League Park IV Schwab's Field The Old Boomerang Findlay & Western | |
 Crosley Field in 1969, its final full season. | |
 Interactive map of Crosley Field | |
| Former names | Redland Field (1912–1933) |
|---|---|
| Location | Findlay Street and Dalton Avenue,Cincinnati |
| Coordinates | 39°7′0″N84°32′7″W / 39.11667°N 84.53528°W /39.11667; -84.53528 |
| Owner | Cincinnati Reds |
| Operator | Cincinnati Reds |
| Capacity | 20,696 (1912–1926) 26,060 (1927–1937) 29,401 (1938–1946) 30,101 (1947–1950) 29,980 (1951–1952) 29,439 (1953–1955) 29,584 (1956–1958) 30,322 (1959–1963) 29,603 (1964–1969) 29,488 (1970)[2] |
| Field size | 1912 Left Field — 360 feet (110 m) Left-Center — 380 feet (116 m) Center Field — 420 feet (128 m) Right-Center — 383 feet (117 m) Right Field — 360 feet (110 m) Backstop — 38 feet (12 m) 1958 Left Field — 328 feet (100 m) Left-Center — 380 feet (116 m) Center Field — 387 feet (118 m) Right-Center — 383 feet (117 m) Right Field — 366 feet (112 m) Backstop — 78 feet (24 m) |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1911 |
| Opened | April 11, 1912 |
| Closed | June 24, 1970 |
| Demolished | April 19, 1972 |
| Construction cost | US$225,000 ($7.33 million in 2024 dollars[1]) |
| Architect | Harry Hake |
| Tenants | |
| Cincinnati Reds (MLB) (1912–1970) Cincinnati Cuban Stars (NNL) (1921) Cincinnati Reds (NFL) (1933–1934) Cincinnati Bengals (AFL) (1937, 1941–1943) Cincinnati Tigers (NAL) (1937) Cincinnati Buckeyes (NAL) (1942) Cincinnati Clowns (NAL) (1943–1945) | |
Crosley Field was aMajor League Baseball park inCincinnati,Ohio. It was the home field of theNational League'sCincinnati Reds from1912 through June 24, 1970, and the originalCincinnati Bengals football team, members of thesecond (1937) andthird American Football League (1940–41). It was not the original home of the currentNFL franchise of the same name: the home of those Bengals in 1968 and 1969 was nearbyNippert Stadium, located on the campus of theUniversity of Cincinnati. Crosley Field was on an asymmetrical block bounded by Findlay Street (south), Western Avenue (northeast, angling), Dalton Avenue (east), York Street (north) and McLean Avenue (west) in theQueensgate section of the city. Crosley has the distinction of being the first major-league park with lights for playing night games.
The "Findlay and Western" intersection was the home field of the Reds from1884 until mid-season 1970, when the team moved toRiverfront Stadium. The location of thediamond and consequently the maingrandstand seating area was shifted several times during the86+1⁄2 seasons that the Reds played at the site. Three different parks stood there:
Between the1911 and1912 seasons, the entire seating area of thePalace of the Fans as well as the remaining seating from the originalLeague Park were demolished. They were replaced with the third steel-and-concrete stadium in the National League. It consisted of a double-deck grandstand around the diamond, positioned in the southwest corner of the lot. Beyond first and third base were single-deck covered pavilions extended to the corners, with bleachers in the right field area. The unusual angle of the covered areas down the lines, and behind home plate gave that area a distinctive "V" shape, giving rise to one of several nicknames the park had, "The Old Boomerang."
Redland Field, whose name was a reference to the Reds' name and color, was built for $225,000 byHarry Hake Sr.'s architectural firm. Initially, Cincinnati fans that were not interested in the new name continued to call the facilityLeague Park (IV), just like with the Palace of the Fans. Unlike the Palace of the Fans, the new name of the ballpark stuck around and fans got used to it.[3] It was one of many classic steel and concrete ballparks constructed during the first ballpark boom era of 1909–1923.Chicago'sWrigley Field andBoston'sFenway Park were also built during this era and remain in use today. Although occupying the site since 1884, the Reds dated their ballpark from the permanent structure opened in 1912.
Throughout its history, Redland/Crosley Field was usually among the smallest parks in the major leagues. It accommodated 25,000 fans in1912; even at its peak, it barely exceeded 30,000 seats, excluding temporary seating areas created for opening day and World Series games. Contributing to this was the fact that there were no bleachers in left or center fields; all outfield seating (about 4,500 seats), were in the semi-trapezoid-shaped right field stands that came to be known as the "Sun Deck" (or, in the case of night games, the "Moon Deck").
On August 3, 1919, up 2.5 games on the second placeNew York Giants, 43,000 fans crowded into the park to see the Reds host the Giants. The official attendance was 31,363, but it was reported in the press, "Forty-three thousand baseball enthusiasts were wadded tightly into every conceivable corner that would hold a human being and it was not the fault of the rooting that the Reds lost."[4]
Groundskeeper Mathias "Matty" Schwab, who had been hired in1894, had the sod laid just in time for the Reds' first game at the new park, April 11, 1912. In the game, the Reds rallied from a 5–0 deficit to defeat theChicago Cubs 10–6, the same team that had opened and closed at the Palace in 1902 and 1911 respectively. Schwab would be the Reds' groundkeeper until he retired at age 83 in1963.
The Reds' on-field success continued to be sparse most of the time, but the club won the National League pennant in 1919, the franchise's first league title in 37 years, going back to the AA inaugural season. It was also the 50th anniversary of theCincinnati Red Stockings' historic tour, and was a celebratory occasion for Cincinnati fans, especially when they scored an upset win over theChicago White Sox in theWorld Series. The win was tainted by the fact, made public a year later, thatthe Series had been "thrown" by the heavily favored Sox. The Reds gradually returned to mediocrity and attendance flagged.
When local businessmanPowel Crosley Jr. bought the struggling Reds in1934, team presidentLarry MacPhail insisted that the ballpark be renamed in honor of the man many thought had rescued the franchise.[5][6] Thus, the park was renamed "Crosley Field", and Crosley himself took the opportunity to advertise hisCrosley cars. Under Crosley's ownership, the park underwent notable structural renovations.
With the effects of theGreat Depression in Cincinnati, the Reds convinced baseball owners to allow night baseball at Crosley Field. Without lights, Larry MacPhail insisted, the team would fold because of low attendance. Lights had been installed in a number ofminor league ballparks in the early 1930s, with positive results. The major league owners acquiesced; 632 individual lamps in eight metal stanchions were erected in1935 and the Reds hosted thePhiladelphia Phillies under the lights on Friday, May 24.[7] In attendance at the game wasFord Frick, president of the National League. In theWhite House, PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt pressed a button that lit up Crosley Field, where a crowd of 20,422 fans, sizable for a last-place team in the middle of the Great Depression, came out to watch the game.Lou Chiozza was the leadoff man for the Phillies and thus has the distinction of being the first player to bat under the lights in a night game in the majors. The Reds won the game 2–1 behind right-handerPaul Derringer.[8]
On July 31, a large crowd showed up to see the visitingSt. Louis Cardinals, the defendingWorld Series champions, in the sixth night game at Crosley Field.[9] As the game progressed, the throng of Reds fans forced people onto the field of play which caused mass confusion for the police and umpires. (This was during a time in baseball when overflow crowds were often allowed to sit or stand on the fringes of the playing field.) Reds managerChuck Dressen could only follow the game via the scoreboard. At one point, he was heard to say: "I see the Cardinals got a run — but I don't know how they got it".
During a lull in the eighth inning, a local burlesque performer namedKitty Burke came out of the crowd, picked up the Reds outfielderFloyd "Babe" Herman's bat, stepped into the batter's box, and dared the Cardinals' starter,Paul "Daffy" Dean, to throw her a pitch. He accommodated Burke with a soft toss; Burke grounded weakly tofirst base. The "pinch hit" appearance was never recorded as an official at bat, of course, but nonetheless, Burke began promoting herself as the first woman in major league history. Allegedly, the Reds gave her a uniform.
The late 1930s finally brought some prosperity to the club again, along with some changes to the ballpark. After the1937 season, home plate was moved 20 feet (6 m) toward center field, decreasing the park's outfield dimensions while expanding foul ground. Left field was reduced from 339 to 328 feet (103 to 100 m); right field from 377 to 366 feet (115 to 112 m); and the deepest part of center field, at the corner of the Sun Deck, was reduced from 407 to 387 feet (124 to 118 m). In 1937, theMill Creek flooded, submerging the field under 20 feet (6.1 m) of water.[10] As a lark, RedspitcherLee Grissom and the team's traveling secretary, John McDonald, got into a rowboat and entered Crosley Field over the left field fence and rowed to the area of the pitcher's mound. There was a photographer present, of course, and the picture has been well-circulated since then.[11] For example, it can be seen on p. 40–41 ofLost Ballparks, by Lawrence Ritter.
Thefollowing summer, Crosley hosted Cincinnati's firstAll-Star Game on Wednesday, July 6,1938, won by the National League.[12] In the middle of a pennant-winning season of1939, their first intwenty years, the Reds added roofed upper decks to the left and right side pavilions, increasing the seating capacity by some 5,000 to give the ballpark the appearance it retained for the rest of its existence. The Reds lost theWorld Series to the powerfulNew York Yankees in a four-game sweep, but bounced back to win the pennant again in1940, then defeated theDetroit Tigers in aseven-game thriller.
By the 1950s, the Reds were back to mediocrity, but they had some sluggers, including the muscle-boundTed Kluszewski, who took full advantage of Crosley's cozy dimensions. Crosley Field again hosted the All-Star Game in1953.
After a poor season in 1960, the "Ragamuffin Reds" put everything together in 1961 and won the National League pennant, an effort documented in pitcherJim Brosnan's book,Pennant Race. The dream season ended for the Reds at the hand of the Yankees, whose slugging duo ofRoger Maris andMickey Mantle had demolished the rest of the American League. Maris, who had set a record with 61 home runs that season, also knocked one into the Moon Deck in the ninth inning of Game 3 of theWorld Series.
Crosley Field was the site of the major leagues' firstsave, after the save became an official statistic in1969.Los Angeles Dodgers pitcherBill Singer earned the save on April 7, 1969, in the season opener, working three scorelessinnings after taking over for Dodgers starting and winningpitcherDon Drysdale. Singer did not allow a hit, walking one batter and striking out one, as the Dodgers beat theReds, 3–2.[13]
The Reds would continue to be a frequent contender, gradually building up toward what would become known as the "Big Red Machine". By the time the Reds reached that peak, though, Crosley would be but a memory. Crosley Field's decline had begun in earnest in the mid-1950s with theautomobile supplanting the train as the main method of transportation. The ballpark was located in the dense west end. Businesses (such as the Superior Towel and Linen Service, a.k.a. "The Laundry", as well as a large factory) bounded the park on three sides. The neighborhood was not suited for the automobile; parking increasingly became a major problem in the last 15 years of Crosley Field's existence, as did crime — especially during night games.
Around 1960, Powel Crosley was courted by a group seeking to return aNational League franchise to New York City to replace theDodgers and theGiants, who had moved toLos Angeles andSan Francisco respectively after the1957 season. The moves left theAmerican LeagueYankees as the city's sole baseball team. A move to New York was speculated in the media as early as 1957, prior to the Dodgers and Giants moving to California.[14] Crosley was unwilling to move. However, he died the following year and his estate sold the team a few months later toBill DeWitt, who kept Crosley's name on the park.
Complicating matters was that legendary football coachPaul Brown, the founder of theCleveland Browns, who had been deposed by new ownerArt Modell in 1963, was wanting to get back into professional football. He was granted anAmerican Football League franchise for Cincinnati, theBengals. A contingency of that agreement was that an appropriate facility be ready by the time the 1970National Football League season began, which would be the first season that the AFL was fullymerged with the NFL.
An agreement was struck to build a multi-purpose facility on the dilapidated riverfront section of the city.Riverfront Stadium seated about 60,000 people and was deemed a logical solution to the myriad problems. The Reds were part of that agreement, and Crosley Field's end was in sight.
It was believed that the Sunday, September 28, 1969 game against theHouston Astros, which was that year's last home game for the Reds (who won 4–1), would be the final game ever at Crosley Field. However, delays in final construction of Riverfront Stadium, led to the Reds opening the 1970 season at Findlay and Western, against theMontreal Expos. New additions to the Reds that season were figures who would become Reds legends:managerGeorge Lee "Sparky" Anderson andshortstopDave Concepción, who had actually been signed by the Reds as an amateurfree agent in1967 as a pitcher. The 1970 Reds were pennant-bound, but Crosley Field did not figure into that event.
The Reds' last game at Crosley Field was played on June 24, 1970, against theSan Francisco Giants. With the Reds trailingJuan Marichal and the Giants 4–3 in the eighth inning,catcherJohnny Bench tied the game on a solohome run. The next batter,first basemanLee May won it on a solo shot of his own. The ninth inning was a relatively easy one for RedsrelieverWayne Granger;Bobby Bonds grounded out tofirst base. Jim McGlothlin, the starting pitcher for the Reds in their last game at Crosley Field, was also the starting pitcher for the team's first game at Riverfront Stadium.
One of the highlights of the closing festivities was mayorEugene P. Ruehlmann taking home plate out of the ground and taking it viahelicopter (which had landed on the field), toRiverfront Stadium and installed it in theartificial turf. After a brief road trip to Houston, which saw them sweep the Houston Astros, they returned to Cincinnati and opened Riverfront Stadium against theAtlanta Braves. They lost 8–2.
Crosley was the first of three Jewel Box era National League parks to close in 1970.Forbes Field, home of thePittsburgh Pirates since 1909, closed four days later, and the Pirates moved intoThree Rivers Stadium two days after Riverfront Stadium hosted the All-Star Game. Philadelphia'sConnie Mack Stadium, which hosted theAthletics from 1909 through 1954 andPhillies since 1938, closed at the end of the season.
Crosley Field was usually among the smallest parks in Major League Baseball, both inseating capacity and playing field size.
Probably the most notable (or infamous) feature of Crosley Field otherwise was the fifteen-degreeleft field incline, called "the terrace". Terraces were not unusual in old ballparks. Most of them were constructed as a way to make up the difference between field level and street level on a sloping block, and most of them were leveled out ("Duffy's Cliff" atFenway Park and Left Field bump atWrigley Field are two examples).
The story of the Crosley Terrace is the reverse of the long-departed "Duffy's Cliff". There was no terrace in evidence during the ballpark's days as the Palace, which had a fairly high wall whose base was below street level. The terrace came about when the new ballpark was constructed for 1912. The club received permission to expand the playing field, by way of the city closing the eastbound lane of York Street. Instead of building a very high wall and retaining a level playing field, the club built a somewhat shorter wall with its base at roughly street level, with the sloping terrace making up the difference in grade.
As baseball boomed during the 1920s, many clubs built additional seating in their once-spacious outfield areas. The outfield area at Findlay and Western was already small, so building inner bleachers was not practical, and the Crosley terrace persisted and became one of the park's trademarks. It was used, as Duffy's Cliff had been, for temporary spectator seating, in the days when standing-room-only crowds would be allowed at the fringes of the field behind ropes. The terrace also served as awarning track, in lieu of the more typical dirt or gravel warning tracks that began to appear at most other ballparks by the 1950s. The slope was at least as much warning to an outfielder as a flat track was. Although the terrace was most prominent in left field, it extended clear across the outfield.
In later years, box seats were added to the terrace in the left field corner, in foul ground, directly facing the infield as the fair-territory seating once had. At the north end of the box-seat aisle, behind the corner boxes, and visible in some photos, was a stairway up to a roll-up exit gate to York Street. Another roll-up exit gate was on the center field side of the scoreboard. The terrace was shallower there, with a shorter flight of stairs up to Western Avenue.
There was a low fence in front of the left-center stairway (and the flagpole) which led to one of the two posted ground rules. The one on the low fence read, "Batted ball remaining back of barrier - 2 base hit. Bouncing out - in play." In building the new scoreboard for the 1957 season, that corner was reconfigured, eliminating the need for that short barrier and the ground rule. The other, more famous posted ground rule in the right-center field corner above the 387 sign (later 390) read, "Batted ball hitting wall on fly to right of white line - home run."
The Crosley terrace was not as extreme as the terrace at Nashville'sSulphur Dell, but it still frustrated many outfielders, mostly from visiting teams.Babe Ruth was victimized by it on May 28, 1935, playing for theBoston Braves in his final season. He was headed for theHall of Fame, but one game as Ruth was headed up the Crosley terrace, he fell down on his face. Less dramatically,Yogi Berra had to navigate the terrace on a Frank Robinson double in Game 3 of the1961 World Series.
Frank Robinson, however, loved it. In the early 1990s, when theBaltimore Orioles were planning their future home,Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Robinson, an Orioles executive and one-time Reds star, unsuccessfully lobbied to get the team to install a terrace in left field.
When theHouston Astros' new facility,Enron Field, was being built, a prominent addition to the field was a 30° center field incline with a flagpole, which was dubbed "Tal's Hill" in reference to its proponent, Astros executiveTal Smith. However, it was removed in 2016 and replaced with seating.
To commemorate their Crosley Field years, the main entrance of the Cincinnati Reds' new park,Great American Ball Park, features a monument called "Crosley Terrace" that features inclines and statues of Crosley-era starsJoe Nuxhall,Ernie Lombardi,Ted Kluszewski, andFrank Robinson. References to the terrace are also visible. This monument was designed by architecture firmPopulous and sculptorTom Tsuchiya.
Through much of its history, Crosley Field was used for other events besides Cincinnati Reds baseball games. During World War I, the city's police force staged a review at Redland Field on October 17, 1917. TheNegro leagues'Cincinnati Tigers in1936 and1937 called Crosley home. The original1937 Cincinnati Bengals football team played home games there.
On August 21, 1966, Crosley Field hostedThe Beatles on their final tour. The concert had been scheduled for the previous day, but was rained out. On June 13, 1970, Crosley Field hosted The Cincinnati Pop Festival. The band lineup included:The Stooges,Mountain,Grand Funk Railroad,Alice Cooper,Traffic,Mighty Quick,Bob Seger,Mott The Hoople,Ten Years After,Bloodrock,Savage Grace,Brownsville Station,Zephyr,Damnation Of Adam Blessing, andJohn Drakes Shakedown.
Other events held there included aRoy Rogersrodeo, a political rally forWendell Willkie, and anIce Capades show.
After the 1970 season, the Cincinnati Reds and the city, which had agreed to buy Crosley Field, were at an impasse over how much Crosley Field was worth. The Reds wanted $3.5 million, whereas the city countered with a $1.5 million offer. Eventually the case went to court. The city contended that since Crosley Field's playing field was extremely depressed, it would need to be filled, a costly and time-consuming job, while the Reds countered that sinceInterstate 75 ran by it, the site would become premium real estate, and they should be fairly compensated for the increase in value.
Eventually, ajury set the sale price at $2.5 million. After the sale was made official, the city turned the park into an auxiliary auto impound lot while the Queensgate project wasfinalized.[16] Ironically, given the parking shortage for many years, Crosley had itself become a parking lot.
Two years later, the demolition of Crosley Field began in earnest: the lights were dismantled and relocated to various recreation areas in the city.[17] The park was soon gutted; seats sold for $10 each, and fans and present and former club employees scrounged for mementos. On April 19, 1972,Pete Rose Jr. pulled a lever that sent awrecking ball into the side of Crosley Field. By autumn, just the faint outline of the grandstand remained.
Today, seven buildings occupy the site and a street runs through it. The former site ofhome plate has been painted in an alley.[18] The old left field terrace area is now a parking lot, but it is still distinguishable due to its slope and its location next to York Street. Dalton Street, which formerly dead-ended into Findlay Street, was extended through the former field of play.
In1974, Larry Luebbers ofUnion, Kentucky, built a replica of the Crosley Field playing field on his farm. To that, he added memorabilia that he had harvested during Crosley's demolition, such as seats, signage, and the old Crosley ticket booth; painted advertising on the fences; and opened it for the Cincinnati Suds professionalsoftball team, which he also owned. However, by1984, it was gone, too. Luebbers was forced to sell his farm to pay off his creditors. Luebbers' son,Larry Luebbers, played for the Reds and several other clubs in the 1990s.[19]
At about the time Larry Luebbers' Crosley re-creation failed, Marvin Thompson, then city manager Cincinnati suburbBlue Ash, came up with the idea to make one of the ballfields of a planned community sports complex a re-creation of Crosley Field. Administrative aide Mark Rohr was put in charge. He tracked down memorabilia for the park; what he couldn't find was often donated by fans. Items such as usher's uniforms, signage, rooftop pennants, and a field microphone were given to the new project, which opened in 1988 with an Old Timer's game (which has been discontinued). A replica scoreboard carries information from the final game at the old park. The field also has a white wall with "CROSLEY FIELD" in red letters in the appropriate font. This re-creation was met with positive reviews from fans old enough to remember the real park, as well as retired Reds players such as Pete Rose,Joe Nuxhall, andJim O'Toole. A wall features a number of plaques commemorating Crosley-era Reds greats. Additionally, 400 seats from the original field were installed at the Blue Ash replica.
Rohr, who wasn't a baseball fan when the project began, stated: "Sometimes I have a hard time understanding the people who come and stare at this place with tears in their eyes; a woman actually hugged the ticket booth and kissed it". The field is used regularly by teams in various levels of play.Moeller High School's Varsity Baseball team plays its home games at Crosley.
Crosley Field was known as a hitter-friendly park, though it was less so in its early days when the diamond was farther from the fences.
Across the left field wall on York Street, a sign on the Superior Towel and Linen Service plant advertised a downtown clothier, Seibler Suits, which rewarded any player hitting the sign with a suit.Wally Post, who won 11, led the Reds in this unofficial statistical category;Willie Mays led all visitors with seven. Its demolition in the early-1960s netted 38 parking spaces.[citation needed]
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| Preceded by | Home of theCincinnati Reds 1912–1970 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of theAll-Star Game 1938 1953 | Succeeded by |
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Former stadiums of the National Football League | |
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| Early era: 1920–1940 |
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| Post-war and pre-merger era: 1941–1969 |
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| Current era: 1970–present |
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| Stadiums used by NFL teams temporarily |
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†= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time | |
