BATTER UP!

[LizzieMaine]

And speaking of The Old Lady of Gaffney Street, here's an excellent view of the Braves Field scoreboard in 1949 -- it was the most modern and impressive board in baseball when it was installed in 1948, just in time for the Braves' last Boston pennant. But they only used it for four seasons before heading to Milwaukee, and the new owners of Braves Field, Northeastern University, sold the scoreboard to the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. It remained in use at KC Municipal Stadium until 1972.

Same board at KC Municipal Stadium in the late sixties, in football configuration.

The "Fan O Gram" panel was added by Charlie Finley for the A's in 1961, in imitation of a similar panel installed the previous year by Bill Veeck at Comiskey Park. Finley often used the panel to announce "THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A HOME RUN IN YANKEE STADIUM" as a way of criticizing the short right-field line at the Yankees' park.

Finley also imitated Veeck's "exploding scoreboard" idea by installing several artillery mortars behind the board, from which huge fireworks displays were launched to commemorate the rare occasions when an Athletics player would hit a home run. To top it off, he bought a surplus steamship horn, which he claimed came from the Queen Mary, and would let loose with a deafening blast from it to mark homers and A's victories. The neighbors, to say the least, were not amused by this.

 

[2jakes]

BANZAI BABE

 

[Fading Fast]

The most flamboyant version of the South End Grounds in Boston, home of the Red Stockings/Beaneaters/Doves/Rustlers/Braves until the construction of Braves Field in 1915. This particular phantasmagoria burned to the ground, along with much of the surrounding neighborhood, in 1894, and was rebuilt in a decidedly less fabulous style. The site is now a parking lot.

Which is why today one needs to go to school, pass exams and obtain a license to practice architecture.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And more Finley fun -- meet "Harvey the Rabbit," posing here with Kansas City groundskeeper George Toma.

Harvey lived in a concrete bunker behind home plate, equipped with a hydraulic lift. When the plate umpire needed a new supply of baseballs, he'd press a button embedded in the turf, and Harvey would rise to the surface as the park organist played "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and blew a slide whistle, while Harvey whirled on his platform with his eyes flashing red. After collecting the baseballs, the ump would press the button again and as the organist played a final crescendo, again with slide whistle accompaniment, Harvey would again spin and flash and sink back into his lair, the turf-covered lid snapping down above him.

When Finley took his circus to Oakland, Harvey went along and was installed at the Coliseum, where he kept up his routine for another three years. Unfortunately, while the A's were on an unsuccessful road trip in 1971, Harvey's lair sprung a leak and filled with water and he -- well -- drowned.

The Oakland grounds crew laid him out in state under the stands so that fans and players could pay their respects to a baseball legend, gone before his time.

 

[Fading Fast]

And speaking of The Old Lady of Gaffney Street, here's an excellent view of the Braves Field scoreboard in 1949 -- it was the most modern and impressive board in baseball when it was installed in 1948, just in time for the Braves' last Boston pennant. But they only used it for four seasons before heading to Milwaukee, and the new owners of Braves Field, Northeastern University, sold the scoreboard to the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. It remained in use at KC Municipal Stadium until 1972.

Same board at KC Municipal Stadium in the late sixties, in football configuration.

...

While there's still plenty of advertising all over stadiums today, they do look cleaner than this ⇧.

Do you prefer today's cleaner look or the Golden Era's full-force-gale advertising approach?

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think it depends on the ballpark. Chesterfield cigarettes bought an exclusivity for advertising at the Polo Grounds in 1948, and all the ads were removed other than a giant cigarette on the clubhouse wall -- and it made the park look gloomy and cavernous. When the Mets moved in in 1962, they brought wall ads back, and it looks to have brightened the place considerably. And Ebbets Field was always covered in ads -- they were as much a part of the park as the grass, and one can't imagine the place with blank walls.

Fenway Park was different, though. Although it had always had advertising, Tom Yawkey got rid of all the ads after the 1946 season because he thought it made the place look too cluttery, and for a very long time the only billboard allowed was the Jimmy Fund sign on the right field roof. That's the Fenway I knew growing up, and to see it now, with ads all over the place, doesn't look right at all.

 

[2jakes]

 

[Fading Fast]

And more Finley fun -- meet "Harvey the Rabbit," posing here with Kansas City groundskeeper George Toma.

Harvey lived in a concrete bunker behind home plate, equipped with a hydraulic lift. When the plate umpire needed a new supply of baseballs, he'd press a button embedded in the turf, and Harvey would rise to the surface as the park organist played "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and blew a slide whistle, while Harvey whirled on his platform with his eyes flashing red. After collecting the baseballs, the ump would press the button again and as the organist played a final crescendo, again with slide whistle accompaniment, Harvey would again spin and flash and sink back into his lair, the turf-covered lid snapping down above him.

When Finley took his circus to Oakland, Harvey went along and was installed at the Coliseum, where he kept up his routine for another three years. Unfortunately, while the A's were on an unsuccessful road trip in 1971, Harvey's lair sprung a leak and filled with water and he -- well -- drowned.

The Oakland grounds crew laid him out in state under the stands so that fans and players could pay their respects to a baseball legend, gone before his time.

Today Harvey would die from exhaustion as they seem to replace the ball almost every time it touches a bat or the ground.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Out with the old, in with the new:

Colt Stadium in Houston, home of the original Houston Colt .45s in the foreground, with the Astrodome, the Eighth Wonder of the World nearing completion in the behind it. When the Astrodome was completed (and the Colts moved in to become the Astros), the stadium was taken apart and moved, piece by piece, to Torreon, Mexico, where it was the home of Union Leguna of the Mexican League. In 1982, the Algodoneros moved to Tampico, and just like they did with the players and the front office personnel, they took the stadium with them. The stadium, now colloquially known as Estadio de Millon Tuercas (Million Screw Stadium) for its ability to be taken apart and re-assembled like an erector set. The stadium served the now named "Astros de Monclova" until 1985, when the team moved again. The stadium was bought by the Tigres de Quintana Roo, who intended to move it to Mexico City. However, years of life in the humid climate had taken a toll on the structure, and the idea was scrapped. Ultimately, the seats were used to fill in various small stadiums and playgrounds in various parts of Mexico, sort of a scattering of the ashes, if you will.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Home of the most impressive mosquitoes in the National League. I have a recording of the Mets' first game there in 1962, and Ralph Kiner seems to spend half the broadcast complaining about the bugs.

 

[2jakes]

My mom dressed me up as a pumpkin on my first halloween. My costume looked exactly like this, minus the “Rock Cats”.


Jack-O-Lantern Jerseys – New Britain Rock Cats

Old Fashioned Hot Dog Vendor Jerseys – Reading Fightin Phils

Hot Dog Jerseys – Toledo Mud Hens

Bacon Jerseys – Lehigh Valley IronPigs

Santa Jerseys – New Britain Rock Cats

 

[HudsonHawk]

One tidbit about the Astrodome that many people don't realize is that originally the panels on the roof were clear plexiglass, and they grew real grass. However, the glass panels acted like a bizarre kaleidoscope, so they painted the panels solid. But then no sunlight got in, and the grass died. So it was play on dirt, or come up with another solution. Artificial grass was born.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Fresno "30 Amigos":

 

[2jakes]

It’s a toss-up...
the uniforms or the look these two amigos are wearing !

 

[2jakes]

Joe wearing “dual” purpose pants.

Can also be converted to a pup tent.

 

[ChiTownScion]

While there's still plenty of advertising all over stadiums today, they do look cleaner than this ⇧.

Do you prefer today's cleaner look or the Golden Era's full-force-gale advertising approach?

Wrigley Field boasted friendlier confines back when P.K. ran the show in the 60's and allowed no full gale advertising. The quality of play was a lot more pathetic, so I suppose, any revenue generated has its up side. But that was one of many factors which made a game at Wrigley and a game at Comiskey, back in the day, very different experiences. Comiskey Park and the Sox were always grittier, more earthy. A lot of that reflects the whole North Side/ South Side dichotomy that has been around since long before I was born, but you saw it at the ball parks as well. Myself- I loved it all, and always had fun watching the games, although I was always more fascinated by the railroads in the vicinity than what transpired on the diamond. I envied the South Siders because they had more railroads running everywhere: they likely crabbed about the traffic mess those trains caused, but as a kid I didn't concern myself with that.

My first time at Wrigley (1962), grandstand seats went for two bucks each (box seats $3, bleachers a buck). That is but one example of how things are so different now. P. K. Wrigley wanted an affordable family experience for the fans, and the price for that was that revenues were always somewhat meager and that the team was known as perpetual "lovable losers." It's a new day now.. and not all of that is a bad thing.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, you kid! Manager Fred Haney of the Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars models his team's snazzy new uniform in 1950. This was not a gag, not a promotion, not a zany scheme to get attention -- Haney, formerly the team's broadcaster, thought that shorts would be more comfortable for the players, and when he was appointed field manager pushed for their adoption. The Stars appeared thusly for four full seasons before Haney was canned and they went back to proper flannel knickerbockers. Haney subsequently managed the Milwaukee Braves to two pennants, but given the Wisconsin climate, he kept his sartorial inclinations to himself, thus sparing National League fans from the disquieting spectacle of Warren Spahn's and Joe Adcock's kneecaps.

 

[Fading Fast]

...thought that shorts would be more comfortable for the players....

Not when they had to slide.

 

[2jakes]

Oh, you kid! Manager Fred Haney of the Pacific Coast League's Hollywood Stars models his team's snazzy new uniform in 1950. This was not a gag, not a promotion, not a zany scheme to get attention -- Haney, formerly the team's broadcaster, thought that shorts would be more comfortable for the players, and when he was appointed field manager pushed for their adoption. The Stars appeared thusly for four full seasons before Haney was canned and they went back to proper flannel knickerbockers. Haney subsequently managed the Milwaukee Braves to two pennants, but given the Wisconsin climate, he kept his sartorial inclinations to himself, thus sparing National League fans from the disquieting spectacle of Warren Spahn's and Joe Adcock's kneecaps.

I have a pair of tennis shorts that look
exactly like Haney's.
Only wear them when it's 100 ++++
on the tennis courts.

So far the temp has been in the 70s,
much to the pleasure of my opponents
for two reasons.

1. It's comfortable playing conditions.
2. They can concentrate on their game
instead of laughing at my baggy shorts and skinny legs.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It's the rolled socks that really make the look. Flapper fashion was due for a comeback.