What Is The Oldest Baseball Stadium?..The Answer May Surprise You.
What is the Oldest Baseball Stadium? The answer lies in how you ask the question. If the question is asked, what the oldest baseball stadium in major league baseball, you might shout FENWAY PARK. Yet others may say that Forbes Field was the first baseball stadium built.
If the questioned, however is, what is the oldest continually used baseball park, then the answer is a bit different.
Labatt Park is the "oldest continually operating baseball grounds in the world". It has a history dating back to 1877 and since December 31, 1936 the park has been owned by the City of London, Ontario, Canada. Formally Tecumseh Park, 1877-1936, it is a baseball stadium near the Thames River.
But American Baseball is my subject and the Oldest MLB Baseball Stadium in the USA is Fenway Park. Fenway Park has been the home field for the Boston Red Soxs since it opened in 1912 and is the oldest Baseball Stadium currently in use.
1. Fenway Park, MLB's Oldest Baseball Stadium
Image;http://www.legendaryballparks.com/The-Ballparks.html
Fenway Park During 1914 World SeriesBecause of the ballpark’s age and constrained location in the dense Fenway-Kenmore neighborhood, the park has hand many renovations and additions over the years. Although not always by design the changes have resulted in some unique and quirky features. Features like “The Triangle”, “Pesky’s Pole” and the famous Green Monster.
The Red Sox have sold out every home game since May 15, 2003. The oldest baseball park has sold out 456 consecutive games, breaking Major League Baseball records. As of July 17, 2012, the Red Sox has had 760 consecutive sellouts making this old baseball park the most successful in baseball.
That streak was finally broken in 2013 but it still remains one of the hottest tickets in town.
The Pesky's Pole
Pesky's Pole view of the fence directly behind. Notice how it sharply curves away. Another one of the unique quirks that make Fenway Park speciel.The pole was named after John Pesky, a light-hitting shortstop and long-time coach of the Red Sox.
On September 27, 2006 on Pensky's 87th birthday, the Red Sox organization dedicated the right field foul pole as Pensky's Pole with a commemorative plaque placed at its base.
The Green Monster
The Green Monster, one of the iconic and quickie features of Fenway Park. Photo by Aidan C. Siegel.In May of 1999 the Red Sox CEO John Harrington announced plans for a new Fenway Park to be built near the existing structure. It would seat 44,130 and would be a modernized replica of the current Fenway Park. Some sections of the existing ballpark would be preserved (Mainly the Green Monster and the third base side of the park) as part of the overall layout.
This proved to be a very controversial idea and many Boston area sports fans considered this old baseball park design too scared to touch. After several rounds of deliberation the Boston Red Sox were never able to reach an agreement with the City of Boston for a new stadium.
Over the past 10 years Fenway Park and had over $285 million in renovations and improvements and a new stadium has never been agreed upon. In 2011 team president Larry Lucchino stated that all renovations were complete.
At the same time, he said that engineers have told the team that the structure could remain in use until as late as 2016. Sounds to me like there is no plans on building a new stadium to me. When compared to the seating capacities of the recently built stadiums Fenway is the only stadium that cannot seat over 44,000.
With Fenway Park recognized as the oldest baseball park it seems appropriate to make mention of two parks built in that same era, Wrigley Field and Dodger Stadium. They are the second and third oldest baseball stadiums in Major League Baseball.
2. Wrigley Field Second Oldest Stadium
Wrigley Field Outfield Bleachers and Ivy wall.Wrigley Field is the second oldest Major League ball park still in use today and celebrated it's 100 year anniversary in 2014. Built in 1914 it originally carried the name Weegham Park.
Named after founder, Charles Weegham, Weegham Park was as home for the Chicago Whalers of the, then, Federal League.
In November of 1918 Chewing Gum Magnate William Wrigley Jr acquired control of the Chicago Cubs but it wouldn't be until 1927 that the park would officially carry the name "Wrigley Field".
For more details on this historic park hop over to "Wrigley Field Comes In Second to Wrigley Field" for some insightful tidbits on the second of the oldest baseball stadiums.
3. Dodger Stadium
Chavez Ravine Dodger Stadium -Image; wojdylosocialmedia.comDodger Stadium is the third oldest, MLB Stadium. Carved out of the hillsides of Chavez Ravine overlooking the city of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Mountains was home for Walter O'Malley's transplanted Dodger baseball club.
The Dodgers are members of the National League West division of Major League Baseball. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1932.
Team owners constantly looked for the better financial deals for their respective teams. Baseball was growing and as its popularity moved west along with the people, the need for baseball parks and teams grew with it. In 1958 Brooklyn Dodgers and Manhattan’s, New York, Giants, shocked the Baseball world by moving to the west coast.
The Dodgers and Giants share a fierce rivalry, the oldest rivalry in Baseball, dating back to when the two franchises played in New York City. The Brooklyn Dodgers and Los Angeles Dodgers have collectively appeared in the World Series 18 times, while the New York Giants/Yankees have collectively appeared 19 times and have been invited 20 times.
The Old YANKEE Stadium
Yankee Stadium April 18, 1923Some have asked, Why is Yankee Stadium part of this article? Simply because of its major significance in baseball field history and plus I just love the Park.
The original Yankee stadium was built from 1922-1923 and officially opened for the 1923 MLB season. It served as home for Brooklyn's New York Yankees who has shared the Polo Grounds with the New York Giants football franchise.
Built at a cost of 2.4 million dollars ($32 million in 2014 dollars) the stadium construction was paid for entirely by team owner Jacob Rupert.
Although by definition Yankee Stadium cannot qualify as one of the Oldest Baseball Stadiums it clearly deserves mention in this article, especially when you consider that Major League Baseball has been played within one block from it original location since 1923.
Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium Aerial View August 2002Monument Wall at Yankee Stadium
Monument Park featured monuments and plaques dedicated to Yankee greats.Yankee Stadium deserves an article dedicated to it alone, so look for one soon.
Related-Old Baseball Parks
American League ParK
American League Park, known by historians as American League Park I, was a baseball park that formerly stood in Washington, D.C., at the corner of Florida Avenue and Trinidad Avenue, NE. It hosted the Washington Senators from the 1901 season through the 1903 season.
Lloyd Street Grounds
South Side Park 1 & II
The first South Side Park was the home of the short-lived Chicago Unions entry in the Union Association of 1884.The terms "North Siders" and "South Siders" are synonymous with the respective teams and their fans, setting up an enduring rivalry, between the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox have always been located on the south side. At the time the White Sox came to town, the Cubs' home field was West Side Park.
Robinson Field, St. Louis MO
Lloyd Street Grounds was a baseball park located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was used by two different professional baseball clubs during 1895–1903.The first occupants of the Lloyd Street Grounds were the Milwaukee Brewers of the Western League, which opened the park in 1895 after leaving Athletic Park, the eventual Borchert Field. The Western League became the American League in 1900, but was still officially a minor league. In 1901 the American League became a major league, retaining Milwaukee as one of its charter members.
bENNETT PARK
Bennett Park on October 12, 1907, in a World Series game between the Detroit Tigers and Chicago Cubs, Detroit, MichiganBennett Park was home to the first nighttime baseball game in Detroit. [1] On September 24, 1896, the Tigers played their last game of their first season at Bennett Park, an exhibition doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. Tigers owner George Arthur Vanderbeck had workers string lights above the stadium for the nighttime game.
The new League Park, renamed Robison Field in 1912, served as the Cardinals' home until 1920 when they moved into Sportsman's Park as tenants of the Browns.The stadium was known for being state of the art when it first opened. The all wooden facility featured an amusement park, a race track, a water flume, and an artificial lake (which was used for ice skating in the winter) *wiki. The ballpark known as New Sportsman's Park would also carry the names League Park and Cardinal Field… but the name "Robison Field" would always be known throughout history. The all wooden ballpark would be plagued by fires throughout its existence.
HUNTINGTON AVENUE GROUNDS
Fans swarmed the field at Huntington Avenue in Boston during the first World Series, won by Boston over Pittsburgh in 1903.Huntington Avenue American League Base Ball Grounds is the full name of the baseball stadium that formerly stood in Boston, Massachusetts, and was the first home field for the Boston Red Sox (known informally as the 'Boston Americans' until 1908) from 1901–1911. The stadium, built for $35,000, was located across the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad tracks from the South End Grounds, home of the Boston Braves.
What Is The Oldest Baseball Stadiums?
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