Burning Down The House

The peril of wooden stadiums

Burning Down The House

We tend to look at baseball’s history through rose-colored glasses.

There’s a natural tendency for us to think about the past in an idealized manner, noticing only the things that we really want to see and ignoring all the problems.

I thought of this just the other day, when I described how Harry Pattee’s promising career came to an early end after cinder from one of the factories across the street from the ballpark in Brooklyn got into his eye. We tend to forget about those factories. And, yes, I’m well aware that Pattee’s ability to hit was extremely questionable.

There’s another problem, though, with the ballparks of the distant past — the old wooden ballparks that once stood proud.

They had a tendency to burn down.

Let’s take a look at three of them through the eyes of contemporary reporting.

League Park (Cincinnati)

Cincinnati fans woke up to this shocking news on May 29, 1900:

From The Enquirer (Cincinnati), May 29, 1900, page 4

The fire was absolutely devastating, resulting in the complete destruction of almost the entire pavillion of the park.

From The Enquirer (Cincinnati), May 29, 1900, page 4

It seems likely that the fire was caused by a discarded cigar that smoldered through the debris and wood. Though Cincinnati papers did mention that foul play was a possibility, it’s not clear to me that anything was seriously investigated.

The description of the fire itself is interesting:

From The Enquirer (Cincinnati), May 29, 1900, page 4

John Brush decided to change the layout of the ballpark, opening up the new (and attractive) Palace of the Fans with a new grandstand in 1901. It lasted until 1911, when Redland Field (later Crosley Field) opened.

If you are replaying the 1900 season (a feat very few have attempted), you might wonder why the Reds played nothing but road games for an entire month:

Now you know why.

League Park (St. Louis)

The very next year, the Reds were the road team when the ballpark in St. Louis caught fire.

Can you imagine seeing this headline on a Sunday morning?

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 1

This fire took place in the 10th inning of an exciting 4-4 game.

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 1

This fire seems to have been just as spectacular as the one in Cincinnati in 1900 was:

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 1

The coverage in The St. Louis Republic is actually fascinating. For example, there are these collected stories from those who experienced the fire:

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 2

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 2; apologies for the unrelated clippings

Of course, the saddest part for some was the fact that the Cardinals lost the chance to win:

From The St. Louis Republic, May 5, 1901, page 2

And, if you really are interested in what might have been, here’s a play-by-play account from The St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

From The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 5, 1901, page 18

Unlike Cincinnati in 1900, there was another ballpark that the Cardinals used temporarily until League Park was repaired. This was the “old” Sportsman’s Park, referred to at the time as Athletic Park. This also just so happens to be the same park that the American League Browns rebuilt before the 1902 season, when the original Milwaukee Brewers moved there.

The Cardinals, of course, eventually moved in to share the park with the Browns, as their “new” Sportsman’s Park was woefully inadequate by mid-1920.

Polo Grounds

The old wooden Polo Grounds caught on fire on the morning of April 14, 1911, a few hours before a scheduled game between the Phillies and the Giants.

From New-York Tribune, April 14, 1911, page 1

This is one of the best documented early ballpark fires. You may have seen this photo before:

From Wikipedia

The scene in the New York papers looked a little bit more like this:

From The Evening World (New York), April 14, 1911, page 2

Again, the source of the fire was a mystery (and seems to remain so to this day), which gives you an idea of just how easily those old wooden parks went up in flames.

From The New York Times, April 14, 1911, page 1

Again, it seems like the fire was quite a spectacle - and it apparently drew a bit of a crowd:

From The Sun (New York), April 14, 1911, page 1

The Giants spent a few months playing home games at Hilltop Park, home of the Highlanders, before a more durable steel structure could be built.

What Did It Look Like?

This is a bit morbid, but we can look to a slightly more modern example of how a ballpark fire might have looked in those days.

During a 1985 Third Division match between Bradford City and Lincoln City, the old Bradford stadium known as Valley Parade caught fire.

The fire started out small, but engulfed the entire stadium in seconds. It was an absolutely catastrophic event that claimed 56 lives as the combination of wood and debris roared quickly into a terrifying inferno.

And, interestingly enough, it was broadcast on television.

You can watch it here. Be warned, though: it’s not for the faint of heart.