Olympic Park is the name shared by two former

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 ...

grounds located in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, United States.

Prelude

From 1878 through 1883, Buffalo's baseball teams had played at an initially unnamed ballpark at Fargo Avenue and Rhode Island Street. The club's owners named it " Riverside Park" in 1882, although it was actually over from the Niagara River. The owner of the site, Alexander Culbert, decided to develop the property and the team left the site for Olympic Park (I).

First Olympic Park

Olympic Park (I) was home to the

Buffalo Bisons The Buffalo Bisons (known colloquially as the Herd) are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. Located in Buffalo, New York, the team plays their home games at Sahlen Fiel ...

baseball club of 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 ...

for two seasons, 1884 and 1885. It was located on the block bounded by Richmond Avenue (west); Summer Street (south); and Norwood Avenue (east). After the National League dropped the Bisons franchise, professional baseball continued to be played there by the

of the

International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...

, until the lease expired following the 1888 season. The last professional game in Olympic Park (I) was played on September 28, 1888, when the

played the

Cuban Giants The Cuban Giants were the first fully salaried African-American professional baseball club. The team was originally formed in 1885 at the Argyle Hotel, a summer resort in Babylon, New York. Initially an independent barnstorming team, they played ...

.When Baseball came to Richmond Avenu
richomndavenue.org
accessed 19-APR-2008 The site of Olympic Park (I) is currently occupied by a residential neighborhood, including the Richmond-Summer Recreation Center.

Second Olympic Park

The Bisons found a new location at a block bounded by East Ferry Street (north, third base); Masten Avenue (east, left field); Woodlawn Avenue (south, right field); and Michigan Avenue (west, first base). This site would remain the primary location of Buffalo professional baseball through the 1960 season. In the late winter and early spring of 1889, the club's owner had the existing (wooden) stands disassembled at the old location, and moved section by section to the new location. The club decided to continue the name because of its familiarity to the public, so it became the new Olympic Park (II). The club held the grounds for the 1889 season, but in 1890 the Players' League version of the Bisons secured a lease on it. The minor league club had to find another location, and they played the season at grounds in the eastern part of the city, near Genesee Street and the Belt Line Railroad, which was primarily the home field of the amateur Buffalo Baseball League organization. The Players' League folded after the 1890 season, enabling the minor league Bisons to move back to Olympic Park (II). This would be the Bisons' home stadium through the early part of the 1923 season. During the summer, they demolished the old wooden stands and began building a new set of stands in steel and concrete. It was originally named Bison Stadium, and in 1935 was renamed

Offermann Stadium Offermann Stadium was an outdoor baseball and football stadium in Buffalo, New York. Opened in 1924 as Bison Stadium, it was home to the Buffalo Bisons ( IL), Buffalo Bisons/Rangers ( NFL) and Indianapolis Clowns (NAL). The stadium hosted notab ...

in memory of the club's owner. In addition to baseball, Olympic Park (II) was also used for

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, serving as the home of the

Buffalo All-Americans Buffalo, New York had a turbulent, early-era National Football League team that operated under multiple names and several different owners between the 1910s and 1920s. The early NFL-era franchise was variously called the Buffalo All-Stars from ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

, and several iterations of the

New York Pro Football League The New York Pro Football League (NYPFL) was a professional American football league, active in the 1910s, and based in upstate New York, primarily Western New York. Between 1920 and 1921, the league's best teams were absorbed into the National Foo ...

Championship. The UB Bisons

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

squad played its games at the stadium until 1919, after which they moved to

Rotary Field Rotary Field is a field and former athletics stadium in Buffalo, New York, on the South Campus of the University at Buffalo. It was the home field for the Buffalo Bulls football teams from 1920 to 1942, and again from 1955 to 1984. The field at ...

on-campus. The site of Olympic Park (II) / Offermann Stadium is currently occupied by the

Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts The Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts (BAVPA) is a magnet performing arts high school and part of Buffalo, New York's public school system. It serves grades 5-12 and requires students to apply in the field of their desired major conc ...

and a church. In August 2012, a historical plaque was dedicated at the site in remembrance of over 72 years of baseball played on the grounds. Local Buffalo sports historian John Boutet spearheaded the project and raised the funds through the Facebook group Buffalo Sports Museum, the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame and the Buffalo Bisons.

"Buffalo Baseball Park"

In July 1907, Bisons' owner Alexander Potter announced that the ballpark was to be renamed, from Olympic Park to Buffalo Baseball Park. This decision was not binding on news writers, and the Olympic Park name was kept alive for years, by referring to "Buffalo Baseball Park" and "Olympic Park" interchangeably, or by saying "Buffalo Baseball Park (formerly Olympic Park)". By the early 1920s, the name "Olympic Park" was fading from use. During the 1923 season, with construction on the new steel-and-concrete stadium under way, papers continuing calling it "Buffalo Baseball Park" and also "new Bison stadium", unwittingly anticipating its new name. Meanwhile, the name "Buffalo Baseball Park" continued to be used, posted on the signs above the gate

even after Bison Stadium had been renamed Offermann Stadium in 1935. "Buffalo Baseball Park" continued to appear under that name in Buffalo city directories as late as 1957.

References

Sports venues in Buffalo, New York Buildings and structures in Buffalo, New York Defunct baseball venues in the United States Players' League venues Baseball venues in New York (state) Defunct sports venues in New York (state) Minor league baseball venues Sports in Buffalo, New York Defunct National Football League venues Buffalo (1920s NFL teams) 1889 establishments in New York (state) 1923 disestablishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1889 Sports venues demolished in 1923 American football venues in New York (state)