League Park was a
Major League baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
park located in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, United States. It was the home of the
Cincinnati Reds
The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...
from 1884 through 1901. The ballpark was on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street (south), Western Avenue (northeast, angling), York Street (north) and McLean Avenue (west).
The "Findlay and Western" intersection was the home field of the Reds from 1884 through June 24, 1970, when the team moved to
Riverfront Stadium
Riverfront Stadium, also known as Cinergy Field from 1996 to 2002, was a multi-purpose stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States that was the home of the Cincinnati Reds of Major League Baseball from 1970 through 2002 and the Cincinnati Bengals o ...
. The location of the
diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...
and consequently the main
grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
seating area was shifted several times during the 86½ seasons the Reds played on the site. League Park was actually the first of three parks to stand on the site:
:1884–1901: League Park
:1902–1911:
Palace of the Fans
Palace of the Fans was a Major League baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home of the Cincinnati Reds from 1902 through 1911. The ballpark was on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street (south), Western Avenue (northeas ...
:1912–1970: Redland Field, renamed
Crosley Field in 1934
History
During the Cincinnati Reds' first two seasons, the club played at the
Bank Street Grounds The Bank Street Grounds is a former baseball park located in Cincinnati. The park was home to three major league baseball teams. The National League Cincinnati Stars club in 1880, the current Cincinnati Reds franchise from 1882 to 1883 and the Cin ...
. Following the 1883 season, the Reds were forced to abandon the park, because the lease had been bought out from under them by the new Cincinnati entry in the one-year wonder called the
Union Association
The Union Association was a league in Major League Baseball which lasted for just the 1884 season. St. Louis won the pennant and joined the National League the following season.
Seven of the twelve teams who were in the Association at some poi ...
.
The Reds had to find a new location, and they found one less than a mile away from their old park, a few blocks to the southeast on Western Avenue, at the northwest corner of where Findlay Street intersected Western. Thus the Reds remained in the West End, and fans had only to traverse Western Avenue to see the team of their choice.
The new facility was variously called Cincinnati Base Ball Grounds (or Park), Western Avenue Grounds, American Park (while in the AA), and then its most enduring pre-1912 name, League Park (beginning 1890). The small grandstand for the new park was built in the southeast corner of the block, tucked into the acute angle made by the intersection. Although the diamond would be moved back and forth between the southeast and the southwest corners several times, the little 1884 structure would be retained for 28 seasons, and would come in handy. However, it got off to a bad start. It was constructed hastily, and during the opening day game a portion of the stand collapsed, killing one spectator and injuring several others.
The park was also very short to right field, with balls hit over the right field fence counting only as a double, until additional land was acquired a few weeks into the season. This increased the distance to right by 50 feet and made the field regulation-sized.
The first game to be played at American Park was on April 9, 1884. It was an exhibition game against the then National League
Cleveland Blues. The Reds first official home opening day at American Park was on May 1, 1884 against their American Association rival the
Columbus Buckeyes. Cincinnati lost that game 10-9 in heartbreaking fashion.
The season itself saw a good deal of competition between the Reds and the Unions. Although many called the Union the "Onion League" due to its lopsided distribution of talent, the Cincinnati Unions were a fairly strong team and drew fans away from the Reds. Once the Union folded, the Reds opted to remain at Findlay and Western, and would continue to do so for the better part of nine decades. Thus the Reds had the city to themselves in 1885.
Although the Reds were not participants in the 1885
World Series
The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...
, their ballpark was. The contest, between the
Chicago White Stockings of the NL and the
St. Louis Browns
The St. Louis Browns were a Major League Baseball team that originated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as the Milwaukee Brewers. A charter member of the American League (AL), the Brewers moved to St. Louis, Missouri, after the 1901 season, where they p ...
of the AA, staged some of its games at neutral sites. The Reds' ballpark was the site for the final two games of the Series, a disputed match that officially ended in a draw.
When the Reds returned to the
National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...
in 1890, the name of the park would come to be known as League Park, in reference to the team's original and now current circuit. In those days, the National League was typically referred to in media as "the League", since there was only one "League" and (for ten years) one "Association".
In 1894 the ballpark went through some major changes. The owner of the Reds,
John Brush, would build a brand new grandstand and add an
amphitheater
An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...
. In order to build a new grandstand he had the diamond shifted from the southeast corner (Findlay and Western) to the southwest corner (Findlay and McLean). Brush chose to retain the old seating as a right field pavilion. He also left a gap between the two seating areas. This would prove to be a wise decision.
The name of the ballpark was not changed. Because of the relocated diamond, some historians refer to it as League Park II. The center field fence was painted black in 1895 to form a
batter's eye
The batter's eye or batter's eye screen is a solid-colored, usually dark area beyond the center field wall of a baseball stadium, that is the visual backdrop directly in the line of sight of a baseball batter, while facing the pitcher and awai ...
screen. Some sources (such as Benson) claim this was the first such screen in baseball.
On May 28, 1900, the ballpark caught on fire, burning the 1894 grandstand. The Reds considered moving to
East End Park
East End Park, currently named KDM Group East End Park for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium situated in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland with a seating capacity of .
The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Championship sid ...
where the short-lived "
Kelly's Killers" Association club had played in 1891. Instead, they opted to shift the diamond back to its original location in the southeast corner, reusing the original grandstand, which was not significantly harmed in the fire due to the gap between the two seating areas. They played a month's worth of games on the road, returning to their reconfigured home on June 28.
After a season and a half of playing in the charred ballpark, the Reds built what they expected to be a more permanent new grandstand, again in the southwest corner, retaining the original seating, and again with a gap between the seating areas that would prove fortuitous. The original seating had changed somewhat over time, as the middle section no longer sat higher than the rest (it had been rebuilt in 1894 to be leveled with the rest of the grandstand), and the entire structure was roofed.
The look of the new grandstand was striking, and the owners named it
Palace of the Fans
Palace of the Fans was a Major League baseball park located in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was the home of the Cincinnati Reds from 1902 through 1911. The ballpark was on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street (south), Western Avenue (northeas ...
. While the park was still referred to as League Park until 1911, the grandstand nickname is what the park has become known as today. The 1884 grandstand remained in use as right field seating for Palace of the Fans until 1911, when both grandstands were demolished to build Redland Field on the same site, which would later become known as
Crosley Field.
References
Sources
*''Cincinnati's Crosley Field: The Illustrated History of a Classic Ballpark'' by Greg Rhodes and John Erardi, 1995, Road West Publishing
''Baseball Library.com''*''Green Cathedrals'', by Phil Lowry, 1992
*''Baseball Parks of North America'', by Michael Benson, 1989
*''The Cincinnati Reds'', by
Lee Allen Lee Allen may refer to:
*Lee Allen (wrestler) (1934–2012), wrestler and coach
* Lee Allen (baseball) (1915–1969), baseball historian
*Lee Allen (musician) (1927–1994), saxophone player
*Lee Allen (artist)
Lee Allen (1910 – May 5, 2006), bor ...
, Putnam, 1948.
External links
Cincy Sports History1901 game recaps at chronicledbaseball.comSanborn map, 1891
{{Defunct MLB Ballparks
Defunct college football venues
Defunct Major League Baseball venues
Cincinnati Reds stadiums
Cincinnati Bearcats football
American football venues in Ohio
Baseball venues in Ohio
Baseball in Cincinnati
Sports venues in Cincinnati
1900 fires in the United States
Demolished buildings and structures in Ohio
Demolished sports venues in Ohio
1884 establishments in Ohio
1901 disestablishments in Ohio
Sports venues completed in 1884
Sports venues demolished in 1901