,000
The Mets spent their first two years as a franchise playing at one of the great old baseball stadiums, Polo Grounds, before it was demolished when the team moved to Shea Stadium in 1964. During the two seasons Howards Clothes offered a popular “hit the sign” promotion that gave a suit to the player who could accumulate the most points by hitting their sign on the outfield wall over the course of the season.
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Philadelphia Phillies
Veterans Stadium
Philadelphia Phillies
1971 – 2003
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 408 / Right – 330
Capacity: 62,382
“The Vet” stood as one of the largest of the old baseball stadiums for more than 30 years and finally saw the Phillies, the last of the original 1903 major league franchises to win a World Series, claim their first title in 1980. It featured a replica Liberty Bell at the top of the stadium in straight-away center field, which Greg Luzinski hit with a mammoth home run on May 16, 1972.
Connie Mack Stadium
AKA: Shibe Park
Philadelphia Phillies
May 16-28, 1927 & 1938 – 1970
Dimensions: Left – 334 / Center – 410 / Right – 331
Capacity: 33,000
The Phillies were able to escape their lease with Baker Bowl in 1938 and joined the Athletics at Shibe Park midway through the season. It was one of the only old baseball stadiums to be named after a manager, Connie Mack, and featured a 50-foot wall in right field, nickname the “spite fence,” that was designed to keep the rooftops on 20th Street from profiting off of a free view of the games. It was the first of the reinforced concrete stadiums, leading to other epic parks like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, and its architecture gave it a distinct Renaissance look while keeping a baseball feel.
Baker Bowl
AKA: National League Park, Baker Field, The Hump
Philadelphia Phillies
1895 – 1938
Dimensions: Left – 342 / Center – 408 / Right – 281
Capacity: 18,800
After fire destroyed the Philadelphia Base Ball Park, the Phillies built a new stadium on the grounds, calling it Baker Bowl after owner William F. Baker. Of all of the old baseball stadiums this one probably had the roughest history. On August 8, 1903 a fight erupted behind the stands down the third base line during the second game of a double-header, and as fans flocked to the top of the stands to see the commotion, the structure collapsed into the street. Twelve fans were killed, including an 11-year-old boy named Samuel Kelly, and more than 200 were injured. Then on May 14, 1927 as rain fell and fans looked for shelter in right field, part of the lower deck collapsed and injured more than 50 people, with one fan dying from heart failure in the ensuing panic.
Columbia Park
Philadelphia Phillies
August 20 – September 10, 1903
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 9,500
After the collapse of the left field stands at Baker Bowl the Phillies played their final 16 home games of the year at Columbia Park, the home of the Philadelphia Athletics. The team was unable to capitalize on their new “home field” advantage, with visiting teams having no dugout or locker room, as they went 6-9-1 to close their home schedule before finishing the season on an 18-game road trip.
Franklin Field
AKA: University of Pennsylvania Athletic Field
Philadelphia Phillies
August 11-17, 1894
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The Phillies found a temporary home on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania after the Philadelphia Base Ball Park burned as they prepared to finish a series against the Orioles on August 6, 1894. The Phillies went 5-1 against the Washington Senators and Louisville Colonels during their short stint on the west side of the Schuylkill River.
Philadelphia Base Ball Park
AKA: Huntingdon Grounds
Philadelphia Phillies
1887 – 1894
Dimensions: Left – 342 / Center – 408 / Right – 300
Capacity: 18,000
When the first ballpark was built at Philadelphia Base Ball Grounds it was considered the best of the old baseball stadiums of its generation, with outer walls constructed entirely out of brick. The Phillies played at the Philadelphia Base Ball Park for almost eight seasons until a fire on August 6, 1894, burned it almost completely to the ground.
Exposition Park III
Philadelphia Phillies
June 30, 1892
Dimensions: Left – 400 / Center – 450 / Right – 400
Capacity: 6,500
The Phillies played a pair of “home” games against Washington at Pittsburgh’s Exposition Park in the middle of the 1892 season, losing the first game of the double-header to the Senators, 3-2, but winning by the same score in the second game.
Recreation Park
Philadelphia Quakers
1883 – 1886
Dimensions: Left – 300 / Center – 331 / Right – 247
Capacity: unknown
The Philadelphia franchise of the National League began in 1883 as the Quakers and played its first four seasons at Recreation Park, the field heralded as the home of Pennsylvania’s first baseball game on June 26, 1860. Like many old baseball stadiums, it was oddly shaped and was a particularly difficult place to hit with the setting sun and white outfield walls. It soon proved to lack the space for fans as the team’s popularity grew.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Washington Nationals
RFK Stadium
Washington Nationals
2005 – 2007
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 408 / Right – 335
Capacity: 45,016
After being purchased by the other major league owners in 2002 and moved to Washington, the Expos became the Nationals and played their first three seasons in the nation’s capital at RFK Stadium, former home of the Senators and the NFL’s Redskins, while a new ballpark was being constructed.
Olympic Stadium
AKA: Stade Olympique
Montreal Expos
1977 – 2004
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 404 / Right – 325
Capacity: 43,739
In short, very few of the old baseball stadiums can lay claim to the term “debacle” like Olympic Stadium. It first failed to be ready for the 1976 Summer Olympic Games, its primary purpose, but then became a financial nightmare and a hazard during its tenure as home of the Montreal Expos. The planned retractable roof couldn’t actually retract until 1987 and immediately had problems with rips and leaks during storms. In 1991 a 62-ton piece of concrete fell and forced the team to finish their schedule entirely on the road. Despite its shortcomings, Olympic Stadium did see the Expos make their only appearance in the postseason in 1981 and hosted the All Star Game the following year.
Hiram Bithorn Stadium
AKA: Estadio Hiram Bithorn
Montreal Expos
2003 – 2004
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 404 / Right – 325
Capacity: 19,000
As attendance waned in Montreal during the Expos’ final seasons there, the team moved 22 of its home games in both 2003 and 2004 to San Juan, Puerto Rico and its Hiram Bithorn Stadium. The effort to entice the franchise to permanently move to the island ultimately failed as they relocated to Washington, D.C. in 2005.
Jarry Park
Montreal Expos
1969 – 1976
Dimensions: Left – 340 / Center – 420 / Right – 340
Capacity: 28,456
The still-standing Jarry Park stadium was a short-term home for the expansion Montreal Expos while they waited for Olympic Stadium to be completed. It was located in Jarry Park, a scenic urban park featuring tennis courts, swimming pools and playgrounds, and was expanded from a seating capacity of 3,000 to more than 28,000 to accommodate the major league franchise.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Chicago Cubs
Tokyo Dome
Chicago Cubs
March 30, 2000
Dimensions: Left – 328 / Center – 400 / Right – 328
Capacity: 55,000
After winning the season-opener to the New York Mets as the visiting team in Tokyo the day before, the Cubs “hosted” the Mets on March 30, 2000 in the second game of the series, losing 5-1 in extra innings on a grand slam in the eleventh by pinch-hitter Benny Agbayani.
Comiskey Park
Chicago Cubs
1918 (World Series games)
Dimensions: Left – 362 / Center – 420 / Right – 362
Capacity: 32,000
Because their home at Weeghman Park, eventually renamed Wrigley Field, held only 18,000 spectators, during the 1918 World Series the Cubs played their home games at Comiskey Park, the home of the White Sox. They lost two of the three game against the Red Sox on their way to losing the series, 4-2.
West Side Grounds
AKA: West Side Park II
Chicago Colts/Orphans/Cubs
1893 – 1915
Dimensions: Left – 340 / Center – 560 / Right – 316
Capacity: 16,000
One of the classic old baseball stadiums from the wooden era, West Side Grounds saw the greatest era in Cubs history as it played host to four pennant winners in five years, the major leagues’ first back-to-back World Series titles in 1907 and 1908, and the famous Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance double-play combination. In 1894 a fire broke out during a game against the Reds, and players had to wrestle down the barbed-wire barrier so the fans could flee to the field for safety. In 1916 the team relocated to Weeghman Park, the former Federal League home of the Whales, as the new steel-and-concrete stadiums replaced the aging wooden ballparks across baseball.
South Side Park II
Chicago Colts
1891 – 1893
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The second of the old baseball stadiums at South Side Park, and former home of the Chicago Pirates of the Players League, was home to Al Spalding’s Chicago Colts for three years. He moved the team from West Side Park, which had raised rent, to South Side Park, which was charging 80% less.
West Side Park I
Chicago White Stockings/Colts
1885 – 1891
Dimensions: Left – 216 / Center – 560 / Right – 216
Capacity: 6,000
The Chicago White Stockings moved to West Side Park in 1885 and immediately won two National League pennants behind future Hall of Famers Cap Anson and Mike “King” Kelly. It was an long, oval-shaped field surrounded by a brick wall and a cycling trail, but it lost the team after six years when rent on the land increased.
Lake Front Park II
Chicago White Stockings
1883 – 1884
Dimensions: Left – 186 / Center – 300 / Right – 196
Capacity: 10,000
Changes to the Lake Front Park stadium made it the most hitter-friendly of all of the old baseball stadiums for the final two years that the White Stockings played there. The fences were the shortest in major league history, being less than 200 feet down the lines, and any ball hit over the shallow left field wall in 1883 was considered a double. When they adjusted it back to a home run in 1884, the White Stockings saw their league-leading doubles total drop (277 to 162) while they became the league leaders in home runs (13 to 142). The city took back the land after the 1884 season and the team was forced to move.
Lake Front Park I
AKA: Lake Park, Lake Shore Park
Chicago White Stockings
1878 – 1882
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
A ballpark was rebuilt on the downtown site of Union Base Ball Grounds, home to the National Association White Stockings that was destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and hosted the National League franchise after it left its home on 23rd Street.
Swinney Park
Chicago White Stockings
October 24, 1882
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 600-800 (attendance)
The Northern Indiana Fair Association made a deal for the finale of the season-ending series between the first and second-place team of the National League to be played at the fair ground of Swinney Park. Chicago triumphed, 19-7, over the Providence Grays.
23rd Street Park
AKA: 23rd Street Grounds
Chicago White Stockings
1876 – 1877
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The Chicago White Stockings played their first two seasons in the new National League at 23rd Street Park, just off the shore of Lake Michigan, after playing there during their final two years in the National Association.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Cincinnati Reds
Riverfront Stadium
AKA: Cinergy Field
Cincinnati Reds
1970 – 2002
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 393 / Right – 325
Capacity: 39,000
The Cincinnati Reds moved into Riverfront Stadium in 1970 on their way to their first of four National League pennants in six years as the era of the “Big Red Machine” began. The big “concrete doughnut,” which would also host NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, was a stark contrast to the intimate environment of Crosley Field and was the first of the old baseball stadiums to implement the “sliding pit” design around the bases with the rest of the infield covered in turf.
Crosley Field
AKA: Redland Field
Cincinnati Reds
1912 – 1970
Dimensions: Left – 328 / Center – 387 / Right – 366
Capacity: 29,488
Originally named Redland Field when it was built in 1912, Crosley Field was one of the more innovative concrete and steel old baseball stadiums of its time. The stadium’s outfield featured a steep hill into wall called the “terrace,” and it saw the “Black Sox” throw the first two games of the 1919 World Series here to the Reds.
Palace of the Fans
AKA: League Park III
Cincinnati Reds
1902 – 1911
Dimensions: Left – 390 / Center – 510 / Right – 450
Capacity: 6,000
The Reds continued to play at the intersection of Findlay and Western when they rebuilt on the site of the League Park fire, erecting a majestic stadium with columns on the grandstand that looked like they were straight out of the Greek orders. Though the team was unable to capture a pennant during their stay at the Palace, it did become one of the old baseball stadiums that tried baseball under the lights on June 19, 1909 with an exhibition game between two local Elks Clubs teams.
League Park II
Cincinnati Reds
1894 – 1901
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
In 1894 the Reds’ owner renovated League Park with a new grandstand and an amphitheater and shifted the field to point toward the northeast. Then in 1895 the center field fence was painted black for the sake of the hitters, arguably the first “batter’s eye.” After a fire in 1900 burned the new grandstand, the franchise made due until a new park could be built.
League Park I
AKA: Cincinnati Base Ball Grounds, Western Avenue Grounds, American Park
Cincinnati Reds/Red Stockings
1884 – 1893
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
When Bank Street Grounds signed a lease with the Union Association team, the Red Stockings moved to a ballpark at the corner of Findlay and Western. But their new grounds got off to a horrible start. On opening day of the stadium’s inaugural season of 1884 a portion of the stands collapsed, killing one fan and injuring several others. Even though its first impression was the most disastrous of all the old baseball stadiums, it was still chosen as one of the neutral sites for the infamous 1885 World Championship post-season series between the St. Louis Browns and the Chicago White Stockings.
Washington Park I
Cincinnati Red Stockings
October 10, 1884
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The Red Stockings played their final “home” game of the 1884 season in Brooklyn at the home of the Trolley Dodgers. They beat the Indianapolis Hoosiers, 4-3.
Bank Street Grounds
Cincinnati Red Stockings
1882 – 1883
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 4,000
Cincinnati joined the new American Association in 1882 and claimed the old home of the National League’s Reds, Bank Street Grounds. The ballpark saw the Red Stockings win the 1882 American Association pennant, but after the 1883 season the grounds signed a lease with the Union Association’s Cincinnati Outlaw Reds and the team was forced to relocate.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Milwaukee Brewers
County Stadium
Milwaukee Brewers
1970 – 2000
Dimensions: Left – 315 / Center – 402 / Right – 315
Capacity: 53,192
With the relocation of the Pilots to Milwaukee, the renamed Brewers moved into County Stadium, the former home of the Milwaukee Braves in 1970, which had sat without a major league team for four years. Few, if any, old baseball stadiums could compete with its famous bratwurst tailgating, and it hosted its second All Star Game in 1975 before seeing the Brewers reach their first World Series in 1982.
Sick’s Stadium
Seattle Pilots
1969
Dimensions: Left – 305 / Center – 402 / Right – 325
Capacity: 25,420
Sick’s Stadium made a poor transition from minor league park to temporary major league park when baseball granted Seattle an expansion team, the Seattle Pilots, for the 1969 season. It failed to reach the contracted 30,000 capacity on time, holding only 17,000 fans on Opening Day, and featured terrible sightlines, poor plumbing and an unimpressive overall impression. The Pilots averaged less than 8,300 fans per home game and eventually ended up in bankruptcy less than a week before the start of the 1970 season, allowing the team to move to Milwaukee.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Pittsburgh Pirates
Three Rivers Stadium
Pittsburgh Pirates
1970 – 2000
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 400 / Right – 335
Capacity: 47,971
Built where the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers form the Ohio River, Three Rivers Stadium replaced historic Forbes field and became the home of Willie Stargell and the great Pirates teams of the 70s. The dual baseball/football stadium witnessed Roberto Clemente’s 3,000th and final hit on September 30, 1972 and would eventually erect a statue outside the stadium in his honor.
Forbes Field
Pittsburg(h) Pirates
1909 – 1970
Dimensions: Left – 365 / Center – 435 / Right – 300
Capacity: 35,000
Forbes Field was one of the legendary old baseball stadiums that helped bring baseball into the modern era, transitioning from the unforgettable career of shortstop Honus Wagner to other Hall of Famers like Paul Waner, Ralph Kiner and eventually Roberto Clemente. It featured the classic arched-entryway design, ivy-covered walls in left field, and an 86-foot roof over the right field stands that Babe Ruth cleared with his final home run on May 25, 1935. It’s most famous moment, however, came when Bill Mazeroski won the 1960 World Series in walk-off fashion with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Yankees.
Exposition Park III
Pittsburg Pirates
1891 – 1909
Dimensions: Left – 400 / Center – 450 / Right – 400
Capacity: 10,000
The troublesome Exposition Park location became the Steel City’s baseball home again in 1891 when the folding of the Players League allowed the newly-named Pirates to move into a newly-renovated home in 1891. Not even their other old baseball stadiums dealt with the kind of flooding that plagued this park, which even got to the point of ground rules being instituted for balls hit into deep standing water (ruled as singles) during a double-header in 1902.
Recreation Park
AKA: Union Park
Pittsburg(h) Alleghenys
1884 – 1890
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 17,000
Because of the flooding problems near the river, the Alleghenys finally moved to Recreation Park, which had previously been one of the old baseball stadiums used by amateur baseball teams in the city. It was their home when they transitioned to the National League in 1887, but they failed to put together a winning record there in their new league. Instead, the park’s most memorable moment came when catcher Fred Carroll’s pet monkey was laid to rest beneath home plate.
Island Grounds
Pittsburg Alleghenys
September 22, 1890
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 1,500 (attendance)
The lowly Alleghenys played a late-season game against the New York Giants in Wheeling, West Virginia, birthplace of the Giants’ shortstop Jack Glasscock, and lost, 8-3.
Mahaffey Park
Pittsburg Alleghenys
September 18, 1890
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
Near the end of their dreadful 1890 season the Alleghenys played a home game against the Cleveland Spiders, who were nearly as bad, at Mahaffey Park in Canton, Ohio. Pittsburg chose to bat first, but it didn’t pay off as they lost the game, 11-10.
Exposition Park II
AKA: The Upper Field
Pittsburgh Alleghenys
1883
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
Pittsburgh failed to correct the flooding problem that helped destroy their first park when it built a second Exposition Park further upriver. After one season they finally decided to look for higher ground and moved to Recreation Park.
Exposition Park I
AKA: The Lower Field
Pittsburgh Alleghenys
1882 – 1883
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
When Pittsburgh joined the American Association in 1882 they looked to the fields along the north shore of the Allegheny River where expositions were held to promote the city. Unfortunately, a fire and flooding forced the team to move further upriver in 1883.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
St. Louis Cardinals
Busch Memorial Stadium
AKA: Busch Stadium II
St. Louis Cardinals
1966 – 2005
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 402 / Right – 330
Capacity: 49,676
Busch Stadium was one of the many old baseball stadiums in the “concrete doughnut” mold of the 1960s and 1970s that housed not only the baseball Cardinals but also the Cardinals of the National Football League. The great Bob Gibson led the team to consecutive pennants and a World Championship in their first full seasons in the new park, the dazzling Ozzie Smith made the hometown folks go crazy with a Game 5 walk-off home run in the 1985 NLCS, and the Boston Red Sox ended their epic championship drought here in 2004.
Sportsman’s Park III
AKA: Busch Stadium I
St. Louis Cardinals
1920 – 1966
Dimensions: Left – 351 / Center – 422 / Right – 310
Capacity: 30,500
Few old baseball stadiums ever saw as much success as the final Sportsman’s Park did between 1926 and 1946 when the Cardinals won nine pennants and six World Series championships while sharing the home of the St. Louis Browns of the American League. In 1953 the ballpark was renamed Busch Stadium when it was purchased from the Browns by owner Gussie Busch and the name Budweiser Stadium was not approved.
Robison Field
AKA: New Sportsman’s Park, League Park, “Coney Island West”
St. Louis Browns/Perfectos/Cardinals
1893 – 1920
Dimensions: Left – 380 / Center – 435 / Right – 290
Capacity: 21,000
Before the infamous fire of 1898 ruined the ballpark and the team’s dynamic owner, Chris Von der Ahe, New Sportsman’s Park was one of the more entertaining old baseball stadiums ever. It featured an amusement park, water slide, horse track, beer garden and a man-made lake. Following a second fire to the then-named Robison Field, after the new owners, it was reinforced with steel and concrete and remained the Cardinals’ home until it became too expensive to renovate.
Sportsman’s Park I
St. Louis Brown Stockings/Browns
1882 – 1892
Dimensions: Left – 350 / Center – 460 / Right – 285
Capacity: 12,000
The St. Louis Cardinals began their journey as a franchise in the American Association playing at Sportsman’s Park, the renovated location of Grand Avenue Park, where the old St. Louis Brown Stockings of the National League had played for two seasons. Team owner Chris Von der Ahe made the team a huge success, winning four consecutive association titles, and built a new, innovative ballpark after a fire damaged this one in 1891.
Exposition Park
St. Louis Browns
August 23 & October 15, 1892
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
Presumably because of the deteriorating conditions of Sportsman’s Park in 1892, following a fire the previous year, the Browns played some late-season games in Kansas City at the home of the Cowboys of the Western League. They split a double-header against the Boston Beaneaters in August and lost their final game of the season, 1-0, to the Chicago Colts.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Arizona Diamondbacks
There are no old baseball stadiums associated with the Arizona Diamondbacks franchise.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Colorado Rockies
Mile High Stadium
Colorado Rockies
1993 – 1994
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 423 / Right – 375
Capacity: 76,123
After Denver was awarded an expansion team in the National League, the new franchise played their first two seasons in Mile High Stadium. One of the old baseball stadiums of the minor leagues, where the Bears and Zephyrs roamed, Mile High also played host to the Denver Broncos of the NFL, so the triple-decked left field bleachers were redesigned to be hydraulically moved back and forth to accommodate both football and baseball games.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles Dodgers
1958 – 1961
Dimensions: Left – 252 / Center – 420 / Right – 300
Capacity: 92,572
The Dodgers played their first four years in Los Angeles not at any of the great old baseball stadiums…but at a football stadium. It’s as simple as that. But they managed to win their second World Series in five years in 1959, and outfielder Wally Moon became famous for hitting fly ball home runs over the raised screen in left field, called “Moon Shots.” The Coliseum also set the record for single-game attendance during the 1959 World Series, surpassing 90,000 fans all three games and establishing the record of 92,706 in Game 5.
Ebbets Field
Brooklyn Superbas/Robins/Dodgers
1913 – 1957
Dimensions: Left – 348 / Center – 393 / Right – 297
Capacity: 31,902
Ebbets Field has an argument as the most historic of all of the old baseball stadiums as the Brooklyn Dodgers racked up seven National League pennants and a World Championship in 1955. On August 26, 1939, Red Barber stepped to the microphone to call the first televised baseball game during a double-header with the Cincinnati Reds, and Jackie Robinson trotted out to second base for the first time here on April 15, 1947. And the epic clock tower scene from The Natural was inspired by the Braves’ Bama Rowell, who hit the Bulova Clock above the right field wall at Ebbets Field on May 30, 1946.
Roosevelt Stadium
Brooklyn Dodgers
1956 – 1957
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 411 / Right – 330
Capacity: 24,500
As Brooklyn worked to keep the Dodgers from leaving, the team played a total of fifteen games during 1956 and 1957 at Roosevelt Stadium, which featured significantly more parking than Ebbets Field. The Dodgers won eleven of those games, but it wasn’t enough as they moved across the country to Los Angeles in 1958.
Washington Park III
Brooklyn Bridegrooms/Superbas/Dodgers
1898 – 1912
Dimensions: Left – 376 / Center – 425 / Right – 302
Capacity: 18,800
After years at the distant Eastern Park, Charles Ebbets moved the team back to southern Brooklyn and near the site of the old baseball stadiums at Washington Park. The team was very successful during its early years at the new park, and even had to hang canvas sheets in right field to block the free view from the Ginney Flats apartments. But by 1912 the beloved park was deteriorating beyond repair, and Charles Ebbets’ plans were for a new, epic stadium in Flatbush were turned into reality.
West New York Field Club Grounds
Brooklyn Bridegrooms
September 18 & October 2, 1898
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The Brooklyn Bridegrooms played a couple of late-season home games over in West New York, New Jersey, losing the first match-up against the New York Giants, 7-3, but later defeating the Washington Nationals, 4-3.
Eastern Park
Brooklyn Grooms/Bridegrooms
1891 – 1897
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 12,000
The most enduring thing to come out of the seven years Brooklyn spent at Eastern Park was the nickname “trolley dodgers,” which referenced the many rails and trolleys fans encountered on their way to the park.
Washington Park II
Brooklyn Bridegrooms
1889 – 1890
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
After a fire burned the stands and a wall of the first of the old baseball stadiums at Washing Park while the team was away on a road trip on May 17, 1889, a new grandstand and wall were built within two weeks and prevented any disruption to the Bridegrooms’ home schedule. The team went on to win the American Association pennant that year followed by the National League pennant in 1890 before they moved to Eastern Park in 1891.
Wallace’s Ridgewood Park
AKA: Ridgewood Park II
Brooklyn Bridegrooms
1887 – 1889
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 10,000
Another owner in Ridgewood Park, William Wallace, had also built a ball field and grandstand to attract crowds, and the Brooklyn team took advantage of his willingness to expand his park for even more fans, moving Sunday home games to the ball field for three seasons. On May 27, 1888, Brooklyn’s Adonis Terry threw a no-hitter here in a 4-0 win over the Louisville Colonels.
Washington Park I
Brooklyn Atlantics/Grays/Bridegrooms
1884 – 1889
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 2,500
When Brooklyn was accepted in the American Association they continued to play on the grounds completed the previous year, Washington Park, which featured carriage facilities and a pond. On top of the normal baseball games on the field, ice baseball was played on the pond and gave the game the rule allowing runners to overrun first base safely. During an amateur game on May 17, 1889 while the team was on a road trip, a fire broke out and destroyed the grandstands.
Grauer’s Ridgewood Park
AKA: Ridgewood Park I
Brooklyn Grays
1886
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 7,200 (attendance)
The relaxed Sunday blue laws in Queens prompted the Brooklyn team to move their Sunday home games to the picnic grounds at Ridgewood Park in 1886, where owner George Grauer had constructed ball fields to attract crowds.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
San Diego Padres
Jack Murphy Stadium
AKA: Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego Stadium
San Diego Padres
1969 – 2003
Dimensions: Left – 330 / Center – 405 / Right – 330
Capacity: 63,890
Jack Murphy Stadium, named after the San Diego sports writer who campaigned for its construction, was home to the Padres for their first 35 years. While it housed the Padres and the NFL’s Chargers, its most famous patron is probably the San Diego Chicken, who still entertains audiences with his crazy antics and comedy.
Monterrey Stadium
AKA: Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey
San Diego Padres
August 16-18, 1996 & April 4, 1999
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 405 / Right – 325
Capacity: 27,000
The Padres opened the 1996 season in Monterrey, Mexico, at Monterrey Stadium, home of Sultanes de Monterrey, against the New York Mets, marking the first time that major league baseball was played south of the border. They returned in 1999 for Opening Day, losing to the Colorado Rockies, 8-2.
Aloha Stadium
San Diego Padres
April 19-20, 1997
Dimensions: Left – 325 / Center – 420 / Right – 325
Capacity: 50,000
In an effort to establish a following in Hawaii, the San Diego Padres played a three-game series in 1997 against the St. Louis Cardinals in Honolulu, Hawaii at Aloha Stadium, home of the University of Hawaii Warriors and the former Padres’ minor league affiliate Hawaii Islanders. They lost both ends of a double-header before winning the series finale, 8-2.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
San Francisco Giants
Candlestick Park
AKA: 3Com Park
San Francisco Giants
1960 – 1999
Dimensions: Left – 335 / Center – 400 / Right – 328
Capacity: 57,546
Candlestick Park was one of the windiest old baseball stadiums ever, both before they enclosed it for football in 1972 and after, with right-handed hitters facing swirling winds coming in from left-center field. In the 1960s the Giants oversoaked the base path between first and second when Los Angeles came to town so much that it came to be known as “Maury’s Lake,” after the Dodgers’ base-stealing shortstop Maury Wills. Candlestick’s most remembered moment, unfortunately, came on October 17, 1989, when Game 3 of the World Series was postponed by an earthquake that killed 63 people, injured thousands and wrecked havoc across northern California.
Seals Stadium
San Francisco Giants
1958 – 1959
Dimensions: Left – 361 / Center – 400 / Right – 350
Capacity: 22,900
When the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958 they replaced and took up residence in the home of the great San Francisco Seals franchise of the minor Pacific Coast League. Originally one of the old baseball stadiums of the minor leagues, the ballpark lived out its final two years as a major league stadium with Willie Mays patrolling center field and Orlando Cepeda taking throws at first.
Polo Grounds IV
AKA: Coogan’s Bluff, Brush Stadium
New York Giants
1911 – 1957
Dimensions: Left – 279 / Center – 480 / Right – 258
Capacity: 55,000
The final installment of the Polo Grounds stands as one of the most famous of the old baseball stadiums, boasting such great baseball moments as “The Catch” by Willie Mays during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series and “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World,” Bobby Thomson’s pennant-winning walk-off home run in 1951 that capped the Giants’ great comeback known as “The Miracle at Coogan’s Bluff.” Though the team would lose three straight World Series in the new stadium’s first three years, they would win four titles before the franchise’s time in New York would come to a close.
Hilltop Park
New York Giants
April 15 – May 30, 1911
Dimensions: Left – 365 / Center – 542 / Right – 400
Capacity: 16,000
The Giants had to find a temporary home early in 1911 while the Polo Grounds was rebuilt following a fire, and the New York Highlanders allowed their rivals to rent their ballpark. Hilltop Park suited them fine as they won their first seven games and went 20-8 overall.
Polo Grounds III
AKA: Brotherhood Park
New York Giants
1891 – 1911
Dimensions: Left – 277 / Center – 433 / Right – 258
Capacity: 38,805
When the New York Giants of the Players League folded after the league’s only season in 1890, the New York Giants of the National League moved over to their large field on the northern side of Coogan’s Bluff. Originally known as Brotherhood Park, the Giants renamed the park Polo Grounds after their previous homes. The legend of Polo Grounds would grow to epic proportions here as “Merkle’s Boner” in 1908 set the stage for the unprecedented game of October 8 when crowds not only took over the stands, the grounds and even the press box, but also risked life and limb climbing anything they could to see the tie-breaking, win-or-go-home game between the Giants and Cubs. One unlucky fan, a firefighter named Henry McBride, fell from the elevated train tracks to his death. In the end the Cubs prevailed, Merkle’s legacy was sealed and Polo Grounds stepped into baseball lore as one of the classic old baseball stadiums forever.
West New York Field Club Grounds
New York Giants
1898 – 1899
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The Giants played one Sunday home game in 1898 and four in 1899 in West New York, New Jersey to avoid the local blue laws of New York. They won their match-up against the Washington Nationals, 8-2, in 1898 and won two games against the Louisville Colonels while losing two against the St. Louis Perfectos in 1899.
Polo Grounds II
AKA: Manhattan Field
New York Giants
1889 – 1890
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 14,364
After losing their first home, the Polo Grounds, to city street plans, the Giants were finally able to move to their new location in Manhattan midway through the 1889 season. They remained near the top of the standings while “house hunting” and delivered their fans a second straight pennant in their first of two seasons at the new Polo Grounds at Coogan’s Bluff. By the next year it was one of two old baseball stadiums on the site, and on May 12, 1890, outfielder Mike Tiernan broke a 0-0 tenth inning tie against Boston with a walk-off home run that left the field and struck the neighboring Brotherhood Park of the Players League.
St. George Cricket Grounds
New York Giants
April 29 – June 14, 1889
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
After being the home of the New York Metropolitans of the American Association during 1886 and 1887, the St. George Cricket Grounds on Staten Island hosted its final major league baseball games during the first half of the 1889 baseball season as the Giants awaited the completion of their new home at Coogan’s Bluff. It was one of the only old baseball stadiums to feature an illuminated fountain, which was maintained on the grounds as part of a neighborhood amusement plan.
Oakland Park
New York Giants
April 24-25, 1889
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: unknown
The New York Giants began the 1889 season at Oakland Park in Jersey City as they waited for their new ballpark to be built at Coogan’s Bluff. They lost their opener, 8-7, to the Boston Beaneaters but bounced back the next day with an 11-10 victory.
Polo Grounds I
New York Gothams/Giants
1883 – 1888
Dimensions: unknown
Capacity: 20,709 (attendance)
The original Polo Grounds was the only version of those famous old baseball stadiums where the game of polo was actually played, but the New Yorks, first known as the Gothams and then the Giants, also called it home for the franchise’s first six years in the National League. The grounds, located north of Central Park, also featured a second field where the Metropolitans of the American Association played with only a canvas between the two, meaning fielders would often slip over to the other field to retrieve a hard-hit ball.
Top of Old Baseball Stadiums
These old baseball stadiums may not have been able to stick around like Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, but many of them saw games, plays and players that no baseball fan will ever forget.
Even if you can’t go visit them in person, their legacies and stories live on here in the Baseball Vault. This is where the luster of the old baseball stadiums is restored.